Page "The Nameless City" Paragraph 3

Critic William Fulwiler argues that Edgar Rice Burroughs ' At the Earth's Core was one of Lovecraft's primary inspirations for " The Nameless City ", citing " the reptile race, the tunnel to the interior of the earth, and the ' hidden world of eternal day '" as elements common to both tales.

More generally, Fulwiler suggests, the theme of " alien races more powerful and more intelligent than man ", which recurs frequently in Lovecraft's writings, may derive from Burroughs ' Pellucidar stories.

However, both writers drew on an already existing and vast literature of " lost city " stories and novels.