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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 18, 2017 1:17:52 GMT
A favorite author of mine, though, in many ways, perhaps the most misunderstood of all American horror writers. (I would argue, for example, that he never intended to create a "mythos"; more than anything, his stories are based on intertwining history and small-town New England with Cosmicism.) Certainly, he would be utterly unable to comprehend the cult following that has risen up around his writings. I know we have a few Lovecraft fans on here, with usernames like THawk and cryptoflovecraft, so perhaps we may get the discussion going in these weeks before Hallowe'en? A few of my favorites of his work: "The Music of Erich Zann" (his masterpiece) "The Rats in the Walls" (probably his most horrifying) "The Festival" "Cool Air" "The Colour Out of Space" "The Dunwich Horror" "The Thing on the Doorstep" The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
How about you?
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Oct 18, 2017 8:58:30 GMT
have you read michel houellebecq's critique of LOVECRAFT? its wonderful.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Oct 18, 2017 9:00:47 GMT
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Oct 18, 2017 9:02:32 GMT
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 18, 2017 11:27:34 GMT
have you read michel houellebecq's critique of LOVECRAFT? its wonderful. I haven't, actually, but I am a fan of Houellebecq, and your review above does make it sound wonderful. I'll let you know as soon as I'm able to read it.
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Post by THawk on Oct 18, 2017 12:25:08 GMT
Lovecraft is like no other. One of the most fascinating people who has written some of the fascinating stories I have ever read.
The Shadow over Innsmouth, as can be guessed, I believe to be perhaps his best work, and probably the most easily accessible. If there is one story I would recommend, it would be this one. A storyline often imitated, but never duplicated.
The ones usually listed as his most popular I all love. The Call of Cthulu is as epic as epic gets. At the Mountains of Madness, The Whisperer in Darkness, Dagon are all masterpieces.
One that isn't so often listed among his top best but is one of my favorites is Under the Pyramids. I love Egyptian mythology, and this was as good of a tale on the subject as I have ever read.
Yet my absolute favorite of all of Lovecraft's works is The Outsider. Although from what I understand he later regretted how it turned out, it is perhaps his most personal, and in a sense his most deeply emotional work. There is no other piece of fiction that I connect with as deeply as this one....whatever that says about me.
His poetry I suppose is hit or miss, but I absolutely love Night-Gaunts, which is perfect Halloween fare.
I do always read a bit of Lovecraft around Halloween time. How I wish one day somehow more of his works were discovered.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 18, 2017 18:50:12 GMT
Thanks, THawk. I think readers either "get" Lovecraft or they don't, and that's no criticism implied if they don't--he's damned difficult to understand (not in language but in theme and style), but his life and work are fascinating if one does understand, as you said. He represents an old tradition I've called "the storyteller," akin to the tales of a fireside raconteur, a concept that also includes Irving, Hawthorne, M.R. James, Blackwood, Machen, and John Dickson Carr but that is little-known and hardly-ever studied nowadays. "The Outsider" is very good and, for both author and reader, very personal. It speaks to that sense of temporal misplacement, of being born "out of time," that so characterizes Lovecraft, as well as that wistfulness for we-know-not-what. Great tale. I'm very happy to talk Lovecraft with you--thanks for chiming in!
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 18, 2017 21:25:42 GMT
Not a huge fan of his writing style--I find it plods along and then you get to some really eerie passages. However his essay writing style is succinct and refreshing. I got some good suggestions for horror writers from his article (James Fitz O'Brien).
He also pinpoints the problem with much of western media today-it is alien--not representative of the majority audience heritage.
I have read a number of his letters and say what you will, when it comes to race he is totally blunt and expresses his opinion quite openly, and was not an Archie Bunker, intellectually-speaking.
"If a Russian-inspired communist dictatorship ever tried to force negro equality on the U. S., there is scant question but that the descendants of Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, & William Lloyd Garrison would stand side by side with those of Jefferson Davis & John C. Calhoun in fighting its ultimate implications to the death." from a letter written November 22, 1934
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 24, 2017 22:37:17 GMT
I've been trying to read more of his essays, Primemovermithrax Pejorative , though I haven't had much time to do so. I completely agree he was no "Archie Bunker." Anything specific you dislike about his writing style? Very impersonal, but I think it's quite good; I particularly like the way he is able to build atmosphere with an adverb ("too") in something like "The Colour Out of Space."
