• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

H. P. Lovecraft

It looks more like a fish man or something. Maybe that's appropriate?
 
Lovecraft hated white hillbillies a lot more: he portrayed them as inbred, subterranean cannibals.
 
ramonmercado said:
Lovecraft hated white hillbillies a lot more: he portrayed them as inbred, subterranean cannibals.
Click to expand...
He's not the only one.
Almost every fictional depiction of hillbillies portrays them as such.
 
GNC said:
Yeah, those Beverly Hillbillies were unspeakable.
Click to expand...

Now it's time to say goodbye
To Jed and all his kin
And they'd like to thank you folk
For kindly dropping in
You're all invited back next week
To this locality
To have an heapin' healpin' of nameless unspeakable dread

Shoggoth that is! Use the Elder Sign! Nyarlathotep!

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!
 
Lovecraft on Culture, the Classics, and A. Merritt
Monday , 4, January 2016 Jeffro Appendix N 3 Comments



This newly discovered Lovecraft letter is quite the find. Even better, you don’t have to travel to some New England area university library to get a look at it. (I’ve noticed that people with a grossly batrachian aspect tend to trail me when I’m in that neck of the woods anyway.) That’s right, the whole thing has been scanned and posted online.

Dated February 2, 1924, it represents something of a turning point in Lovecraft’s career and for “Weird” fiction in general. That style of storytelling is noticeably different from more typical fare of its day. It’s too bad that lot of people want to stereotype the old pulp fiction as being more or less all the same because people like Lovecraft were making a conscious effort to push back against the tropes and trends of their own times:

When I see a magazine tending toward the commonplace, the last people I blame are the editors and publishers; for even a cursory survey of the professional writing field shows that the trouble is something infinitely deeper and wider—something concerning no one publication, but the whole atmosphere and temperament of the American fiction business. And even when I get to such large units as this, I can’t be any too savage about the blaming—because I realise that much of the trouble is absolutely inevitable—as incapable of human remedy as the fate of any protagonist in the Greek drama. Here in America we have a very conventional and half-educated public—a public trained under one phase or another of Puritan tradition, and almost dulled to aesthetic sensitiveness because of the monotonous and omnipresent overstressing of the ethical element. We have millions who lack the intellectual independence, courage, and flexibility to get an artistic thrill out of a bizarre situation, and who enter sympathetically into a story only when it ignores the colour and vividness of actual human emotions and conventionally presents a simple plot based on artificial, ethically sugar-coated values and leading to a flat denouement which shall vindicate every current platitude and leave no mystery unexplained by the shallow comprehension of the most mediocre reader. ...

http://www.castaliahouse.com/lovecraft-on-culture-the-classics-and-a-merritt/
 
We have millions who lack the intellectual independence, courage, and flexibility to get an artistic thrill out of a bizarre situation, and who enter sympathetically into a story only when it ignores the colour and vividness of actual human emotions and conventionally presents a simple plot based on artificial, ethically sugar-coated values and leading to a flat denouement which shall vindicate every current platitude and leave no mystery unexplained by the shallow comprehension of the most mediocre reader. ...
Click to expand...

So it's not just a current era thing, then? Suspected as much. I blame society.
 
I suspect it is the human condition....
 
Some Thoughts on "H. P. Lovecraft & the Black Magickal Tradition" by John L. Steadman

Last week I received an email from occultist Peter Levenda, who was upset that a decade ago I had included in my 2005 book The Cult of Alien Gods the then-recent news that writer, conspiracy theorist, and occultist Alan Cabal had revealed in the New York Press in 2003 that Levenda was in fact the author of the infamous Simon Necronomicon, a hoax claiming to be the authentic ancient text of the book that otherwise originated in the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. (My copy of the article was dated 2004, but the currently available version reads 2003.) According to later accounts, Cabal and Levenda both worked at the same occult bookstore at the time of the Necronomicon’s release and traveled in the same social circles. Levenda denies the claim, but so far as I know never demanded a retraction or accused Cabal or the New York Press of libel. Indeed, the U.S. Copyright Office lists Levenda as Simon’s real name and as the holder of Simon’s copyright for the Necronomicon’s 2006 sequel. Levenda says this is merely a legal formality to protect the identity of the intensely private Simon.

