Strndberg does ‘The Colour Out of Space’: Roots of Cosmic Horror
I recently realized that a play written in 1887 « The Father » anticipates Lovecraft’s Colour Out of Space story, most obviously, a meteorite with evidence of alien life is an instrument for destroying a family-though not the most destructive factor nor is its nature inimical to earth life in any way. In conjunction with « Miss Julie », Strindberg’s other play from about the same time, it is clear that Strindberg incorporated Darwininian theory into his plays, understood its implications and expected his audience to understand it as well. This is important, because Darwin establishes a number of the prerequisites for cosmic horror, notably that humans are just like any other animal and subject to the same indifferent application of nature’s laws and removing any need for God to explain life or the history of life.
I do not know if « The Father » was a source consciously or subconsciously for « The Color Out of Space », Lovecraft was certainly familiar with Strindberg, but it does show that post Darwin, authors were advancing the key foundational elements cosmic horror to an audience that could appreciate them and doing so at a surprisingly early date-it usually takes about 50 years for a paradigm shift like that to become a part of pop culture-Lovecraft started writing his stuff very close to the 50 year mark after the publication of « The Origin of Species ». I don’t think that the coincidence of meteorites with proof of extraterrestrial life is convincing evidence that Lovecraft borrowed from the earlier play, it is a natural, almost inevitable trope and something very much the sort of thing that might occur to someone after reading « The Origin of Species »
i am posting a little essay on the topic that I wrote in the comments below.