"That Innsmouth Look" : A Study of First-Person Narration and the State of Uncertainty in "The Shadow over Innsmouth" by H. P. Lovecraft

The aim of the present essay has been to study how narration and focalisation generate the reader’s state of uncertainty in ”The Shadow over Innsmouth” by H. P. Lovecraft. It has been accomplished with the aid of Yvonne Leffler’s narratological analysis on horror fiction and, to some extent, Mieke Bal’s narratological theories. A pedagogical reflection has been provided before the analysis as to demonstrate how to teach narration and focalisation with the help of horror fiction. The analysis has four sections. The first section demonstrates how the narrative strategies used by Lovecraft in the narrative progression affects the reader’s state of uncertainty by making it difficult for the reader to solve the horror mystery. The second section shows how the narrator’s insecurities in his abilities and use of language affect the reader’s state of uncertainty as well as his or her interpretation of events. The third section illustrates how the narrator’s subjective and coloured perception generates the reader’s state of ambiguity by challenging the reader’s interpretation of events in relation to what is true or false. The final section demonstrates the problems of vision – “seeing too little”, “seeing too much” and “being seen” – complicate the reader’s interpretation of events.