For Lovecraft, that is a major bit of character growth. (i.e., his personality, not his characters). He also considered at the end of Shadow over Innsmouth that being an immortal fishman in the depths of the ocean might be kind of cool, actually.
Given the last part of the story is a race-swapped escape from a lynch mob in a sundown town, I suspect crescendo of horror. But that’s all the more reason to read against his intention, arguably.
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Date: 2023-11-15 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-15 04:25 pm (UTC)I've always wondered if that was HPL's intended reading of the end of Shadow, or if he considered it the crescendo of the horror.
(Ruthanna Emrys' Winter Tide goes heavy into the "cool, actually" interpretation. I really wish the bean counters had green lit the third novel.)
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Date: 2023-11-16 12:09 pm (UTC)