New lovecraft documentary looks interesting

[Danny]

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This looks pretty rad, ive read or watched plenty or works on the people involvedand you can tell there lovecraft fans, and whilst i didnt dig the particular problems of the time, like calling a cat "nigger-man" is cool apparently, lovecraft could weave solitude and paranoia like no other and wrote as man as these small things in a far vaster universe he could scarecly understand, compared to modern works involving the universe, where man is almost always master of all domains, his work still stands as a fascinating world described by a mildly disturbed man that sticks with everyone long after reading.

[AcesandEights]

This looks pretty rad, ive read or watched plenty or works on the people involved

Damn, I can't view it at the office, but I'm a Lovecraft nut. Hopefully they got Lovecraft biographer S.T. Joshi (think that's his name) in on it, as that guy knows the life of Lovecraft as well as anyone alive.


whilst i didnt dig the particular problems of the time, like calling a cat "nigger-man" is cool apparently,

Yup, HPL grew up undoubtedly racist (and sexists and afraid of miscegenation and goodness knows what else) and wrote one of the more racist poems I've ever happened upon when he was a kid, though--iirc--some of his later letters to friends and colleagues seemed to make mention of repentance for some of his earlier views.


lovecraft could weave solitude and paranoia like no other and wrote as man as these small things in a far vaster universe he could scarecly understand, compared to modern works involving the universe, where man is almost always master of all domains, his work still stands as a fascinating world described by a mildly disturbed man that sticks with everyone long after reading.

Well said!

[Mike70]

i'll be all over this. i've been nuts over lovecraft's work since i was a teen. he's one of the writers that i can go back to again and again without getting tired.

the racism that's in his work is only a very small part of the whole and isn't enough to turn me off. i tend to try to view people within the context of the time they lived in. he was a product of his time and place not ours.

[krakenslayer]

I think it's best to view Lovecraft's racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, etc. in the wider context of his paranoia and general fear of the unknown. His views and feelings on these matters were also clearly a lot more complex and less straightforward than most people would give him credit for - the guy actually married a Jew (although their relationship didn't last long due to H.P.'s emotional problems).

[MoonSylver]

the racism that's in his work is only a very small part of the whole and isn't enough to turn me off. i tend to try to view people within the context of the time they lived in. he was a product of his time and place not ours.

Bingo. There is a lot of revisionist political correctness that goes on in various aspects of literature & film that, to me are not only uncalled for, but do a great disservice to history. I think it's important to leave things intact & view them, warts and all, through the lens of the time from which they came. Trying to erase them & pretend they didn't exist is only inviting a repeat performance.

[octo7]

I saw one a while ago called The Eldritch Influence which was pretty terrible. Neil Gaiman speaks of him in a rather pompous manner that pisses me off buts its interesting to see Brian Lumley talk about him. I am a huge Lovecraft fan and have read everything he has written outside of his letters.