Dreams/Fantasies of Science in H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in The Witch House”
Dreams/Fantasies of Science in H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dreams in The Witch House”
Yazar: Koçsoy, Fatime Gül
Dergi: Atatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, Vol. 21 No. 1, 2016
Anahtar kelimeler: H.P.Lovecraft,“The Dreams In The Witch House”,Dream/Fantasy,Extraterrestrial,Science

This study examines the dreams and fantasiesin Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s (1890-1937) “The Dreams in the Witch House”(1933) in the context of science/myth opposition. Inspired by the idea thatmythical phenomena can be explicated by science, the protagonist tries toamalgamate black magic with modern mathematics and both in his dreams and inreality achieves entering into the fourth dimension, surpassing the boundariesof time and space. Unfortunately, these scientific and fantastic travels intothe cosmic/the extraterrestrial cost him death. Lovecraft signifies that eventhrough the devices of modern science man can be helpless to surmount thesupernatural phenomena. He shows that American society has deep-rooted butunspoken fears like New England witch myth and attributes the explanation oftheir unearthly character to the imaginary and unknowable creatures ofouter-world, drawing attention to the suspending nature of them. He proves thatscience and mythology are absolutely separate areas, affirming the beginningpoint. Lovecraft wants to believe that Newtonian causality reigns in theuniverse. Diving into the fourth dimension becomes a source of dread for him,because neither causality nor modern science is able to explain its possibilityor give a satisfactory clarification to it. The existence of the scientificallyunresolved issues in the 20th century is strong enough to threaten the place ofman in the universe. Lovecraft is deeply disturbed even terrified by them. Thecombination of the scientific with the unscientific manifests itself as areason and element of terror. Lovecraft writes stories out of thisdisillusionment and dread shifting the focus of horror fiction from the earthlyto the cosmic/the unknown. Although he believes in the power of science, heprescribes that man should accept the phenomena science cannot answer asunknowable.

This study examines the dreams and fantasiesin Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s (1890-1937) “The Dreams in the Witch House”(1933) in the context of science/myth opposition. Inspired by the idea thatmythical phenomena can be explicated by science, the protagonist tries toamalgamate black magic with modern mathematics and both in his dreams and inreality achieves entering into the fourth dimension, surpassing the boundariesof time and space. Unfortunately, these scientific and fantastic travels intothe cosmic/the extraterrestrial cost him death. Lovecraft signifies that eventhrough the devices of modern science man can be helpless to surmount thesupernatural phenomena. He shows that American society has deep-rooted butunspoken fears like New England witch myth and attributes the explanation oftheir unearthly character to the imaginary and unknowable creatures ofouter-world, drawing attention to the suspending nature of them. He proves thatscience and mythology are absolutely separate areas, affirming the beginningpoint. Lovecraft wants to believe that Newtonian causality reigns in theuniverse. Diving into the fourth dimension becomes a source of dread for him,because neither causality nor modern science is able to explain its possibilityor give a satisfactory clarification to it. The existence of the scientificallyunresolved issues in the 20th century is strong enough to threaten the place ofman in the universe. Lovecraft is deeply disturbed even terrified by them. Thecombination of the scientific with the unscientific manifests itself as areason and element of terror. Lovecraft writes stories out of thisdisillusionment and dread shifting the focus of horror fiction from the earthlyto the cosmic/the unknown. Although he believes in the power of science, heprescribes that man should accept the phenomena science cannot answer asunknowable.