All right, this is that last little bit....
At the Mountains of Madness (1936)
I said last time...
There's a big introduction in the front, and a big essay by
Lovecraft in the back, so I'll review those.
So, here we go...
The intro is by China Mieville, and he tells us both what a genius Lovecraft is, and warns what a foaming racist he is.
There's a quote of Lovecraft outright admiring early Hitler.
There's a quote of him fantasizing about shoving working people into a big cauldron, and boiling them into goo.
Mieville comes out and says "this cauldron is right where the Shoggoth were formed".
So, then we get to "Supernatural Horror In Literature" by Lovecraft himself.
And, it's a prototype horror podcast.
Like Charles Dake's Poe podcast in the middle of "A Strange Discovery".
Or Poe's own lit criticism; especially when he's fanboying on Byron and Hawthorne.
Lovecraft was a sonvabitch, but his taste in other people's art was superb.
His chunk on Poe is excellent, and surpasses Dake's little divergence.
He turned me on to Emily Bronte (and by extension, Charlotte Bronte), Nathaniel Hawthorne, Algernon Blackwood, and Lord Dunsany through the course of it.
And, made me aware that Ambrose Bierce did horror instead of just comedies.
Ma's classic collection, which I guess I've inherited, has Hawthorne and the Brontes, so I'm all set there.
Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" of course make their inevitable appearances.
I've already got those though. 😉
Arthur Machen, who I'm reading next, pops up.
Lovecraft proceeds to spoil "The Great God Pan" "The White People" and the tales in "The Three Imposters".
Thaaaanks, Lovecraaaft!! 😒🙄
Does his fascism creep into things?
Sssss, yeeeaaah.
Lovecraft keeps hammering with contempt at "naïve romanticism" and "didactic moralizing".
I think we can absolutely fucking substitute "woke" and "wokism" and have his meaning not be the least bit distorted or confused.
Once that realization clicked, I wanted to beat him with a pipe.
😒
Another thing that clicked: Stephen King's "Danse Macabre" is his own little on-paper-podcast on literary horror, and it's sharp, and nifty, but it always bugged me the high-falutin' voice he puts on.
It's not his natural self. He talks like his real self in "On Writing".
You read "Danse Macabre" and "On Writing" back-to-back, it's like two different guys.
Now I get it. He's trying to be fuckin' Lovecraft.
King isn't just a Lovecraft fan, he's a worshipper.
But it's an abusive relationship.
If Lovecraft were alive, he'd piss all over King while he was down there kissing his shoes.
He totally would. Do not doubt it.
So, yeah, Lovecraft is a Sith all right.
I nailed that in my "Mountains Of Madness" review.
But, I got some cool book recommendations, and an insight into Stephen King, even though it's kinda sad.
As a seeker of raw knowledge, I guess I can't complain.
Glad I purchased this edition.
And, that's finally the end of Poe 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Next up!!
Poe 3: Rappin!!
Or, Arthur Pym spinoff-a-thon.
With...
Arthur Machen.
Stay tuned for those!!!
1 comment:
I suppose to be fair, the continued popularity of Lovecraft and younger generations continuing to seek out Cthulhu Mythos-type stuff at least means they're likely to run into exposes of the guy's racism. If he faded away, so does the criticism of him.
Was it Lovecraft who said that he didn't want to visit large cities because he might end up in large crowds of people that might contain individuals of mixed-race, and he thought mixed-race people were chimeras? Am I thinking of someone else?
Hitler was kind to dogs, Love-rboy was kind to cats:
http://i0.wp.com/alittlebithuman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cover7.jpg?fit=741%2C417&ssl=1
I'm guessing you already know his cat's name, and if you don't...well, you won't be surprised what it is.
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