I wish we’d gotten to see the rest of Lovecraft’s redemption arc.
He died so soon after beginning to realize and acknowledge that his views about the world had been abhorrent.
Edit to add:
If anyone’s curious to read an example of the beginnings of his realization, check out this letter, written about a month before his death:
https://github.com/punchmonster/Lovecraft-Letters/blob/master/19370207-Catherine-L-Moore.md
It’s a fairly long letter, but the whole thing is interesting. He seems to have been radicalized and was becoming quite critical of capitalism, if not a full blown Marxist. You’ll find the following quote in the last paragraph:
I looked around for a 1924 photograph of myself to burn, spit on, or stick pins in! Holy Hades—was I that much of a dub at 33 … only 13 years ago? There was no getting out of it—I really had thrown all that haughty, complacent, snobbish, self-centered, intolerant bull, & at a mature age when anybody but a perfect damned fool would have known better!
There’s more evidence in there than just that passage, but this is already becoming a wall of text!
Things that freaked H. P. Lovecraft out:
- Geometry
- Stars
- Cool air
- Subways
- Old houses
- Corners of rooms
- Violin music
- Flute music
- The very concept of dreams
- Realistic paintings
It would be easier to list the things that didn’t freak Howard out.
Plus everyone who wasn’t white and from his home town.
On the Creation of N*ggers
When, long ago, the Gods created Earth, In Jove’s fair image Man was shap’d at birth. The beasts for lesser parts were next design’d; Yet were they too remote from humankind. To fill this gap, and join the rest to man, Th’Olympian host conceiv’d a clever plan. A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure, Fill’d it with vice, and call’d the thing a N*GGER.
H.P.LOVECRAFT.
😬😬😬
I am not surprised that this is actually something he wrote.
You’re just taking him out of context. /s
It’s just a bad translation, in the original Roman it’s a passage about love.
It’s well known that he was a socially awkward and autistic.
We should have “a bit of grace” and give the “benefit of the doubt.” /s
My favorite way of explaining how racist he was is that his contemporaries over a century ago in the “Birth of a Nation” period of racism were like “Dude - tone down the racism.”
- his cat
…that’s probably it
And his cat’s name freaks out all of us
what do you mean, surely it cant be that bad
oh
oh noooooo
Yep, the n-word kitty.
If you are curious, you can read more about the man and find him nearly frightened by his own shadow, thus filled with hate and bias to the brim. His fragile antics are probably why he wrote a lot of foundational horror stories. Guy was clearly unwell in the head department, and although it gave us a lot of creative lit, all of it is stained with things he was himself afraid of.
- Colors
Of light. But also black people too, but that’s not what I meant!
Things that made him cum:
- Gambreled rooftops mostly
Honorable mentions:
- Gables
- Central chimneys
- Providence
- Maine
see also: Stephen King
Lol, apparently I’m a double threat against H.P.L. I was first chair flute and first chair violin.
A kender with two different instruments AND two chairs, you say? 🤔
My favorite fact about Lovecraft was that he was so fucking racist, the KKK told him to chill the fuck out on his racism.
Lovecraft being a neurotic mess afraid of everything is probably why his books are so good. He did a great job with filling his books with that sense of existential dread.
Take a shot every time Lovecraft says something is unknowable or indescribable.
Most writers or artists of any kind are not as cool as you want them to be. H.P. was essentially a nerdy upper class dandy. He was horribly sheltered and coddled all his life by his mom and her sisters. He’d probably faint if he had to go out in the rain without an umbrella.
I enjoyed his writing but you have to separate the art from the artist. Just like not all action heros are badasses, they just look like that on film.
The man was a neurotic anxious mess who was scared of everything around him in his time and checked into the psych ward multiple times. I guess it shows in his writings
Both of his parents were extremely mentally ill from syphilis. That’s why the theme of generational curse is so prominent in his work.
As for how racist he was, You just need to know that he wrote a book where the big revelation and last sentence of the book was something along the lines of, “worst of all, she was an n-word”. The book’s name is Medusa’s coil
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Yeah he was a homophobe and a racist for sure. But how much more than anyone else from his time. I love the themes he brings in but I think other people have done a good job of showing his ideas without the fear he had in him, Shape of water comes to mind and I think del Toro does a great job in showing those themes of the unknown and all.
There’s a video on his (HP) work by HBomberguy which I think is really good.
I didnt know about the reason for his generational curse… That’s pretty cool!
He was racist to the point where friends, and acquaintances, of his, at the time, were put-off by it. Their expression of how uncomfortable it made them was one of the factors that went into him renouncing his bigotry.
His racism was bad enough that his friends, and acquaintances, at the time, found it off-putting. Their expression of how uncomfortable it made them was one of the factors that eventually lead to him renouncing his bigotry.
Personally I think Lovecraft having these issues makes him a more fascinating author to me. The fear of otherness is so prevalent in his work, it’s like looking directly into his soul
Ooh that’s a cool perspective! He was a scared scared man.
