In Praise of the Innsmouth Look-Nautical Terror and the Specter of Atlantic History in H. P. Lovecraft’s Fiction

歌頌印斯茅斯之貌：洛夫克拉夫特小說的航海驚駭與大西洋史幽靈

10.7015/JEAS.201606_46(2).0001

藍培(Lampe Evan)

洛夫克拉夫特 ； 大西洋史 ； 《印斯茅斯疑雲》 ； 水手 ； H. P. Lovecraft ； Atlantic history ； ＂The Shadow Over Innsmouth,＂ sailors

歐美研究

46卷2期（2016 / 06 / 01）

165 - 210

英文

在洛夫克拉夫特的小說中，「印斯茅斯之貌」不僅結合了數個重要的主題：種族退化、對海洋生物的恐懼與落後地區的怪奇，同時也揭露了作者與大西洋史的關聯。本文將根據洛夫克拉夫特短篇小說《印斯茅斯疑雲》中人物的獨特生理轉變，以及他對海洋驚悚的廣泛討論來定義「印斯茅斯之貌」。在他的故事中，水手總以惡人的姿態出現，因為他們常參與古老的克蘇魯邪教活動。然而這些水手亦與大西洋史中悠久的文化抗爭傳統有關。洛夫克拉夫特也用「印斯茅斯之貌」來形容那些被排除在經濟發展之外的勞工與社區。這種排除暴力，甚至更直接的奴隸制度與解剖科學暴力，常成為勞工階級對大西洋精英不滿的根源，而洛夫克拉夫特正是這群精英的一員。更明顯的，從洛夫克拉夫特身上反映出二十世紀初期種族與文化融合論述。他雖然是種族主義者，卻不得不承認在大西洋史發展的事實下，種族純淨在美洲大陸已然變成一種神話。本文認為，在自由與暴力的張力下透過大西洋史的鏡頭來檢視「印斯茅斯之貌」時，它可被視為勞工階級抗爭的一種表徵。

The ＂Innsmouth Look＂ combines several important themes explored by H. P. Lovecraft in his fiction: racial degeneration, fear of unknown creatures from the sea, and backwater oddity. It also reveals Lovecraft’s people and communities excluded from economic progress. The violence of exclusion, as well as the more direct violence of slavery and the anatomical sciences, are in many ways the root causes of working class resentment against the Atlantic elite, with which Lovecraft affiliated himself. Most obviously, Lovecraft was feeding into early twentieth century discourses on race and cultural mixing. Although racist, Lovecraft faced directly the truth that Atlantic history made racial purity in the Americas a myth. A final reading of the ＂Innsmouth Look＂ is the general fear of evils from the sea. Taken together, this article argues that the ＂Innsmouth Look＂ is best examined in terms of the tension between freedom and violence, and therefore read through the lens of Atlantic history as an expression of working class resistance. relationship to several aspects of Atlantic history. This article will define the ＂Innsmouth Look＂ in terms of both the specific physiological changes described in ＂The Shadow Over Innsmouth＂ and Lovecraft’s broader exploration of the terror of the sea. Maritime workers appear in his stories as villains largely due to their participation in the heterodox cults associated with the ancient gods of the so-called ＂Cthulhu Mythos.＂ These workers, however, are also invoking a long tradition of cultural resistance in Atlantic history. The ＂Innsmouth Look＂ is also seen in Lovecraft’s description of working class resistance.

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