Editing Nyarlathotep (section)

== Inspiration ==
[[File:Nyarlathotep-par-Julien-Noirel.jpg|thumb|{{center|Nyarlathotep in the guise of [[Nikola Tesla]] in Rotomago and Julien Noirel's comic-book adaptation of the prose poem "Nyarlathotep".<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Rotomago and Julien Noirel, ''Nyarlathotep'', Paris, Akiléos, 2007, 53 pp., {{ISBN|978-2-915168-53-2}}.</ref>}}]]

In a 1921 letter to Reinhardt Kleiner, Lovecraft related the dream he had had—described as "the most realistic and horrible [nightmare] I have experienced since the age of ten"—that served as the basis for his prose poem "Nyarlathotep". In the dream, he received a letter from his friend [[Samuel Loveman]] that read:

<blockquote>Don't fail to see Nyarlathotep if he comes to Providence. He is horrible—horrible beyond anything you can imagine—but wonderful. He haunts one for hours afterwards. I am still shuddering at what he showed.<ref name="Kleiner" /></blockquote>

Lovecraft commented:

<blockquote>I had never heard the name NYARLATHOTEP before, but seemed to understand the allusion. Nyarlathotep was a kind of itinerant showman or lecturer who held forth in public halls and aroused widespread fear and discussion with his exhibitions. These exhibitions consisted of two parts—first, a horrible—possibly prophetic—cinema reel; and later some extraordinary experiments with scientific and electrical apparatus. As I received the letter, I seemed to recall that Nyarlathotep was already in Providence.... I seemed to remember that persons had whispered to me in awe of his horrors, and warned me not to go near him. But Loveman's dream letter decided me.... As I left the house I saw throngs of men plodding through the night, all whispering affrightedly and bound in one direction. I fell in with them, afraid yet eager to see and hear the great, the obscure, the unutterable Nyarlathotep.<ref name="Kleiner">{{cite book|first=H.P.|last=Lovecraft|chapter=Letter to Reinhardt Kleiner, December 21, 1921|title=Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos|editor-first=Lin|editor-last=Carter|editor-link=Lin Carter|publisher=[[Ballantine Books]]|location=New York City|date=1972|isbn=978-0-345-02427-5|pages=18–19}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Will Murray]] has speculated that this dream image of Nyarlathotep may have been inspired by the inventor [[Nikola Tesla]], whose well-attended lectures did involve extraordinary experiments with electrical apparatus and whom some saw as a sinister figure.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Will|last=Murray|author-link=Will Murray|title=Behind the Mask of Nyarlathotep|journal=Lovecraft Studies|issue=25|date=Fall 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Robert M.|editor-last=Price|editor-link=Robert M. Price|title=The Nyarlathotep Cycle: Stories about the God of a Thousand Forms|publisher=[[Chaosium]]|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan|date=2006|isbn=978-1-56882-260-0|page=9}}</ref>

[[Robert M. Price]] proposes that the name Nyarlathotep may have been subconsciously suggested to Lovecraft by two names from [[Lord Dunsany]], an author he much admired. Alhireth-Hotep, a false prophet, appears in Dunsany's ''[[The Gods of Pegana]]'', and Mynarthitep, a god described as "angry", appears in Dunsany's "The Sorrow of Search".<ref>Price, pp. vii, 1–5.</ref>