Digging Up Lovecraft
Linda from Randolph reminds us of the macabre mythos associated with “eldritch”
I was rather surprised a couple of weeks ago to hear the word “eldritch” used in one of the bluffing rounds. It is a familiar word to me, immediately bringing to mind H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos which was quite popular (quite a while ago, I guess) and frequently described as “eldritch”. Ah, macabre tales of unearthly doings along the misty Miskatonic River! I always thought that anyone who had immersed themselves in Poe and his ilk would surely come across Lovecraft and his eldritch stories eventually.
I had a similar response though my mind flew to “the Land” and the Thomas Covenant series of Stephen R. Donaldson, where there were frequent enough eldritch issues all through the many sites in this 10 volume epic.
As a comics reader, I feel like I saw “eldritch energies” to describe the powers of Dr Fate or some other magic-based superhero.
As a longtime Lovecraft fan, I was surprised to hear “eldritch” as a word “nobody” knew. It’s somewhat obscure, but I didn’t think it was esoteric! Anyway, as usual a fun round on my favorite radio show….