Lovecraft in the New Millennium

This volume presents an exploration of recent developments in the cosmic horror created by H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). These new undertakings reveal not only that Lovecraft’s mythos is undying but that it is actually evolving in new and often unexpected ways for readers in the new millennium.One is reminded of Lovecraft’s own words from the fictional Necronomicon: “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.” So too with Lovecraft himself it seems, despite nearly a century passing since his death, and the loathsomeness of the implicit misogyny, explicit xenophobia, and outright racism in his works, they have somehow transcended even the flaws of their creator to become something distinct in their own right. It is as if the “Lovecraftian” has emerged from his literary corpus, becoming a living, growing, and evolving legacy with a strange life of its own. This volume seeks to reveal exactly how and why. The collection contains chapters on Lovecraft himself, his intellectual formation and marriage, and the revisionism of some of his most controversial works, including the HBO miniseries Lovecraft Country (2020). The volume also explores inventive adaptations of his classic works in musicals, operas, indie rock, video games, and more, as well as homages to Lovecraft in film, novels, and even comics.