The Nightmare World of Tolkien

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

The similarity here with Lovecraft's style is uncanny. The possibility of a connection of sorts is beginning to intrigue me.

Weren't Tolkien and Lovecraft both readers of Lord Dunsany? That's a possible connection, particularly in light of the fact that both of them invented, apparently independently, systems of interconnected myths.

There are striking similarities in some passages between these two authors, but there are also some notable differences. Lovecraft tended to write whole stories in his lavish baroque style, whereas Tolkien's style is much more variable. Tolkien is also far more able to retain speech patterns appropriate to his characters, whereas Lovecraft sometimes strays into high mimesis when reporting the speech of the uneducated, as in The Shadow over Innsmouth and Beyond the Wall of Sleep. Also Lovecraft's use of diary entries and newspaper clippings to tie in his legends with the modern world weren't employed at all by Tolkien except in The Notion Club Papers, which he never finished.

The greatest difference between them, however, seems to be in the philosophy of their respective mythologies. Lovecraft's universe is a dark and meaningless playground for elemental and indifferent powers of awesome magnitude, capable of destroying humanity and driving individual people mad simply with the knowledge of their existence; Tolkien's is a monotheistic construction, ruled by an omnipotent and benevolent deity for the benefit of his creations. In this more than any other aspect we see the profound philosophical differences between the two authors: Lovecraft was an atheist and committed materialist, who treated all fantastic stories as works of pure imagination, and his view of mankind is a scientific one; for him, human existence is a frail thing surrounded by gigantic forces that could destroy it at any moment. Tolkien, on the other hand, believed in just the sort of universe that he portrayed in his fiction: an ordered and structured reality ruled over by a benevolent dictator of unlimited power and unquestionable authority, and in which the thinking beings of his cosmos have a central rôle to play. On a more trivial note, Tolkien would probably have disapproved of Lovecraft's naming conventions, in which proper nouns seem to have been plucked out of the air, with little phonological relationship between them.

Having said that, there is a relish in the language both writers use; a simple delight in the sound of a word and the fall of a sentence. Both composed very rhythmic, almost hypnotic prose when the mood took them, and both liked to introduce their works as the writings of actual third parties. This could be the result of sharing preferred authors, but since Lovecraft's career was over before Tolkien's really got started, there's always an admittedly remote possibility at least that Tolkien knew of Lovecraft.

In my opinion, the use by these writers of hint and allusion to build a picture of horror is the right direction to take. A detailed description gives the reader something concrete, which may or may not terrify. Veiled threats are far more disturbing and therefore far more effective. Indeed, in some of Lovecraft's fiction, such as The Temple, the reader never finds out even what is causing the strange events, and must imagine most of the background for himself. I particularly liked Tolkien's 'nameless things': in two words, he implies that there are things in the world which fit into no exact place in his mythos; things more terrifying and horrible even than a balrog of Morgoth, and which even Gandalf will not openly describe. Perhaps that's why I dislike David Day's ascription of the name 'Kraken' to the Watcher in the Water: it removes some of the mystery and horror of that character by giving it a species and a form, and by relating it to the mythical sea-monster of Northern legend. Tolkien and Lovecraft both knew that something unnamed and unnameable is far more terrifying than something which can be recognised and catalogued.

I've strayed over a lot of ground, effectively to come back to where I started. Could there be a connection? Although the younger man, Lovecraft began to publish fiction before Tolkien; and although he was not very well known in his own time, it's possible that another enthusiast of the fantastic might have seen some of his writing. On the whole I think it doubtful, since Oxford is a long way from Providence and Weird Tales did not circulate in Britain, but the two authors certainly shared at least some influences. What a strange discovery it would be, though, to discover that at the end of the Straight Path, Cthulhu Phtagn.