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The horrors (slrpnk.net)
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[-] LengAwaits@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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!

[-] GraniteM@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

Plus everyone who wasn't white and from his home town.

[-] Meron35@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

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.

😬😬😬

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I am not surprised that this is actually something he wrote.

[-] spacecadet@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

You’re just taking him out of context. /s

[-] Sergio@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 year ago

We should have “a bit of grace” and give the “benefit of the doubt.” ~/s~

[-] evidences@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

It's just a bad translation, in the original Roman it's a passage about love.

[-] pufferfischerpulver@feddit.org 2 points 1 year ago

It's well known that he was a socially awkward and autistic.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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."

[-] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Things that made him cum:

  • Gambreled rooftops mostly

Honorable mentions:

  • Gables
  • Central chimneys
  • Providence
[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • Maine

see also: Stephen King

[-] Godnroc@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[-] Godnroc@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Of light. But also black people too, but that's not what I meant!

[-] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 1 year ago
  • his cat

...that's probably it

[-] Rusty@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

And his cat's name freaks out all of us

[-] cactusupyourbutt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

what do you mean, surely it cant be that bad

oh

oh noooooo

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Lol, apparently I'm a double threat against H.P.L. I was first chair flute and first chair violin.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

A kender with two different instruments AND two chairs, you say? 🤔

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 4 points 1 year ago

My favorite fact about Lovecraft was that he was so fucking racist, the KKK told him to chill the fuck out on his racism.

[-] DharkStare@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

neurotic mess

I see I've got something in common with him

[-] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Take a shot every time Lovecraft says something is unknowable or indescribable.

[-] MeatPilot@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago
[-] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

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

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

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

[-] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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!

[-] TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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

[-] slacktoid@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Ooh that's a cool perspective! He was a scared scared man.

[-] Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[-] Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

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.

this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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