REGRESSION OF THE SACRED IN THE TRAUMA OF MODERNISM: CONNOTATIONS OF HORROR IN H.P. LOVECRAFT’S THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH

Abstract

H.P. Lovecraft, who has an important place in literature with his works in the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres, has been examined in many studies within the framework of different theories and topics through his novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Written in a transition period from modernism to the postmodern world, the story contains elements that reflect the traumas of both the modernist era and the cultural history of humanity, beyond the element of horror as a form of tension or gothic variation. Elements ingrained in the social memory, from the most archaic traditions of settled life to its gods, have changed and evolved into new cultural dynamics with the transition from mythos to logos. On the other hand, this situation has made a re-entry into cultural history after the suppression of myths, legends, superstitions, and the irrationality beneath modernism, rationality, and the othering of the irrational. In fact, the individual who has become more individualized in the light of modernity within a patriarchal and masculine culture, turns back to the anchoring points that have allowed survival in the most ancient times when faced with a serious trauma. In his work, Lovecraft narrates the return of modern man to his inherent origins through divine images in a horror town. The aim of this study is to explain the phenomenon of returning to roots through the metaphors and images in the work The Shadow Over Innsmouth.