Lovecraft

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But_for_Grace

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How many here have read the works of HP Lovecraft, and how have they affected your thinking.

Personally I find him to be the Master of Horror writting, leaving such notables as Stephen King and Poe to play second fiddle.

Thoughts?
 
I’m a huge fan of HP Lovecraft.

That said, while I think he was a very creative writer, he was not a technically good one.

But on the third hand, he is really the only author in the horror genre I actually like to read.

–arthur
 
I own, and have read, everything Lovecraft ever wrote, as well as quite a bit of stuff by some of his imitators like August Derleth and early Robert Bloch.

Lovecraft is an acquired taste. His early stuff, when he was trying to imitate Lord Dunsany, doesn’t do much for me, and his intermediate period, when he was experimenting with different things, is okay. It’s his later stuff, when he was fully into the “Chthulhu Mythos”, when he’s at his best, IMHO.

Some find his occultic references disturbing, but it helps to remember that not even Lovecraft himself took any of that stuff seriously; he jokingly used to refer to his own writing style as “a lot of Yog-Sothothery”.

In my view, Lovecraft is best taken as entertainment, a good, spooky, atmospheric story to read on a cold rainy night, the same way you’d watch an old horror movie.

And there’s also the amusement angle; since Lovecraft tended to suffer from adjectivitis, he uses a lot of description words that give his work a distinctive tone, such as “arcane, witch-haunted Arkham”, or “the bloated, fungoid moon”. Such phrases are good for a grin if nothing else.

It’s too bad that the old boy died in 1937…think of the stuff he could have written if he’d lived into his eighties! 🙂
 
For those who do not look to God, it’s not so inconcievable that the world is a speck in a sea of horror just outside our perception.

People who want to raise the flag of moral relatavism should read his stuff. Might inspire them to hunt for an objective truth.
 
I’ve read all of H.P. Lovecraft’s works, and his atmospheric writing style truly gives me the creeps; particularly the very eery ‘Pickman’s Model’.

H.P. Lovecraft had creeped me out more than any other writer of horror; while I admired Edgar Allen Poe, Lovecraft would freak-out Poe.

Stephen King just plain isn’t scary, and is a lousy writer.

If you’re not careful, reading H.P. Lovecraft alone at night can give you a permanent case of the willies. :eek:
 
I discovered Lovecraft way back in the 70s when I was in the Navy. I was reading one of the Cthulu Mythos books after getting off watch at 2:15 am. I didn’t hear the thunderstorm coming but BAM! My whole body came off the bunk!

Brian Lumley comes very close to Lovecraft.
 
He’s fun, but if I read too much of his stuff I start to feel bloated from adjectives. Not technically a very good writer, but a really interesting one. I read At The Mountains of Madness first, and was convinced the shoggoths were coming for me.

I just realised that I’m wearing a tshirt with a stylized Cthulhu on it right now.
 
Just to further the conversation a bit, what is it about Lovecraft (and Derleth for that matter) that makes him so creepy, so memorable, and so timeless? It seems that most people who have read Lovecraft are fascinated with the Cthulhu mythos, why?
 
Lissla Lissar:
He’s fun, but if I read too much of his stuff I start to feel bloated from adjectives. Not technically a very good writer, but a really interesting one. I read At The Mountains of Madness first, and was convinced the shoggoths were coming for me.

I just realised that I’m wearing a tshirt with a stylized Cthulhu on it right now.
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Lissla - what adjetives, it seems like everything Lovecraft writes about is “to horrible to describe” 😃
 
I have always meant to read Lovecraft but have never gotten around to it. Which one of his stories is best to start with?
 
But for Grace:
Just to further the conversation a bit, what is it about Lovecraft (and Derleth for that matter) that makes him so creepy, so memorable, and so timeless? It seems that most people who have read Lovecraft are fascinated with the Cthulhu mythos, why?
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But for Grace,
Good question!

I think it was Lovecraft’s “internal cohesion” between his writings that creates a sort of unconcious illusion of reality in the reader. His references in one story to another story, and his references to other works in several stories (where these *other works *don’t even exist) was really very clever.

I think he conveys the impression that what he is writing about is objectively real, and that anyone who is anyone and studied these things already knows about it! In that sense I think he appeals to the “Gnostic” in all of us – now we are in on the secret.

What do you think?
 
My son is a Lovecraft fan. His favorite story is Hypnos, which is fairly short. When he needs to be creeped out he re-reads it. Funny thing, though. It doesn’t do a thing for me!

