While I’m pretty sure I’ll never get the chance to reach Lovecraft in a high school or middle school English class, I have given a lot of thought to how I would do it.
In the past, I’d figured that The Outsider would be a good work to work with. It’s relatively short and the plot is accessible. And, while at least to modern audiences, the twist might be really obvious, I think the bit where the narrator opens the trapdoor on the tallest tower to find it opens onto open ground is really strong.
However, while I don’t agree with all of his Kenneth Hite’s critique of the story, he made a damn good point that the prose is purple enough to be ultra violet. I honestly think that would really challenge students enough that the actual content of the story wouldn’t get through. (I have found Poe is a challenge to many of them)
Now I think that Pickman’s Model is the best story to introduce kids to Lovecraft.
First of all, it has some of the plainest language of Lovecraft’s work. It’s also one of his shorter works. Both of those things are going to make it easier for students to handle.
I also know that both of those elements have also relegated Pickman’s Model to being a lesser Lovecraft work for some authorities. Which I don’t think is correct. What they do is make for a lean, mean piece of writing where every element is tightly aimed at creeping me out.
Pickman’s Model is one of the two Lovecraft works that have given me nightmares. (The other is Dreams in the Witch House. Brown Jenkin is so visceral that it’s pure nightmare fuel) It has some real oomph. And it helped define Lovecraftian ghouls which have become a staple of the Mythos.
No, it’s not Call of Cthulhu but it’s a good place to open the door.
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