Weird Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

‘Weird Fiction in the Twentieth-Century Gothic’ provides a historical overview of the term ‘weird’ as it relates to twentieth-century fiction and outlines some definitions in terms of the characteristic features of the genre, as well as the ideas underpinning its manifestations. This involves an unpacking of H.P. Lovecraft’s use of the term in his essay ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature’ (1927), which argues for the existence of a ‘truly weird atmosphere’ expressed in certain forms of fiction that go beyond the horror and terror of the Gothic mode to convey what he calls ‘an awed and convinced sense of the imminence of strange spiritual spheres or entities.’ It is also argued that Weird fiction provides the eerie thrills of the Gothic but also an engagement with rapid developments in science, creating the perfect set of circumstances for it to proliferate in pulp magazine form in the mid-twentieth century.