The New Weird
For this week I am going to read some H.P. Lovecraft to give legitimacy to my weird Cthulhu obsession in middle school. But before reading this I want to give a first impression on what is "weird". From our class discussion, I gathered mostly that the weird is hard to explain. A quick google search defines "weird" as something supernatural or uncanny. Uncanny is defined as "strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way." I am going to guess that the short stories I read for the new weird are going to be unsettling supernatural events, that are difficult to describe and difficult to pinpoint what makes them "weird."
The first story I read was "The Unnameable." The supernatural event in this story was a local legend of a creature that no one but the victims had ever seen, and the victims could rarely describe. The town is unsettled by the legends surrounding this creature, and it's presence is very mysterious making the unnameable uncanny. It is clear that this creature has immense power, an unusual form, and because it is hard to explain, falls under my category of "weird".
The second story I read was "What the Moon Brings." While this story starts off fairly normal, just talking about how the moon gives everything an eery look, it ends with the low-tide revealing the crown of death worn by a huge, demonic skeleton. The narrator is clearly unsettled by this event, as anything unexplained and mysterious at night is unsettling. What I find especially weird is the narrator's reaction to this massive skull. Rather than running far away, they "plunged gladly and unhesitantly into the stinking shallows". As a reader, this was the most unsettling part to me. To see someone completely terrified of what is in front of them, and head straight for it.
After reading these two short stories I would say that my initial guess of what is "weird" is not wrong, but lacking. The definition explaining weird as "supernatural or uncanny" is lacking the unexplainable aspect that makes the word "weird" necessary in the first place.
The first story I read was "The Unnameable." The supernatural event in this story was a local legend of a creature that no one but the victims had ever seen, and the victims could rarely describe. The town is unsettled by the legends surrounding this creature, and it's presence is very mysterious making the unnameable uncanny. It is clear that this creature has immense power, an unusual form, and because it is hard to explain, falls under my category of "weird".
The second story I read was "What the Moon Brings." While this story starts off fairly normal, just talking about how the moon gives everything an eery look, it ends with the low-tide revealing the crown of death worn by a huge, demonic skeleton. The narrator is clearly unsettled by this event, as anything unexplained and mysterious at night is unsettling. What I find especially weird is the narrator's reaction to this massive skull. Rather than running far away, they "plunged gladly and unhesitantly into the stinking shallows". As a reader, this was the most unsettling part to me. To see someone completely terrified of what is in front of them, and head straight for it.
After reading these two short stories I would say that my initial guess of what is "weird" is not wrong, but lacking. The definition explaining weird as "supernatural or uncanny" is lacking the unexplainable aspect that makes the word "weird" necessary in the first place.
Comments
Post a Comment