|
DAVID SIMMONS
University of Northampton
Abstract
In this essay I examine the manner in which the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft depicts Africa and its peoples in two short stories: “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” (1921) and “Under the Pyramids” (1924). I hope to suggest that Lovecraft constructs a version of Africa as an abject Other, which though racist, is also decidedly more complex than first appears. In particular it reflects a process, which is significant for its self-reflexive expression of Lovecraft’s deep-seated anxieties concerning his own nationality and subjectivity.
Keywords: H.P. Lovecraft, Julia Kristeva, horror, abject, self-reflexivity, Africa, Rey Chow, fiction, other |
