Out of Space and into the Ground: Chemical and Water Pollution in H.P. Lovecraft’s New England

Abstract

This paper discusses the influence of interwar environmental practices regarding chemi- cal and water pollution in New England on H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space” (1927) and “The Shunned House” (1937). It is argued that the literary Gothic tradition which Lovecraft builds upon is influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and remodeled by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring (1962) as ecoGothic realism. It is discussed that “The Colour Out of Space” extends Lovecraft’s personal writ- ings regarding the gap between class and politics in the face of growing wealth disparity. It is commented how in “The Shunned House,” Lovecraft presents anti-immigration senti- ment while also advocating for integrated and preserved cities free of pollution, and the paper concludes that for Lovecraft, changes in landscape and ecology reflect fundamental changes in New England society that are evidenced by commercialism and lack of proper waste management policies.