Episode 200 – On 'The Call of Cthulhu'

For their 200th episode, JF and Phil turn their attention to H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu,” a story foundational not only to modern horror fiction but to the very idea of the Weird. In revisiting this tale of forbidden knowledge and cosmic ambiguity, the hosts reflect on Weird Studies itself as a “slow piecing together of dissociated knowledge” that mirrors the work of Lovecraft’s own bewildered protagonists.

Image by Antoni Espinosa via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cthulhu_blood.….).

Upcoming Events:

Peter Bebergal teaches on Weirdosphere (weirdosphere.org/course/hacking-the-invisible/…) starting November 20, 2025

JF Martel speaks at Back to Haunt Us (verdur.in/event/back-to-haunt-us/?srsltid=AfmB…) in East London on November 8, 2025

Phil Ford speaks at the Durations Festival (dice.fm/event/bbyrkv-durations-philosophy-and-…) in NYC on November 7, 2025

Phil Ford hangs out at Archestratus (archestrat.us/pages/aboutus) Books and Food on November 8, 2025

References

H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu (bookshop.org/a/18799/9781835622759)

Weird Studies, Episode 2 on Garmonbozia (weirdstudies.com/2)

Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (bookshop.org/a/18799/9781554815548)

Phil Ford, “The Wanderer” (tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01411896.2023…)

H. P. Lovecraft, "Nyarlathotep" (hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/n.aspx)

Weird Studies, Episode 74 on Jung (weirdstudies.com/74)

Phil Ford, Jacob Foster, and J. F. Martel, “Care of the Dead” (direct.mit.edu/daed/article/154/1/166/127931/C…)

Weird Studies, Episode 110 on The Glass Bead Game (weirdstudies.com/110)

Weird Studies,Episode 101 on Tanizaki (weirdstudies.com/101)

Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy (bookshop.org/a/18799/9781780992525)

Weird Studies, Episode 156 on Donna Tartt (weirdstudies.com/156)

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