The “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred – Orient and Orientalism in the Works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft
The “Mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred – Orient and Orientalism in the Works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Author(s): Marcin Gajec
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Howard Phillips Lovecraft; weird fiction; orientalism; Edward Said; Cthulhu Mythos; Abdul Alhazred; Necronomicon
Summary/Abstract: The Orient in the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft is significant, as theEastern themes often appear on the pages of his novellas. However,the author’s approach to this subject is ambiguous. On the one hand we canclearly see a fascination with the history and culture of the Middle East, onthe other, along with the classic education of an American gentleman from thebeginnings of twentieth century, Lovecraft also adopted the whole spectrumof prejudices as well as racist and anti-Semitic beliefs of his generation. Hispublic persona has aroused much controversy in recent years that resultedin heated discussions about the Loner from Providence in the social mediabetween both fans and researchers.This work focuses on the Middle Eastern themes present in Lovecraft’snovellas and its main aim is to show Lovecraft’s dual approach to this issue.In his treatment of the “Orient” as a construct built of reading, studies andomnipresent stereotypes (filtered through the extremely rich imaginationof a talented writer in this case), Lovecraft perfectly fits the concept of an“orientalist” described in the epochal and groundbreaking work of EdwardSaid from 1978, which – despite its shortcomings – completely changed theperception of the Orient in the world of science.

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