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 24, 2017 23:39:17 GMT
I just find he has a very ponderous style for his longer stories. Not saying that is wrong, just that it kind of makes it hard for me to get into them. However, in the case of Mountains of Madness, once it starts to get going you do feel sucked in, and it is effective suspense and atmopshere.
But, like Stephen King, I prefer his nonfiction work to his fiction (so far). Maybe I just need to read more of it.
His essay on Horror is a really good one-and I recommend the Diamond Lens and What Was It? Two short stories mentioned by Lovecraft in his essay.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 24, 2017 23:40:01 GMT
BTW I am finally reading some Clark Ashton Smith, after a long time of totally ignoring him.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2017 19:42:48 GMT
He had an immense imagination and created a lasting literary mythology. His stories infer a choking sense of dread. On the downside, he's way too verbose and often his stories are overlong, with nothing much to hold the interest over the full length. And there's more of a whiff of racism to his work.
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Post by mikef6 on Oct 31, 2017 0:58:24 GMT
I, too, believe that I “get” Lovecraft although I have read relatively little of his work. Nevertheless, I love his writing because he produced my favorite Cat Quote of all time. From his short story The Cats Of Ulthar:
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Post by dougb on Oct 31, 2017 12:37:55 GMT
Always found him more interesting for the cult like status that has grown around him (The Typhonian O.T.O for example). He is not a very good writer IMHO.
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Post by politicidal on Oct 31, 2017 20:41:22 GMT
Let's hope now that with THE SHAPE OF WATER being a big critical smash, Guillermo Del Toro can lean on some bigwig to produce an adaptation of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2021 5:42:56 GMT
This author has been on my must read list for years now. Gotta get around to at least one of his novels. I know one has a GIANT SQUID MONSTER in it. Perhaps I should start there. 🦑
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 21, 2021 13:48:32 GMT
This author has been on my must read list for years now. Gotta get around to at least one of his novels. I know one has a GIANT SQUID MONSTER in it. Perhaps I should start there. 🦑 He’s certainly a curious one. To say he had his flaws—both as a human being and as a writer—is an understatement. But he had the gift of storytelling, and his narrative hooks are second to none:His best stories, in my opinion, are “The Music of Erich Zann,” “The Rats in the Walls,” “The Festival,” “The Dunwich Horror,” The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and especially “The Colour Out of Space.” “The Call of Cthulhu,” the one with the giant squid monster, is probably his most famous, and it certainly has its good points, but the six above have more of a storytelling drive.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2021 17:53:41 GMT
This author has been on my must read list for years now. Gotta get around to at least one of his novels. I know one has a GIANT SQUID MONSTER in it. Perhaps I should start there. 🦑 He’s certainly a curious one. To say he had his flaws—both as a human being and as a writer—is an understatement. But he had the gift of storytelling, and his narrative hooks are second to none:His best stories, in my opinion, are “The Music of Erich Zann,” “The Rats in the Walls,” “The Festival,” “The Dunwich Horror,” “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” and especially “The Colour Out of Space.” “The Call of Cthulhu,” the one with the giant squid monster, is probably his most famous, and it certainly has its good points, but the six above have more of a storytelling drive. Thanks for the tip! I have a feeling this an author I will really like. I know there’s a vast difference between Lovecraft and HG Wells but I also imagine they share some major similarities, both being brilliant sci if writers who were decades ahead of their time. And Wells is one of my favorite authors- in fact I often cite him as being my absolute favorite when asked. And you know I couldn’t resist a story about a squid!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2021 19:26:06 GMT
Got this for XMas…
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Post by petrolino on Dec 29, 2021 2:55:47 GMT
My favourite horror writers are Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, James Herbert and Stephen King. My mother had me reading Poe and Lovecraft from an early age, though the first writer she really foisted upon me was Arthur Conan Doyle (should have gone straight to Poe and Lovecraft). I don't recall seeing my father read anything other than sports publications and top model magazines.
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