Bobby Derie - Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos

Any warning I might give to readers about the contents ofthis study will no doubt pale in comparison to what they themselves willpicture given the title; I can only say that it is both more and less perversethan you may imagine. Writing this essay has found me following in thefootsteps of Lovecrafts fictional scholars, tracking down esoteric, occult,and obscene works and forcing myself to read and consider them. In walking inthe shadow of earlier writers who have assayed the topic, I have been forced tore-examine what I thought I knew of the Mythos and the assumptions I had madeof Lovecraft and his fiction; and I believe that this has deepened myunderstanding and appreciation for the man, his work, and all that came after.I do not ask that readers agree with my analyses or conclusions, but only thatthey keep an open mind and give due consideration to the material.

There has been academic interest on the role of sexand gender in the weird fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, and the sexuality ofLovecraft himself, since his earliest biographies. Less has been publishedabout Lovecrafts use of sex in his stories, and scarcely anything has beenwritten of the sexually aware and explicit Cthulhu Mythos stories that cameafter Lovecraft. Work on all three subjects is sporadic and scattered, often inobscure fanzines and literary journals, addressed piecemeal in reviews andcritiques. This book draws together these disparate bits of scholarship andadds to the store in an effort to present a comprehensive view of Lovecraft,his weird fiction, and the Cthulhu Mythos with regard to sex.

The first section of this book, Sex and Lovecraft,examines the sexuality and views of H. P. Lovecraft. A shelfs worth ofbiographies, commentaries, and collected letters has laid bare much ofLovecrafts personal and professional life; this chapter focuses only on thoseareas of relevant interest: his personal thoughts on love and sex, his sexualeducation and attitudes, etc. Lovecraft the sexual entity is worthy of studyfor two reasons: the insight it gives into his fiction, and the elements of hispersonal life that have been used in stories that feature Lovecraft (or hisfamily) as characters.

The second section, Sex and the Lovecraft Mythos,deals with sexuality and gender in Lovecrafts corpus of weird fiction. Ofparticular interest are his literary influences and the themes he developed andexpressed through his own stories and his revisions. The Lovecraft Mythosremains the well from which most later Mythos authorsdraw to create their own pastiches and additions to the Cthulhu Mythos, and itis important to understand the foundation stories to truly appreciate andunderstand the works of those who followed Lovecraft.

The third section, Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos,examines the development of sexuality and gender in Mythos stories outside thebody of Lovecrafts fiction. Attention is given to the most prominent,influential, and seminal works and authors, particularly the adult or eroticanthologies that are important milestones in collecting such fiction andpresenting some literary insight into the creation of sexually explicit Mythosstories.

The fourth section, Beyond Cthulhurotica, is abrief discourse on sexual Mythos material in other media. As the Mythos hasexpanded into film, comics, and manga, on the Internet, and the literature ofthe occult, so has there been a discernible undercurrent of sexually cognizantMythos materials in those new forms.

Many of the original articles and creative works cited byauthorities on Lovecraft and the Mythos are scarce and somewhat obscure, as area few of the more ephemeral sources that combine the Mythos and adult content.Where possible, I have tracked down the original fanzines and publications forcitation; where this has not been possible, because of rarity or cost, I haveresorted to reprints or simply pointed the reader in the proper direction. Anyitalics, ellipses not in brackets, and alternate or incorrect spellings arequoted exactly as they appear in the text.

For brevity and in keeping with establishedtradition, a code for multivolume works like Lovecrafts Selected Letterswill be used in place of the standard method of citation. The followingabbreviations are used:

CC Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu and OtherWeird Stories (1999)

CF Smith, The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith (5 vols.)

CrC Lovecraft et al., The Crawling Chaos and Others (2011)

DWH Lovecraft, The Dreams in the Witch House andOther Weird Stories (2004)

ES Lovecraft and Derleth, Essential Solitude (2008)

HM Lovecraft et al., The Horror in the Museumand Other Revisions (1989)

LJM Lovecraft, Lettersto James F. Morton (2011)

LR Cannon, Lovecraft Remembered (1998)

LRB Lovecraft, Lettersto Robert Bloch (1993)

LRK Lovecraft, Lettersto Rheinhart Kleiner (2005)

LSLS Lovecraft, Letters to Samuel Loveman & Vincent Starrett (1994)

MC Lovecraft et al., MedusasCoil and Others (2012)

MF Lovecraftand Howard, A Means to Freedom (2009)

OFF Lovecraft, OFortunate Floridian (2007)

REH Howard, The CollectedLetters of Robert E. Howard (3 vols.)

TD Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep andOther Weird Stories (2001)

Thanks and appreciation toAndrew Heston, Carrie Cuinn, Dan Harms, Franois Launet, Jess Gulbranson,Justine Geoffrey, Katha Pollitt, Kevin L. OBrien, Matthew Carpenter, Robert M.Price, Scott R. Jones, and S. T. Joshi for all their help and support.