Following the Road to Madness - The literary influence of Edgar Allan Poe on Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen (Englisches Seminar), course: British-American Short Stories, language: English, abstract: The play of the orchestra strikes up in a dark and sluggish manner. Its compact sonority spreads like milky fog which starts blurring and covering all familiar elements before the human eye. Slowly, an imaginative chill seems to surround the listener. An overture that causes a slight shudder and sharpens all senses... Then, Joachim Kerzel - the German voice of Jack Nicholson - starts off: 'Das jene großen Mächte oder Wesen überlebt haben ist denkbar. Ein Überleben aus einer ungeheuer fernen Zeit, als Bewusstsein sich bildete. Vielleicht in Formen, die lange vor dem Heraufdämmern der Menschheit wieder verschwanden. Formen, von denen einzig Dichtung und Sage eine nebulöse Erinnerung bewahrt haben...' This is the opening sequence of Der Cthulhu Mythos, an audio book published by LPL Records in 2002. It comprises horror stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce. In 2003 the production was awarded with two prizes: Bestes Hörbuch des Jahres 2003, as well as Deutscher Phantastik Preis 2003. According to the company´s principle 'Gänsehaut für die Ohren', LPL Records specializes in producing audio books of horror tales. Having five other stories by H. P. Lovecraft in stock, the author from Providence, Rhode Island, can be seen as their primal draw. Just one year later, H. P. Lovecraft´s novella Der Schatten über Innsmouth was also nominated for Bestes Hörbuch des Jahres 2004 and won the Deutscher Phantastik Preis 2004 again. Among this genre, there is only one author whose horror tales can be considered as almost equally successful: his name is Edgar Allan Poe. In late 2003 Lübbe Audio published four of his short stories to start a new Edgar Allan Poe series. A firstperson narrator and protagonist, who suffers from severe memory-loss, relives the horrors of Poe´s tales in his dreams. The quest for the narrator´s true personality and the reason of his amnesia creates the frame-story of this continuing series. Therefore, Poe´s stories work as a key to his past. Meanwhile, another four stories continue the sequence, and four more will be published in September 2005. This year, Lübbe Audio´s Poe series is expected to receive an award for more than 250.000 sold copies - an enormous success for audio books, especially of this genre!