Lamron Lit Corner: “Dagon” and defining the Lovecraftian

“The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous.”

~H.P. Lovecraft, “Dagon”

H.P. Lovecraft has become a household name for his contribution to the literary horror landscape. Much like Kafka and the “Kafkaesque,” Lovecraft’s blend of gothic imagery with morally torn protagonists and, of course, cosmic entities, spawned “Lovecraftian” horror, a genre that continues to prevail almost a century after the author’s death. From Stephen King to Stranger Things, the cosmic wake of Lovecraft’s work is felt all the time.

But how does one perfectly define “Lovecraftian”? You know it when you see it, but as the world changes and Lovecraft’s work becomes less and less accessible to the average person due to its complex sentence structure and lack of dialogue-based plot, Lovecraft and his works become more separated from the genre they define. I offer Lovecraft’s short story “Dagon” as the solution to this problem, as not only does its language and terror hold up in the modern day, the basic premise defines Lovecraftian horror better than any other story.

Having returned home after a harrowing sea voyage, the protagonist writes in his journal one of the best and most famous literary openings of all horror: “I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below.” In one fluid motion, Lovecraft has not only set the timetable for the story, portraying the ending in the beginning, but has tapped into one of the most basic fears. Rather than emphasizing the cosmic entities or fantastical, adventurous nature of the story, the reader is immediately cast into the story knowing simply that the protagonist is at the end of his line, something any reader can relate to.

That doesn’t mean the fantastic stays out of the story for long. We soon learn about the path that has led our protagonist to this point in time and the horrors that he witnessed. It’s impossible to imitate Lovecraft’s writing, especially in a story as finely tuned as “Dagon,” and it truly has to be read to be felt.

Not only can you find “Dagon” for free on the official HP Lovecraft website (https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/d.aspx), but nearly all Lovecraft anthologies and compendiums begin with it, and for good reason. Whether you are brand new to Lovecraft or a veteran of his stories, “Dagon” offers a distinctness in not only prose or worldbuilding or plot, but in terror as well. Editors of all varieties understand this as a basic truth, a clear reason almost all modern anthologies begin with the famous story.

Lovecraft and his work can never be replicated, as much modern horror storytelling may suggest. To truly understand the mind behind these works, “Dagon” is a must-read.