As you probably know, H. P. Lovecraft (1890 - 1937) was an American author known for his horror shorts that may have ended up in the magazine Weird Tales.
(https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/31135447360.jpg)
Despite being a pulp writer, his writing often feels ambitious and he was inspired by authors like Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Chambers.
His most famous creation is the great old one Cthulhu, a giant winged tentacle faced godlike being sleeping at the bottom of the sea in the sunken city of R'lyeh. Other inventions are outer gods with names like Azathoth and Yog-sothoth, humanoid fish people often referred to as deep ones and various other horrors. He is considered the father of the subgenre Cosmic horror in which humanity is living, often unknowingly, under the threat of monsters from space, deep caves or perhaps trying to break through to our world from an alternate reality. To learn too much about these creatures may not be wise for one's mental or physical health.
Cosmic horror and Lovecraft only seems to grow in popularity over the years. More adaptations are being made into movies, games and tv shows while his influence is also often obvious elsewhere.
I consider myself a fan and have read most of his stories. I believe The Colour Out of Space may be my favourite. Favourite movie adaptations, although that definition hangs by a thread, is probably the first two Re-Animator movies starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
What about you guys? 🐙
There was also a late sixties band known as HP Lovecraft
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/HP_Lovecraft_album.jpg)
I've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.
lovecraft was racist af - anyone who's read him should know that - obviously this thread should be killed or people will think we're nazis
https://www.vox.com/culture/21363945/hp-lovecraft-racism-examples-explained-what-is-lovecraftian-weird-fiction
https://newrepublic.com/article/161588/hp-lovecraft-racist-lovecraft-country-matt-ruff
https://library.brown.edu/create/lovecraftracialimaginaries/
Yep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.
Clark Ashton Smith was my favorite of the old school horror/sci-fi pulp writers personally, but I still go back to Lovecraft every so often.
Quote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 03:04 PMYep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.
Yes, rather common knowledge. It might be worth mentioning that I haven't come across much overt racism in his stories. It's my impression his racist views were mostly expressed in his private letters, of which there of course is lots. The risk for a casual reader to be very offended should be relatively low, I think.
Quote from: Guybrush on Mar 07, 2023, 04:26 PMQuote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 03:04 PMYep, he was quite racist, even for his time. I was under the impression that was common knowledge.
Yes, rather common knowledge. It might be worth mentioning that I haven't come across much overt racism in his stories. It's my impression his racist views were mostly expressed in his private letters, of which there of course is lots. The risk for a casual reader to be very offended should be relatively low, I think.
unless you actually read his work and don't just watch the movies
it's drenched with the idea that blacks are weird supernatural spooks
Quote from: Dreams on Mar 07, 2023, 04:37 PMit's drenched with the idea that blacks are weird supernatural spooks
No, it isn't because his stories don't even contain many black characters. I can't remember any.
I think you're more likely to be offended watching Animal House or an 80s John Hughes comedy.
edit:
Quote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 01:35 PMI've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.
Cool, do you have any favourites? :)
black people in general are an outlying goulish fog throughout his work whether the characters were black or not
it's a big part of his literary universe
Quote from: Rubber Soul on Mar 07, 2023, 12:20 PMThere was also a late sixties band known as HP Lovecraft
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/HP_Lovecraft_album.jpg)
During christmas time, or rather yuletide, I like to occasionally put on the hilariously bad seasonal albums by The HP Lovecraft Historical society. There's two of them :laughing:
Quote from: Guybrush on Mar 07, 2023, 04:46 PMQuote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 01:35 PMI've loved Lovecraft since I was a kid. A few years ago I read all of his Cthulhu stories and all of his dream stories. It was a fun thing to do, though after a while I felt like I could have written a script to autogenerate Lovecraft descriptions.
Cool, do you have any favourites? :)
The one I remember the best was
At the Mountains of Madness. Lots of creepy, desolate imagery involved and it's set in Antarctica, which is amazing and terrifying all on its own.
Quote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 05:14 PMThe one I remember the best was At the Mountains of Madness. Lots of creepy, desolate imagery involved and it's set in Antarctica, which is amazing and terrifying all on its own.
Yes, it is good and may just have the best title of any story ever published.
I do remember it is very specific about the long list of things you need to bring with you on an antarctic expedition :laughing: It's kinda funny because being a pulp writer, I'd think they'd generally want to be be a bit quicker to get into the thick of things.