Despite a relatively pleasant conversation, Levenda declined to provide me with the name of the real Simon, or any other details that might confirm that Simon has a physical existence. I told him that my interest extends primarily to the claim, which he has sometimes seemed to endorse, that this Necronomicon is a genuine ancient text. No evidence of its authenticity was forthcoming either. ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/s...e-black-magickal-tradition-by-john-l-steadman
 
ramonmercado said:
Some Thoughts on "H. P. Lovecraft & the Black Magickal Tradition" by John L. Steadman

Last week I received an email from occultist Peter Levenda, who was upset that a decade ago I had included in my 2005 book The Cult of Alien Gods the then-recent news that writer, conspiracy theorist, and occultist Alan Cabal had revealed in the New York Press in 2003 that Levenda was in fact the author of the infamous Simon Necronomicon, a hoax claiming to be the authentic ancient text of the book that otherwise originated in the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. (My copy of the article was dated 2004, but the currently available version reads 2003.) According to later accounts, Cabal and Levenda both worked at the same occult bookstore at the time of the Necronomicon’s release and traveled in the same social circles. Levenda denies the claim, but so far as I know never demanded a retraction or accused Cabal or the New York Press of libel. Indeed, the U.S. Copyright Office lists Levenda as Simon’s real name and as the holder of Simon’s copyright for the Necronomicon’s 2006 sequel. Levenda says this is merely a legal formality to protect the identity of the intensely private Simon.

Despite a relatively pleasant conversation, Levenda declined to provide me with the name of the real Simon, or any other details that might confirm that Simon has a physical existence. I told him that my interest extends primarily to the claim, which he has sometimes seemed to endorse, that this Necronomicon is a genuine ancient text. No evidence of its authenticity was forthcoming either. ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/s...e-black-magickal-tradition-by-john-l-steadman
Click to expand...

I'm sure I was part of the same group as Al Cabal for a while back around the early 2000s. Nothing else to offer, his name just jumped out at me.
 
Just came across this lovely looking book series of Lovecraftian folk horror short stories, have a look, I'm looking forward to ordering one of them soon.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/CumbrianCthulhu

61gJsxK3wZL._AC_UL320_SR214,320_.jpg
 
I'm working my way through the collected works of HPL on my Kindle at the moment (one with slightly annoying "interesting facts" after each tale), and I have to say I'm not over-excited so far. It probably doesn't help that the stories in the collection appear to be in no obvious order, but I'm not feeling the Lovecraftian vibe just yet. For sure, there are some good tales, but they read a bit like extended synopses of bigger stories that the author has been pitching to his editor.

Perhaps the thing with Lovecraft is that, at some point, I'll reach some otherworldly critical mass, and thereafter, everything I read will give me the heebie-jeebies. The writing is just about compelling enough that I'll persist with the stories for the time being, and I'll report back if anything happens. If I'm found at my window, staring into space with a look of terror, my hands clutching an old and dusty tome, you may have to read about it in the papers...
 
Last edited:
I prefer listening to them as audiobooks rather than reading them. Librivox has lots of fairly decent free recordings of them.

The film Dagon is also worth a watch. Last time I looked the whole thing was on Youtube.
 
graylien said:
I prefer listening to them as audiobooks rather than reading them. Librivox has lots of fairly decent free recordings of them.

The film Dagon is also worth a watch. Last time I looked the whole thing was on Youtube.
Click to expand...

Librivox is a good source of Lovercraft and it's free.
 
Did H. P. Lovecraft Inspire a "Black Pilgrimage" to Ritual Magic and Scientology?
1/22/2016

If you watched the Yesterday TV (UK) and American Heroes Channel (US) series Forbidden History, you probably saw frequent commentator Andrew Gough, the publisher of Hereticmagazine. If you did not watch this series, chances are you have never heard of Andrew Gough or Heretic magazine. Anyway, the newest edition of the Heretic is out and in it the British writer Mark Oxbrow, author of a book on the history of Halloween, has a piece on “Lovecraft, Scientology, and the Black Pilgrimage” that I think overstates its case a bit.

