H.P. Lovecraft's birthday :)

[Kyriakos]

It is not dead that which can eternal lie
and with strange aeons
it is now 124 years after Lovecraft was born!



Lovecraft is mostly known for creating a loosely tied together mythos, centered on the ultimately scifi-ish idea that the earth was first colonised by star-travelling aliens, known in the millenia after their demise as 'the elder things'.
Although during his lifetime he never got to be known outside a small circle of writers and a couple of periodicals (more notably the 'weird tales' one), he rapidly got recognition in the 50s and 60s, following his death and the creation of a publishing house (Arhkam press) which focused mostly on printing Lovecraft's stories in book form.

Lovecraft did not write a very large number of works (or at least not that many survived), and by now they are all available on archive sites on the web. He was a very prolific epistolographer, and currently there are many volumes of his letters which have been published, likely exceeding in overall size the fictional works he left behind.

He is also known for having expressed very xenophobic and otherwise hostile views against a number of non-anglic races. It should be noted, though, that his only wife was also not of that racial background.

His father was locked in a mental asylum, and died there, when H.P.Lovecraft was still an infant. Relations with his mother were also problematic. A crucial later trauma was that he lost his home along with the large library which his uncle had provided. Already as a young child he had frequent nightmares, and it seems that the figure of Abdul Alzahred (the fictional writer of the 'Necronomicon') was penned as an alter-ego of his in those years.
He lived as a recluse for more than a decade, and only started to contact other people outside his family when he managed to have some stories printed in amateur journals, his first such printed work being the (very good, in my view) Dagon

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So join me- but alsoYog-Sothoth, and the rest of those eldritch abominations- in wishing HPL a very happy birthday

[Knight of Heaven]

Well knowing his works i can say, he wasnt a very briliant writer at all. Anyone knowledgeable of literature would see that right away.
But no doubt ahead of his time, and a major influence in the scy-fy genre.
And that is what gives him credit imo. Not is writing per se.

He indeed had a xenophobic thinking, and it expressed it self in alot of his works, The alien invading theme is exemplary of that, as well the way he described the imigrants arriving at the New York ports. Italians, Polish in specific, but Irish too.
However from what i understand his anti imigrant rethoric was very diferent in his later years, probably an influence of his Wife, ex wife at the time.

Its amazing that nowadays his works and figure are the target of a not so niche cult or fandom over diferent popular artistic midiums. From movies, books, TV, or even video games. Mass effect for example initialy is very Lovecraftian. The sequels then mess that up, while trying to explain the threat of the reapers ( Strongly inspired on the leviathans obviously)
Then there is the Guillermo Del toro movies, and screen plays wich by a large margin i consider him a better writer then lovecraft, wich is very amusing. Since he is somewhat strongly inspired and a fan of lovecraft.

[Kyriakos]

I heard that Del Toro's book (he co-wrote it) is rather very badly written

I like some of Lovecraft's stories, mostly Rats in the Walls, Music of Erich Zahn, Dagon, and parts of other works (the first half of the Dunwich horror is pretty good, but in my view the second half is really pitiful).

He also ruined Call of Cthulhu, by having Chtulhu be defeated by a boat. I mean, WTH?

[Knight of Heaven]

I heard that Del Toro's book (he co-wrote it) is rather very badly written

No it isnt, its a published TV screenplay basicaly and it came in a triology... because no studio pick the project up at the time, some screenwritters do that. Screenplay is a diferent animal after all.
After the books were out though, amusingly they are doing The Strain TV series right now. Ironic.

Its like saying theatric plays are badly written. They are written with a certain porpuse in mind, with its own rules etc.
The devils backbone, Pans labyrinth for instance have amazing screenplays imo.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My country has a Nobel prized of literature, that was knowned to write without pontuation for instance. There is that.
It matters the story and its ideias. Imo.

But regarding HP lovecraft, his writing wasnt realy the brightest.

He also ruined Call of Cthulhu, by having Chtulhu be defeated by a boat. I mean, WTH?

