Hypnos

‘Hypnos‘ is a short story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, penned in March 1922 and first published in the May 1923 issue of National Amateur. ‘Hypnos‘ is a first-person narrative, written from the perspective of an unnamed character living in Kent and later London, England. The narrator writes that he fears sleep, and is resolved to write his story down lest it drive him further mad, regardless of what people think after reading it. Lovecraft dedicated this story to his longtime friend Samuel Loveman, who featured in the dreams that inspired Lovecraft‘s ‘The Statement of Randolph Carter‘ and ‘Nyarlathotep‘. Loveman suggested it was the best thing Lovecraft had ever written up to that point in time, as mentioned by Lovecraft in a letter. The plot-germ of the story is found in Lovecraft‘s commonplace book, in an early entry reading, ‘The man who would not sleep--dares not sleep--takes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleep-& something happens.‘