I intended something a bit deeper on Lovecraft’s “The Outsider” tonight, but I’ll delay that till tomorrow night for two reasons: (1) Dr. Sturgis’s post hits on several key elements that deserve discussion. If you’ve not read “The Outsider” yet, it’s a very brief story that can be read in one short sitting or listened to via free audio. Take a minute to read it and join the discussion!
And (2), I have a very pressing question that needs an answer. From the story:
I fantastically associated these things with everyday events, and thought them more natural than the coloured pictures of living beings which I found in many of the mouldy books. From such books I learned all that I know. No teacher urged or guided me, and I do not recall hearing any human voice in all those years – not even my own; for although I had read of speech, I had never thought to try to speak aloud.
So … where did he learn how to read?
Charlie on 
Tom on 
Moe W on 
Steve Morrison on 
Moe W on 
Arabella on 
Red Rocker on 
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Same place Tarzan did, growing up with the Great Apes and getting his education from the books left by his dead parents. From which we can assume that it was axiomatic for late 19th / early 20th century fantasy fiction authors that men could teach themselves to read.
Red Rocker beat me to the punch. I think Burroughs hinted that it was because of Tarzan’s superior blood/breeding that he was able to grasp language without a teacher. Maybe there’s something about race memories or race skills in there too.
The Tarzan analogy is probably the obvious, yes… The question remains whether The Outsider was ever really a child or has simply lost his memory, along with the shadowy figures who ‘raised him’. If the latter, then it may be that his being a ghoul means that he doesn’t remember learning to read when he was alive, so instead of a race memory, this may actually be a suppressed memory of being alive.
Is it possible that the extent of his reading was just by looking at the pictures in his books? Not only does he mention the “coloured pictures of living beings which I found in many of the mouldy books” in the quote you provided Travis, but he mentions soon after that “My aspect was a matter equally unthought of, for there were no mirrors in the castle, and I merely regarded myself by instinct as akin to the youthful figures I saw drawn and painted in the books.”