Cool Air by H.P. Lovecraft: Review and PDF
Title: Cool Air
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Original Publication: Tales of Magic and Mystery (Vol. 1, No. 4)
Release Date: March, 1928
Publisher / Editor: Walter B. Gibson (Personal Arts Company)
Illustration: Yan Viana
Genre / Subgenres: Horror / Gothic Horror / Weird Fiction
Copyright Status: Public Domain (Free Download Available)
Format & Availability: Article Review + Complete PDF Edition
The complete text of “Cool Air” and its free PDF version are available at the bottom of this article. Click here to skip to the download section.
Cool Air is a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1926 and published in 1928 in Tales of Magic and Mystery, the sort of pulp magazine that helped establish American horror and fantasy fiction. It was later reprinted in Weird Tales, where the story became better known. This is one of those interesting Lovecraft stories that has few connections to his mythology, almost seeming like a standalone tale in his bibliography. Lovecraft also brings together Gothic horror and science fiction here, a combination I find very appealing. You can also clearly see Edgar Allan Poe’s influence in the doctor’s character. Keep reading if you want a more detailed review with spoilers, or skip to the bottom of the page to download the full text and read it yourself.
Plot of "Cool Air"
In 1923, a financially struggling magazine writer moves into a run-down boarding house on West 14th Street in New York. One day, a heart attack drives him to knock on the door upstairs, where the mysterious Dr Muñoz lives. The Spanish doctor is cultured, refined, brilliant and even charismatic, but, for some mysterious reason, he lives in a flat kept at freezing temperatures.
The Gothic Horror of "Cool Air"
Cool Air follows one of the most common structures in Lovecraft’s writing: a first-person narrator recounting a mysterious incident that happened to him. This puts us in the position of listeners to a confession and gives the ending the feel of an explanation for a traumatic experience. We can also see a touch of Gothic horror in the doctor’s character, who is presented ambiguously. We don’t know whether he is good or evil, but we’re certain that he’s involved in something at least a little suspicious. In this case, it’s eternal life, or rather, a state of being not quite dead.
The idea of not dying is one of the most widely used tropes in literature. It reached one of its peaks in the classic The Picture of Dorian Gray, and even appears in the figure of the vampire. Immortality usually involves the corruption of life, since the natural course of living things is to decay. To remain alive, characters often resort to various unethical and harmful methods, illustrating how the fear of death can drive us to make “corrupt” decisions.
I like this batch of Lovecraft stories in which horror happens by chance. Here, we have an ordinary boarding house with little to offer, and the narrator happens to discover a strange doctor who becomes the focus of a series of events. It’s very similar, and I mean very similar, to the short story The Music of Erich Zann. The structure is practically the same. However, this story contains less of the cosmic horror found in most of Lovecraft’s best-known works. It’s closer to a classic horror tale in the style of Poe.
Lovecraft himself later revealed that this story was inspired by The Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen. He also described The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar as his favourite Edgar Allan Poe story. In this case, I agree with him, as it’s my favourite Poe story too.
Finally, we discover that Dr Muñoz had been dead the whole time, or almost, since he had died around eighteen years earlier. Through a method of his own devising, however, he had managed to keep his body alive all those years. Naturally, this requires him to remain at a very low temperature. Otherwise, his body decomposes into a liquid that the narrator takes care not to describe precisely. The doctor’s theory is that willpower and consciousness are stronger than organic life, making the body an obstacle to achieving a longer existence. Lovecraft explores this theme in another story that’s just as famous, Herbert West-Reanimator.
Character and Setting
Dr Muñoz: The doctor’s story isn’t fully explained in the tale, but he’s a Spanish physician described as a man of superior intelligence. At some point around 1905, the doctor died and was brought back to life under the conditions that he remain at temperatures below 55°F and use spices such as Egyptian incense to preserve his body.
The Narrator: This is another of Lovecraft’s many unnamed narrators, a feature that appears frequently in his stories. In theory, you could say that Lovecraft is imagining himself in different situations involving the horrors the world has to offer. In this case, that includes the author’s own aversion to the cold. Here, the narrator is a man who writes for a magazine that’s practically gone bust and need a boarding house.
New York: New York City is the setting for some of Lovecraft’s stories, with Cool Air often considered the best of those set there. Another example is The Horror at Red Hook.
Lovecraft's Time in New York
There are some interesting details about this story. The first is the author’s personal intolerance of the cold. Lovecraft genuinely suffered in low temperatures, which I find rather unusual. Having such an aversion to the cold that it finds its way into one of his stories seems worthy of note. Another thing the story conveys is how unhappy Lovecraft was during his time in New York, between 1924 and 1926, when he was trapped in a failed marriage and going through a period of great unhappiness. The city appears in his stories (The Horror at Red Hook and He) as a place of crowds and social disintegration. The Horror at Red Hook is also considered his most prejudiced story.
We can see more of this worldview in the way he portrays a boarding house run by Miss Herrero, who has a caricatured accent and is described as “slovenly, almost bearded”. The narrator, meanwhile, admires the Spaniard Muñoz for his superior blood and breeding, birth, culture and discernment. In other words, Muñoz is noble despite his surroundings. This kind of admiration, based on a hierarchy of “good blood” over supposedly “gross” or uncultured people, is exactly what characterises Lovecraft’s way of thinking.
"Cool Air" PDF Download Free
This work was originally published in 1928 and is in the public domain according to current legislation. However, the original authorship, magazine credits, and any associated illustrations remain the property of their respective creators, illustrators and publishers. This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and may not be used for commercial sale.
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