Supernatural Horror in Literature Summary

"Supernatural Horror in Literature" is an essay where Lovecraft explain his approach to horror in the context of the history of horror stories throughout the ages. Lovecraft argues that horror is such an important and effective genre because our fear of death and also of the unknown is so powerful at arousing strong emotions. Even if that is the case, there are still several different forms of horror, of which Lovecraft believes that, what he calls the "literature of cosmic fear", which he believes to be fundamentally different from tales that focus merely on gruesome stories or on incidental fears. Cosmic fear is fear that is aroused by pointing to the fundamental mysteries of the universe, including the certainty of our own deaths. These stories are judged not only by their use of character or plot, but...