H.P. Lovecraft Sucks

Yup. I just went there.

His prose is cumbersome and rambling. His sentences are amazingly long. He wildly overuses adjectives and bloats his narrative with piles and piles of them. I found myself having to re-read entire pages because I zoned out and stopped paying attention, unwilling to transform his text into an image.

He sucks.

He was also a racist.

So take that.

Don't care, still love the Cthulhu Mythos.

But he was an inspiration to many aspects of horror and many writers have taken his ideas and have arguably done better than he did. So that's cool at least.

True. He was an inspiration to better writers, which is cool.

But he still really really sucked.

That wouldn't be too far off, he might had been very unpleasant in person as well from what I assume.

Interesting opinion.

@joygirl: YOU SUCK¡!!!!!!!

A writer from the early 20th century is racist?

@russellmania77: Nooo, nooo, YOU suck¡.

I thought there was an option to like posts.

Because I' would surely like to like this one.

You want to know who else sucks?

MY MOM!!!!!!!

He's not, he was being sarcastic.

I've always really enjoyed Lovecraft. Haven't read anything of his in a while. I can say this, his work inspired me to read more not less.

A bit overrated and rather pretentious.

Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhatgn. Death to all humanity~!

@maccyd: Best comment I've read today.

@joygirl A lot of people have had the same complaints about Tolkien's prose, and both Lovecraft and Tolkien are mild when compared to some of the Russian greats, or dare I even mention, James Joyce. And yes, Lovecraft was absolutely a racist and a bigot beyond race, but when it came to his writing he was all about his love for the craft. His work did not receive a lot of attention or recognition until after he died, and some of his most well-known work was in exceptionally small circulation until the founding of Arkham House publishing in 1939, after Lovecraft died. ("Arkham," of course, being a fictional city in Massachusetts which Lovecraft created) Whatever else you think about the man, you have to admit it takes a huge amount of dedication and love for the art to create the sheer number of stories in the short life he had (died at 46) and receive almost no compensation or recognition for it.

@hecktate: I acknowledged earlier that he did some great stuff for horror and literature in general.

BUT

he still sucked.

:D

@hecktate: He was about average racist for pulp writers of the time

@joshmightbe: Racist is racist, regardless of the context. If murder was particularly common back then I still wouldn't excuse any individual just doing what was normal. You are how you act, regardless of whether it's just you or everyone else is doing it. I'm a huge Lovecraft fan, but that's one thing about him I will never endorse or diminish, and it's very unfortunate that you can feel racist undertones (or in some cases it's not even undertone, it's explicit) in some of his writing.

@joygirl

But . . .

But . . .

I disagree :(

@hecktate: WELL YOU'RE WRONG MWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH

@hecktate: I wasnt excusing it just saying his racism wasnt as outstanding at the time he lived. It seems that way now days because people are generally far less racist and most of his contemporaries have been forgotten so he sticks out more

@joshmightbe: True, and I didn't mean to make that seem like it was going off at you, that's just how I view it. It makes you wonder though; since great stories will outlast all of us, how will the writings of today look another century down the road? My guess is fickle and superficial for the most part, but I guess it really depends on what lasts and what's just a pop culture phase.

You a nigerman cat!

@hecktate: Once the historians dig up twilight they're probably just going to assume we lived in a literary dark age

I prefer Robert E. Howard myself. As it is, I care more that his ideas got out and expanded into a cool mythos moreso then anything he personally did.

@risingbean: Howard was actually one of Lovecraft's best friends

@joshmightbe: Yup. They wrote letters. I read Lovecraft took Howards suicide pretty bad.

Howard had a tie in to the mythos in one of his old Conan stories.

The fact they were contemporaries why I noted I prefer Howard. But Conan trumps anything in pulp fiction imho. Even squid faced demigods.

@risingbean: @joshmightbe: How does all these classic writers somehow become best friends, yet they weren't that famous for their time? C.S Lewis and Tolkien were best pals around the same time as well.

@maccyd: They wrote for the same pulp magazines. I am sure they used that as their initial in. I dunno if it was via the commentary pages in the back or if they just had the publisher connect them or what. I'd have to research to get you that and I am sure somebody will come in the meantime and clear it up if it's a must.

As for Lewis and Tolkien, I have no clue.

Edit: The Dark Horse Conan trades have stories on Howard. Might be worth reading if you are interested.

@maccyd: I think Lovecraft came before Tolkien & Lewis, and was from a different country

@risingbean: Tolkien and Lewis were college friends and were members of the same writer's group. Just the coincidence of two of the genre's most famous writers being in the group is shocking.

As for the pulp writers, that would make sense that they'd eventually be writing for the same pulp magazine.

@joygirl: Everyone was racist back then. Not only was it commonplace and expected, it was encouraged.

What stories of his have you read? I'll admit I've only read two I really like, and some of them are downright boring.

@squares: I've skimmed a few of them but I read one of them all the way through... the important one with Cthulhu, forget the name.

@maccyd: Indeed.

Cool Air is a good story. The Cthulhu stuff is kinda cool. Otherwise he is pretty meh for me.

I like his work.

@kingofash: They were roughly the same age? Yes, Lewis and Tolkien were British while Howard and Lovecraft were American. I didn't say all four were friends, only that it's coincidence that Lewis and Tolkien were friends as well as Howard and Lovecraft before they became famous.

@joygirl: Oh. Yeah, that one was slow. The ones I've read that I actually liked were The Colour Out Of Space and At The Mountains Of Madness, and even they tend to lag a bit (especially the latter).

No shame in not liking his work- Lovecraft isn't for everyone.

@squares: Hmm. Maybe I'll give it another shot then but maaan everything I've read has just been dreadful.

Hope you find something you like : )

1. Sea creatures scare the heck out of me.

2. Racism is always wrong.

Rats in the walls. Beautiful piece of writing. Nice small story. Good for people with short attention spans. each to their own i guess. :P

@tifalockhart:

1. 
2. You've got to think it from their perspective. Just imagine someone from the future came back in time and claimed you were ignorant, because you believed beastality was wrong, though your society taught you otherwise.

Also if it makes you feel better, he wasn't technically racist as he was prejudiced against cultures not races, he even married a Jewish woman.

Prejudice against cultures is still bad.

@tifalockhart: You're technically being prejudiced against the culture of that age ;)

Eek! A sea monster!

I'm having nightmares tonight.

@tifalockhart: My plan to cure your fear failed... :( laughter isn't the best medicine... goddamn you Robin Williams, you lied to me!