es the story so effective is the use of the supernatural, which allows Lovecraft to create beings to terrible to exist in the world we know. Throughout the story pervades a sense of the unknown, of some ancient mystery which mortal man should never venture to know. The story evicts a visceral sense of horror from the reader, one of realization of what might happen if such things were ever to exist. While any sane person would never claim that a giant god from the stars will ever rise out of the ocean to destroy the world, the reader can nonetheless envision such a horrific event. The Call of Cthulu shows how effective the supernatural can be in horror.Another excellent Lovecraft story that incorporates the supernatural is Nyarlathotep. The plot centers on the arrival of Nyarlathotep, a modern-day prophet who throws the world into madness. The entire basis for the story is the supernatural, the predestined end of man which comes bellowing out of the depths of antiquity. While short in length the story nevertheless manages to build a sense of dread before Lovecraft unleashes the terrible truth of Nyarlathoteps purpose upon the reader. Unlike The Call of Cthulu Nyarlathotep ends with evil succeeding, in the world being engulfed by unspeakable horrors. The tale truly grabs the reader with a pervading sense of doom and predestined destruction, making it a highly effective piece of horror literature.What is it about the supernatural that lends itself so effectively to the horror genre? The truth is that it is a combination of factors, which come to play in different stories. In a tale such as Nyarlathotep the role of the supernatural is to impress upon the reader images and ideas which would not exist in the natural world, to horrify through that which is unknown and evil. This is one of the primary roles that the supernatural fills in the horror genre, being a vehicle to allow the author to create images and events in which the...