Oxbrow’s thesis, which is not dissimilar to my own in The Cult of Alien Gods, is that Lovecraft’s work served as a springboard connecting modern fringe believers with nineteenth century material that they then reused and recycled. In this case, he wants to connect L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology to M. R. James’s “Count Magnus.” In this instance, there is a relatively thin thread that connects the dots, and there doesn’t seem to be a direct impact on the beliefs or claims of the participants, suggesting only a borrowing of language rather than a shaping of ideas.

Oxbrow’s argument runs something like this: In the 1904 collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, James alludes to a hideous journey that the villainous Count Magnus undertook to the city of Chorazin, the biblically cursed town (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:13-15) referenced in Pseudo-Methodius as the birthplace of the Antichrist. However, James never describes this adventure: “You will naturally inquire, as Mr. Wraxall did, what the Black Pilgrimage may have been. But your curiosity on the point must remain unsatisfied for the time being, just as his did.” H. P. Lovecraft had read the story and liked it very much, calling it “assuredly one of the best” of James’s works in Supernatural Horror in Literature. It is often cited as a key influence on The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It is probable that Lovecraft borrowed from James the “dubious name of Chorazin” to apply to the town Alonzo Typer visits in his 1935 revision of William Lumley’s “The Diary of Alonzo Typer” (in reality almost entirely original composition). ...

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/d...ck-pilgrimage-to-ritual-magic-and-scientology
 
So which is Lovecraft's weakest work? Personally I think The Street. Partly for its utter pomposity, partly for its underlying racism.

Also possibly The Horror at Red Hook. Again quite racist, it takes ages to get going then launches into prose so purple in the ritual scene that it seems like self parody.
 
The Horror at Red Hook was my introduction to Lovecraft. The racism was hard to ignore.

Unhealthy and gamey. I was bound to find some more . . . :mad:
 
Well, that's one of the shorter film reviews I've read, drbates! Do you have a link to a fuller version?

I'm still reading a bit of Lovecraft's collected works on my Kindle, and I'm still waiting for the experience to really take fire. I admit to being a little underwhelmed, although there are some good tales there. The themes seem to be a bit repetitive, as if Lovecraft is riffing on a handful of ideas, but I guess that's also the whole point of the "mythos". I shall persevere, though, even even none of the tales have yet had much of an effect on me.
 
Last edited:
drbates said:
LIES
Click to expand...
I quite like the film, but it's probably because the pickings are pretty slim when it comes to Lovecraft adaptations. I'd love to see a good budget BBC adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness.
 
I watched Dagon after Graylien's recommendation. It was OK, not the worst film I've seen. Genuinely creepy.
 
Peripart said:
Perhaps the thing with Lovecraft is that, at some point, I'll reach some otherworldly critical mass, and thereafter, everything I read will give me the heebie-jeebies.
Click to expand...
I am replying very late in the day, but with Lovecraft I think that it's not so much that you hit critical mass but more that one day, one story will suddenly make absolute sense and be so absolutely scary, engaging, and weird, that you will not be able to reflect upon the days when you didn't "get" Lovecraft. Because from that moment on, your memory will be convinced that you always "got" Lovecraft.

I know that there was a time before Lovecraft, and I remember the moment I swapped from being an interested reader to a utter fan. I was self consciously reading At the Mountains of Madness on the train from Oxford to London. Then, literally without warning, the story reeled around and screamed at me. A scream that although I didn't hear it, I will never forget it. Since then, I just worship at the feet of Lovecraft. He's more than worth pursuing. Once you hit that magic moment (and it may come at any point, anywhere), you'll never look back. Indeed, it will open a whole new world of fantastical fiction for you to explore and enjoy. I rather envy you and the world you are about to, maybe, explore!
 
FrKadash said:
... the pickings are pretty slim when it comes to Lovecraft adaptations.
Click to expand...
Ain't that the truth!! Couldn't find a single one worth a free viewing. I don't understand. Has the family locked off all rights or something?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top