It isnt that, but yes as storytelling goes, Lovecraft, wasnt a storytelling kind fo guy, he was a descriptive machine, with the use of repetive terms, and glorified notions, as i said not a very good writter.
He however come up with interesting scenarios and themes in the midle of his creative drivel. But as storytelling goes, there is litle of that. After all this works were small stories in a pulp fiction journals.
This imaginative things, that HP created, helped influence alot scy-fy literature in the late 50s and 60s. And as you well know as a genre only a few things here and there stand out as literature is concerned. Alot of it found great success in other midiums later on.

Hey i love Scy-fy, but as a genre historicaly wasnt very well respected as literature for decades, safe for a few examples. Modern day Authors and audiences have a diferent aproach and mindset to such things.
Funny enough, not unlike the history of comics, and graphic novels.

If im being honest im not the bigest fan of HP lovecraft, not because of the fantastic he created, but because of his writting, and because his storytelling isnt the strongest suit. The theme of the irrelevancy of humanity in the cosmos, also gets old at some point. Specialy when you can see thet isnt the only grand theme he is refering to, but also the US migration phenomena and the anti-migrant sentiment of the time.
All in all i love Chtulhu as anyone, and the sense of inevitability he creates, its is a pitty that stories usualy do not ammount to much, that scenario and theme could be great in a properly told story.
IMHO.

However i remembering enjoying Rats in the Wall specialy.

[The Despondent Mind]

I enjoy Lovecraft, but I would say that he's influence deserves way more praise than the actual work. This topic reminds how he, other Pulp writers and SF writers of the time were incredibly imaginative and ahead of their time. I mean I'm not that familiar with modern literature but seems kind of boring compared to them, not to mention that in Cinema we are still way way behind those imaginative minds of early 20ct.

[saxdude]

Agree with the above, his work is a bit grating to read if, but his influence deserves praise.

[hellheaven1987]

Ha-Happy Birthday Lovercraft...



No you are not allowed to ask me what is this.

[Kyriakos]

There are very few women in Lovecraft's works, anyway Iirc only in the Dunwich Horror one main female character has sexual relations with an elder being.

(Machen's 'The great god Pan' is somewhat near the theme as well, and predated the Dunwich story).

[The Despondent Mind]

Ha-Happy Birthday Lovercraft...



No you are not allowed to ask me what is this.

Ah as always it's obligatory that an anime exists that ruins a piece of human culture, all for the sake of wibu's 's habits.

But you know one of the most descent manifestations of Lovecraft's influence is Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC, the realm Hermaeus Mora to be more specific and everything related to him.

[Claudius Gothicus]

Lovecraft was a very good "scene setter": the police raid on the Louisiana cultists or the despairing nature of the outsider's lair are very good examples of the strong points in his narrative style. Storytelling wise, and maybe inextricable from the pulp genre, he wasn't so accomplished.

Still better than most horror writers and brings a lot of sensitive points about the dehumanizing aspects of modernity from his "conservative perspective".

[LaMuerte]

'It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer. At first I shall be called a madman - madder than the man I shot in his cell at the Arkham Sanitarium. Later some of my readers will weigh each statement, correlate it with the known facts, and ask themselves how I could have believed otherwise than I did after facing the evidence of that horror - that thing on the doorstep.' H.P. Lovecraft

Sweet delicious Lovecraft! Though I find not all of his stories appealing , the ones that do really hit the spot. How I enjoy reading about undescribable amorphous horrors , people descending into madness , demoniac pawns , evil souls breaking through tresholds , the Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul al-Hasrit , 'Unsprechlichen Kulten' ...

His stories sometimes leave me wondering. As in the story of 'The Thing on the Doorstep'. I abhore violence , yet were I the participant in the story, I would have shot my best friend as well. Am I losing it ? Am I already mad?

Happy birthday baby!

[Kyriakos]

'The Outsider' is another story worth mentioning

Although it has two climax points (something rare, and in general not a good idea; King's 'gray matter' has three such points and again i think it is not that workable lit-wise), i regard it as a very good story. While the second apogee (and ending sequence) can be seen from a mile away, the first one is really very artistic and highly interesting. Read the story if you haven't, i don't want to spoil it