Professional paper
Subjectivity and Cosmic Ambiguity in H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Nameless City”
Taha Al-Sarhan
Abstract
This study examines the complexity of individual perspective, cognition, and existential ambiguity in H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, “The Nameless City.” This study critically analyses the protagonist’s personal experiences, the interaction between their individual perception and objective reality, and the portrayal of intense fear from their perspective in the narrative, using a combination of literary analysis, psychological investigation, and existential philosophy. Moreover, this study explores the dichotomy between subjective reality and objective truth within the narrative structure. The text scrutinizes the protagonist’s understanding of the city’s past, challenging the trustworthiness of their personal observations and exploring the indistinct distinctions between subjective perception and objective reality. Furthermore, this investigation highlights Lovecraft’s motif of the precariousness of human comprehension in the presence of the unfathomable and inscrutable. This investigation of subjectivity in “The Nameless City” reveals the complex levels of perception, the constraints of subjective comprehension, and the disconcerting domain of cosmic ambiguity. This study provides a detailed analysis of the protagonist’s personal experiences in Lovecraft’s stories; and highlights how Lovecraft's narrative strategies effectively create a sense of cosmic fear and existential introspection in speculative fiction by focusing on the transformational nature of subjectivity.
Keywords
Subjectivity; Cosmic Uncertainty; Perception; Lovecraftian Horror; Unreliable Narrator
Hrčak ID:
325118
URI
Publication date:
24.12.2024.
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