'thann
 
I am not sure. Gnosticism dealt with enlightenment, but Lovecraft proposed a dark secret. I love the “other” reality of Lovecraft’s works, the dark alienness, but there is something in his style too, of using learned people as his main characters and placing them in situations that they cannot explain.

deb1 - I would suggest “The Call of Cthulhu” it is very much at the peak of his style and rather disturbing as well. “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and “The Dunwich Horror” are also near the peak of his works and make excellent introductions to Lovecraft.
 
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brotherhrolf:
I discovered Lovecraft way back in the 70s when I was in the Navy. I was reading one of the Cthulu Mythos books after getting off watch at 2:15 am. I didn’t hear the thunderstorm coming but BAM! My whole body came off the bunk! QUOTE]

I discovered him in the 70s too, as a teenager, and had the same reaction reading The Call of Cthulu. I bet it was the same scene you were reading. It was on the ship when they were heading for Cthulu’s island, right? I was all wrapped up in that scene when the phone rang and I literally screamed and dropped the book! I’ve never done that with a Stephen King, Dean Koontz or anyone else!
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MichaelTDoyle:
People who want to raise the flag of moral relatavism should read his stuff. Might inspire them to hunt for an objective truth.
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That’s a bit of a stretch. Lovecraft was a diehard atheist and materialist. His fiction precisely reflects his belief that the universe is essentially meaningless and that mankind has no more true significance than mere bacteria.

That point aside, he really isn’t a very good writer, technically speaking. He is certainly far less competent that Edgar Allan Poe, and the depth of his characterizations can’t begin to touch the likes of Stephen King.

Lovecraft was certainly a noteworthy innovator (but even then his innovations were often derivative), but there are many better authors out there.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
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MarthaMartha:
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brotherhrolf:
I discovered Lovecraft way back in the 70s when I was in the Navy. I was reading one of the Cthulu Mythos books after getting off watch at 2:15 am. I didn’t hear the thunderstorm coming but BAM! My whole body came off the bunk! QUOTE]

I discovered him in the 70s too, as a teenager, and had the same reaction reading The Call of Cthulu. I bet it was the same scene you were reading. It was on the ship when they were heading for Cthulu’s island, right? I was all wrapped up in that scene when the phone rang and I literally screamed and dropped the book! I’ve never done that with a Stephen King, Dean Koontz or anyone else!
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I, too, discovered Lovecraft in the 70’s. 🙂

The first story I ever read was “Pickman’s Model”, and it scared the living daylights out of me. I was probably about twelve at the time. I can still see in my mind’s eye where I was while reading that story.

The only thing that ever creeped me out to a similar extent later was 'Salem’s Lot and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.

Jackson, by the way, is the only writer mentioned in this thread so far who was a superlative writer, IMHO—very much on the level of Poe.
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But for Grace:
How many here have read the works of HP Lovecraft, and how have they affected your thinking.

Personally I find him to be the Master of Horror writting, leaving such notables as Stephen King and Poe to play second fiddle.

Thoughts?
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i must differ here. stephen king, in my opinion is one of the best writers i have read. he is a raconteur, a weaver of tales. he creates characters that come to life, such that when one dies, you feel a sadness.

he knows too much to not to be a catholic, but i still don’t know for sure.

i guess one needs to read many fo his books, to get the picture.

my next favorite author is charles dickens
 
Stephen King’s book On Writing is excellent, but it’s the only thing of his I’ve read. My husband doesn’t usually let me read horror novels. He objects to having me clinging to his leg and whimpering, or hiding under the bed with the cats.

What I mean by ‘bloated from adjectives’ is (don’t have any Lovecraft right here) stuff like 'O! The eldritch creeping cyclopean horror! The strange angles and curves which no human mind can look upon without dissolving into madness!". That sort of stuff.
 
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jjwilkman:
i must differ here. stephen king, in my opinion is one of the best writers i have read. he is a raconteur, a weaver of tales. he creates characters that come to life, such that when one dies, you feel a sadness.

he knows too much to not to be a catholic, but i still don’t know for sure.

i guess one needs to read many fo his books, to get the picture.

my next favorite author is charles dickens
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Stephen King is Methodist and his wife is Catholic. I saw him interviewed on Sixty Minutes once and he was wearing a miraclous medal. His novel the Green Mile sounds very respectful of both Protestantism and Catholism.

I like King, also. He has a unique way of writing that makes his characters seem real. The novel It was very scary and had me afraid of clowns for a long time. The Stand, although not frightening, is very interesting and a good read.

I can’t wait to read Lovecraft now. Because my hubby and I only have one car between us, I can’t get to the library until next weekend. Darn, I hate waiting that long for a book.:crying:
 
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