Such “strange science,” coupled with his preference for the literature of the previously centuries (see above), made Lovecraft pine to live in the 17 th, 18 th or early 19 th century. The Theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics shook this up and thus Lovecraft’s philosophy. While Lovecraft’s view of the cosmos was indifferent and uncaring relative to humanity and all life, it was based on the cosmos functioning under well-established rules and laws of nature (Newton’s Laws of Gravitation, Darwin and Wallace’s Theory of Evolution, etc.) like a large machine.

While Lovecraft did eventually resolve his view of the Universe with Einstein’s theories, as can actually be seen in the evolution of his stories, he experienced this same concern over his view of the cosmos with quantum theory. This is why Einstein’s Theories of Relativity were initially distressing to some scientists as well as Lovecraft. A large part of Lovecraft’s own philosophy of life was based on Hugh Samuel Roger Elliot’s Modern Science and Materialism (originally published in 1919), which in turn is largely based on the rational thought and science of the latter half of the 18 th century and 19 th century.īy the end of the 19 th century, it was thought that the Laws of Nature and Life were fully understood. He frequently talked about “the supremely rational 18 th century” when great strides in physics, astronomy, chemistry and biology were made. Joshi’s I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. “I am certainly a relic of the 18 th century both in prose and in verse.”īased on these quotes, taken from S.T. “-leaving the sunny downstairs 19 th century flat, and boring my way back through the decades into the late 17 th, 18 th and early 19 th century by means of innumerable crumbling and long-s’d tomes of every size and nature – “ “I think I am probably the only living person to whom the ancient 18 th century idiom is actually a prose and poetic mother-tongue.”

Lovecraft dreams in the witch house