Estudios de Teoría Literaria (Jul 2023)
The Palimpsests of H. P. Lovecraft’s Works in Spain and Cuba and Their Emancipation from the Rupture of Anthropocentrism: Semillas de Cthulhu (2015) and La voz del abismo (2017)
Abstract
"Del negro vacío", story written by José Francisco Sastre and La voz del abismo (2017), novel written by Yoss, are the works, of Spanish and Cuban origin respectively, that occupy this article. It delves into the link of these texts, understood as palimpsests of H. P. Lovecraft’s works, with the evolution of the metaphors introduced by this author in the Cosmic Horror, literary subgenre of his creation, and in the Cthulhu Mythos, its last phase. The analysis of the relationship of these stories with the subgenre from which they come is done following the theory of transtextuality created by Gérard Genette, and the reflections of authors such as Jaime Alazraki. The meaning of these metaphors and their consequences are exposed thanks to writers like S.T. Joshi and Stefan Dzemianowicz. These metaphors embodied the loneliness and human insignificance in the universe. Thus, this genre adopts a cosmocentric position. This article shows how the original meaning of these metaphors gets diluted in the selected works. A vision of these palimpsests is presented where the human figure recovers its position thanks to the predominance of the diverting aspect and a feeling of unity and hope for humanity.
