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-   -   Lovecraft's stock is rising (https://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68569)

idoneus1957 05-24-2018 08:07 AM

Lovecraft's stock is rising
 
Since his death, over the course of the 20th century H.P. Lovecraft has gone from being unknown to the general public to being considered by many to be the equal of Poe.

As to poetry, of course, Lovecraft wrote some verse once in a while, a few sonnets, but he didn't claim to be a poet.

There are two biographies of Lovecraft I have read, the one by Joshi, and the book Lovecraft: a biography, by L. Sprague de Camp, which I like better.

I guess the most controversial thing about Lovecraft is his racism. About that I have only the following to say in his defense:
1. He was raised that way. In the place he grew up (Providence, upper crust), racism was normal.
2. In the last years of his life, he was getting better in the racism department, and if he had lived ten years longer we might have seen a very different Lovecraft.
3. Read de Camp's book. There were things in Lovecraft's life that screwed with his head.

I don't think I have a favorite Lovecraft story. The first ones I ever read were in a big anthology of horror stories. They were The Dunwich Horror and The Rats in the Walls.

There have been some Lovecraft movies, but it's really different to capture the Lovecraft atmosphere on the big screen.

Kelg 07-03-2019 04:29 PM

I was thinking of this myself.
I read some of Lovecraft's letters a while back and was amazed by his intelligence (and political incorrectness).
Never was drawn to him as a writer of fiction although I started to hear about him in the 1980s.
One point he made was the idea (later echoed by others like Truman Capote) that American literature had become alienated and de-natured. He said writers like Faulkner, Joyce, and others did not represent American reader tastes.
In a way, I think he has been proven right-since his stock has risen, while the likes of the writers he mentioned (presumably including Hemingway) do not seem to be holding public interest like it was once claimed.
In a similar way how Tesla has become more well known after decades of Einstein being heralded as the genius of the 20th century.

As for Lovecraft's fiction--definitely hugely influential, although I find that it takes a while for the build up to take effect. I.e. At the Mountains of Madness--sloooow build up, but by the time you get to the caves, the sense of dread reaches considerable effect.

A history of horror essay by Lovecraft introduced me to the works of Fitz James O'Brien.

FranxLove 07-04-2019 03:42 AM

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Nice post. Love me some Lovecraft!:) Only movie I enjoyed was Masters of Horror rendition of Dream in The Witch House. First time I watched it I thought it was terrible! The second time I enjoyed it. horror movies can be ambivelent like that.

Although I hated the monologues in his fiction, how it seemed at times like Lovecraft was trying to write how he thought human beings talked and behaved, erring in the proccess, later I took my hat off to him as he was truly onto something enormous, that is real and exists, and that he showcased well in stories like From Beyond.

fudgetusk 07-08-2019 07:04 AM

I seem to recall he married a Jewish woman but hated Jews.


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