Still, the antarctic ruins and the monster in the cave etc. is great. Too bad Guillermo Del Toro's movie didn't happen although they could still be trying to get it made for all I know.
Quote from: Guybrush on Mar 07, 2023, 05:28 PMYes, it is good and may just have the best title of any story ever published.
I do remember it is very specific about the long list of things you need to bring with you on an antarctic expedition :laughing: It's kinda funny because being a pulp writer, I'd think they'd generally want to be be a bit quicker to get into the thick of things.
Still, the antarctic ruins and the monster in the cave etc. is great. Too bad Guillermo Del Toro's movie didn't happen although they could still be trying to get it made for all I know.
I didn't realize he was trying to make a movie of it. If there's one person who could actually pull it off, it's him.
Quote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 05:41 PMI didn't realize he was trying to make a movie of it. If there's one person who could actually pull it off, it's him.
I think they started on it and it spent some years in development hell before they maybe pulled the plug 🤔
His Cabinet of Curiosities series on Netflix has a few Lovecraft adaptations, among them Dreams in the Witch House and Pickman's Model (which had Crispin Glover in it). Well worth checking out for the Lovecraft fan, I think 🙂
Quote from: Guybrush on Mar 07, 2023, 06:22 PMQuote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 05:41 PMI didn't realize he was trying to make a movie of it. If there's one person who could actually pull it off, it's him.
I think they started on it and it spent some years in development hell before they maybe pulled the plug 🤔
His Cabinet of Curiosities series on Netflix has a few Lovecraft adaptations, among them Dreams in the Witch House and Pickman's Model (which had Crispin Glover in it). Well worth checking out for the Lovecraft fan, I think 🙂
I keep forgetting about that show. I definitely need to check it out. Crispin Glover seems like a good casting choice for the "Pickman's Model" episode.
Quote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 06:58 PMI keep forgetting about that show. I definitely need to check it out. Crispin Glover seems like a good casting choice for the "Pickman's Model" episode.
I quite liked that episode and was delighted to see Glover on screen again and in such a fittingly eccentric role.
The good episodes are well worth watching. The bad ones can be safely avoided :) Just check a guide or, if your tastes are similar to mine, consider skipping episodes 1, 2 and 7.
Quote from: Guybrush on Mar 07, 2023, 07:13 PMQuote from: Janszoon on Mar 07, 2023, 06:58 PMI keep forgetting about that show. I definitely need to check it out. Crispin Glover seems like a good casting choice for the "Pickman's Model" episode.
I quite liked that episode and was delighted to see Glover on screen again and in such a fittingly eccentric role.
The good episodes are well worth watching. The bad ones can be safely avoided :) Just check a guide or, if your tastes are similar to mine, consider skipping episodes 1, 2 and 7.
I'm kind of a completist about these kind of things. So I'll probably watch all of them but I'll make sure I lower my expectations for those three.
Visited Lovecraft's grave when I was in Providence, it's one of the local attractions. Not necessarily a huge fan of his as a writer but he surely influenced some interesting people. I like some of Ligotti's stuff that's supposed to be in that vein
I generally think of his ideas as more powerful or perhaps interesting than his actual writing, although I definitely like that too. Sometimes, he just goes hard into unintentional comedy or becomes nonsensical.
Spoiler for Shadow Over Innsmouth
Like at the end of Shadow over Innsmouth when we find out the narrator is actually a fish person from an Innsmouth family and it makes little sense that he, a fish monster, would write that story about himself adopting the pov from his pre-transformation days.
Also people going mad and "speaking" in Cthulhu tongues in text :laughing:
It's great!
Sounds fun, I want to read this story
Of what I do remember reading, "We were sitting on a dilapidated seventeenth-century tomb in the late afternoon of an autumn day at the old burying ground in Arkham, and speculating about the unnamable" is a solid opening sentence.
Quote from: jadis on Mar 11, 2023, 02:48 PMSounds fun, I want to read this story
Of what I do remember reading, "We were sitting on a dilapidated seventeenth-century tomb in the late afternoon of an autumn day at the old burying ground in Arkham, and speculating about the unnamable" is a solid opening sentence.
Also slightly unintentionally funny in that if you name something The Unnameable, you've named it :laughing: