Episode 29: On Lovecraft

Phil and JF indulge their autumnal mood in this discussion of Howard Phillips Lovecraft's work, specifically the essay "Notes on the Writing of Weird Fiction" and the prose piece "Nyarlathotep." Philip K. Dick, Algernon Blackwood, and David Foster Wallace make appearances as our fearsome hosts talk about how the weird story differs from conventional horror fiction, how Lovecraft gives voice to contemporary fears of physical, psychological and political infection, and how authors like Lovecraft and Dick can be seen as prophetic poets of the "great unbuffering of the Western self." REFERENCES H. P. Lovecraft, "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction" H. P. Lovecraft, "Nyarlathotep" 1974 Rolling Stone feature on PKD Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Theodor Roszak, The Making of a Counterculture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and its Youthful Opposition Algernon Blackwood, "The Wendigo" Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows" Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories H.P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Charles Taylor, A Secular Age E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest H.P. Lovecraft, "The Music of Erich Zann" H.P. Lovecraft, "The Colour Out of Space" H.P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" Weird Studies, Episode 2: Garmonbozia Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man