Lovecraftian Horror

"The Street" has sometimes been called Lovecraft's most racist story.

"Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" is only a few steps behind and even the most generous interpretation only draws a very thin veil of the pretty blatant racism.

''The Rats in the Walls... the uncensored name of the cat will get you banned off most platforms.

Edit: fixed a tag

Edited by KnightofLsama on Apr 15th 2024 at 2:12:32 AM

Yeah, expect lots of depraved natives and degenerate yokels in these stories. His stories are just dripping with the themes of moral and physical degeneration. It's not just the natives (inbred rich white folk get this treatment as well), but they are usually at least part of the backstory.

By the way, when OSP did a summary of a few of Lovecraft's works, Red says that, in The Call of Cthulhu, the protagonist's biggest clue that his friend was killed by the Cult of Cthulhu is the fact that he bumped into a black guy shortly before his death. Is that actually what happens? Because that's so racist, it's actually kinda funny.

Edited by AmateurStorytime on Apr 14th 2024 at 6:28:15 AM

I can't really recall that.

But yeah, a disclaimer that the text contains themes of racism and colonialism would be a good idea.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 14th 2024 at 3:48:43 PM

In the beginning of the story it is explicitly mentioned that his grand-uncle bumps into a black sailor, officially causing him to die from a heart-attack. Then once the narrator reads all of his grand-uncle's research on the Cthulhu Cult, he does piece together that the man was murdered by them, as this is what happens to every single source on the Cult. The short story is made up of multiple documents written by people who've stumbled upon the Cult, after which they all died under mysterious circumstances. I would not say that the biggest clue is that the sailor was black, but it does make the suspicion of murder even more likely in the narrator's eyes, because the Cult is as multi-ethnic as it can get. The story is racist, kinda inevitably, but I read this detail more as an example of his growing paranoia over how it is Always Murder, and that the narrator knows that he will also die soon.

Edited by Mara999 on Apr 14th 2024 at 6:45:00 PM

I should note that the idea of someone literally dying of fright (or getting a fever from a big shock) is an old Victorian trope from when people did not really understand illness and death very well. See for example how Frankenstein falls into a deep fever upon his monster coming alive. That context does explain why the narrator would consider the idea of his uncle dying of fright a plausible explanation for his death.

It also fits in Lovecraft's general theme of men being very nervous and sensitive creatures who easily fall prey to the mental effects of horrors. These are generally not strong and brave men who unflinchingly stare into the face of horrors beyond imagination. This is, unsurprisingly, also very Victorian. It's a very different mode of masculinity than we are used to even from more sexist works from the 20th century..

Yeah, Lovecraft wrote his protagonists almost by a default as sensitive people of a nervous disposition, like his idol Poe did. Your typical Lovecraftian narrator-protagonist is a passive witness to the weirdness around them, often circling the orbit of someone vastly more dynamic and interesting, but also dangerous in some way. Among the few exceptions I can think of are elderly academic men, like Professor Armitage or Marinus Willett, whom I suspect could be based on Howard's own grandfather.

Contrast with his pal, robert howard who is very much the oposite in having overly brave men who dont shrek from horror.

Oh no they also shriek from horror. Conan is always disturbed whenever he encounters magic and terrors from beyond.

He is just too busy surviving day to day to really ponder the deeper ramifications of such beings.

Lovecraft was also a contemporary of the Decadent and Symbolist movements. Now, those two movements have become so unfashionable that even an art major of today won't learn much about them. But whether or not you think they were any good, it's tough to put Lovecraft in context (including his type of narrator) without knowing a little about what was in the aesthetic air back then, visually and literarily.

Oh, I've covered decadence in my paper as well, it was very popular in Victorian horror at the end of the century. I've read some authors of the genre as well.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is probably a good example.

Late response, but the story does actually mention cultists making their way to the surfacing R'lyeh - those guys just all ended up dead after they chanced upon the sailors' ship and attacked them.

And before they could send another ship to the city, it had already sunken below the waves again (implicitly taking Cthulhu back down with it).

Those sailors were pretty much an unwitting Spanner in the Works for the cult.

How's this as a disclaimer for my audiobooks on Lovecraft?

"Please be aware that H.P. Lovecraft's works contain language, themes, and attitudes that are reflective of the author's personal prejudices, including expressions of racism and xenophobia. While these elements are not reflective of my own views, they are presented as part of the original text for historical and literary purposes. Listener discretion is advised."

I think that’s a good disclaimer.

I recently realized that Y'ha-nthlei (Deep Ones city) is probably swordplay on Antantis.

"He is just too busy surviving day to day to really ponder the deeper ramifications of such beings. "

It depends, howard really stick on the idea that no even mighty conan can win against it, when he face the humanoid abomination he pull a magical dagger inside of it. but in general he dosent really cower in dread.

howard was very much on the "go standing"

Conan doesn't punch out Cthulhu, but he survives Cthulhu and doesn't let it destroy his mind.

He just goes right back to treading the jeweled thrones of the world under his sandalled feet.

Edited by M84 on Apr 19th 2024 at 6:42:09 PM

usually he banish, khostral was one, there is thag, almuric usher ancient words and there is implication Cimeria used to workship the older gods.

For me the best is people of black monolith who I think were chase by the turks the protagonist even cheer for it but ask if people like that exist, what other could be.

It helps that Conan's a big believer in the philosophy of his people and their grim and loveless god Crom.

He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?

Conan knows damn well the universe is pitiless and greater powers don't give a shit about you. You can't expect anything more from it than the willpower of your own soul.

Basically, the Cimmerians' own faith prepares them better for facing inimical terrors from beyond that confirm the cosmos don't give a shit about mortals.

Ironically, Crom has actually saved Conan's ass a few times. During one of the classic Marvel Conan comics, Crom punched out Shuma-Gorath to save Conan.

Edited by M84 on Apr 19th 2024 at 6:51:13 PM