Presenters
Abstract
With Welcome to Night Vale’s introduction in 2012, and the subsequent rise of shows like The Magnus Archives (2012) and Tanis (2015), the marriage of H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horror with radio show and neo-noir aesthetics has found a foothold in the popular horror imaginary. A more recent iteration of this sub-genre, The Alexandria Archives, more fully deploys Lovecraftian themes and elements, while simultaneously and continuously reclaiming representation and agency for people whose identities Lovecraft consistently and rapaciously undermined. The Alexandria Archives, in this way, follows not only podcasting trends, but also literary trends. Considered alongside the novella, The Ballad of Black Tom, and the novel, Lovecraft Country, both 2016 releases, The Alexandria Archives works toward developing character-types that Lovecraft victimized and/or villainized. In this renewal of Lovecraftian stories, however, these characters become protagonists and actors, rather than passive observers, hysterical victims, or monsters. This paper draws on existing work on Lovecraft, such as Donald R. Burleson’s Lovecraft: Disturbing the Universe, Don G. Smith’s H.P. Lovecraft in Popular Culture, and Maurice Lévy’s Lovecraft, a Study in the Fantastic. Additionally, this paper seeks to investigate the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality are mobilized in The Alexandria Archives in order to subvert Lovecraftian racism, sexism, and homophobia. To this end, this paper draws on works such as M. Wester’s African American Gothic, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and New Critical Essays on H. P. Lovecraft edited by David Simmons. Finally, in terms of the broader theory, Julia Kristeva’s work on abjection becomes vital. Ultimately, this paper seeks to make an intervention into horror studies that critically analyzes a foundational author while accounting for how his work has been adapted and subverted in recent years on a wholly unique medium.