Howard Philips Lovecraft has had a profound influence over modern fiction. His supernatural stories have influenced writers ranging from Stephen King to Robert Bloch. Though in his life only one of his books was published and a few short stories were placed into pulp magazines, now all of his works are gathered into various collections. Some styles he uses come directly from Poe; however, Lovecraft was able to expand upon these. His exclusive use of first person nameless narration and supernatural occurrences allow Lovecraft to invoke a sense of dramatic awareness in the reader. That, along with his fictional religious series of the "Mythos," and his odd, almost trifling plot topics cause the reader to realize humanity's lack of supremacy and rationalization in abnormal situations.
             Many of Lovecraft's stories use this first person narrative. His best known example is "The Outsider." Starting out, the reader only knows one thing about the narrator, that he lives unaccompanied in a castle in a jungle environment. It is then discovered that he has never seen the light of day or received any memorable human contact. This depressing lifestyle is set up to gain the reader's sympathy. Reading the story in this narration one puts himself or herself in this lonely position and feels for the narrator. After an attempt to climb the tower walls to see the sun he finds himself in an alternate dimension. After entering a party in this new dimension, he sees all the people screaming in fear and running; he thinks there is some sort of monster behind him. After turning around he sees the beast and approaches it to ward it off. Upon swinging at the
             monster to scare it away he accidentally feels its arm, but instead of a "rotting outstretched paw," he only feels "a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass" (Lovecraft 59). Now the reader has become aware that this character that gained s...