Finally after years of intending to have a look at H.P.Lovecraft's work, I got round to it. Very interesting. Especially an interesting style, which reminds me both of Poe and Conan Doyle in some ways. Anyone have any thoughts for or against?
The man did not have an ear for dialogue. His style is unique for sure and if you can get past the wording he is entertaining.
Yes I agree, it's very hard to read. The only one of his that I could really get into was "Dreams from the Witch House" and that was because I saw Masters of Horror.
I wish he'd of done more novels instead of short stories. I'm not particularly interested in short stories.
Personally, I find him easy to read - a bit 'old fashioned' perhaps given the period during which he was writing. Maybe harks back to the 19th c. Agree though that it's a pity he didn't write more longer pieces.
No, it’s not the 19th, but the 18th century - his favorite time period with its superficial atheism and deep mystical undercurrents. Of course, Lovecraft was an extremely unconventional author, a true poet not unlike Charles Baudelaire, never mind a trashy quality of some of his stories. So you shouldn’t expect of him anything standard like a pocketbook novel stuffed with Hollywood-style dialogues)))
Unfortunately all his books are out of print in Canada, but I special ordered some from Britain as I am a big fan. I find the Cthulu mythos and all of that overrated, however, a few of his less well known short stories are real gems. I really loved The Music of Eric Zann. It has such great imagery and description. I love how you never know where he is going with his stories from the beginning. They always take you somewhere unexpected
In a way his works are a testament in an ironic level of the faith which people hold. Imagine a faith where ones deity did manifest. In Lovecraft's works the antihero, his protagonist, finds true rapport with his deity, though usually at the cost of his humanity. In many ways we have also seen this in real life. Many clergy of many faiths, as well as the bomb throwing followers place more value on faith itself than humanism or caring for their fellows. So Lovecraft is speaking of truths which somehow follow too much emphasis on the book. The book - regardless of which - when raised to mystical heights, kills what makes us human.
Although partially I agree with you, I wouldn't reduce all HPL's writing to the criticism of religious fandom, or any other fanatics, for that matter. In fact, if it were the case, I simply wouldn't be interested in his stories, but, fortunately, he was much wider and weirder than that. He had a lot to say, for example, about the drawbacks of a purely rational and scientific attitude toward life, as well as about the restrictions of being "just human". Don't you see that traditional Western Christianity is much more geocentric and anthropocentric than some relatively modern trends like even, say, Wicca - their very God took a human shape not somewhere on Betelgeuse, but right here on Earth - and at the same time it could be much more cruel, like in the times of witch-hunt? But I think that Lovecraft's most important warning is about the danger of being enslaved by the subconscious, which might seem to give you an abundance of creative opportunities, but in the end become more destructive than any totalitarian sect or government. So an artist or any other person who likes to deal with dreams and fantasies should always be very careful walking as if between the clashing rocks of the Argonauts, and swift in his or her imagination as well.
Certainly he was a tad different for certain. I bought his collection 'At the Mountains of Madness' and found it quite a slog in places to be honest. Ultimately though it was worth it as his style was so unique, my metaphysical bra was quite tight throughout and a spanner got caught in my underpants often.
The mythos itself was introduced to me when I first heard of 'H.P. Lovecraft's RE-ANIMATOR' and I set about to look up whoever this HPL was. I was hooked from what I heard of the stories and set about to read as many as possible. I also fount a collection with the main story of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. While the writing style was more prosaic than I expected from the horror story I expected, the promise of an awesome conclusion. I wasn't disappointed. I've been a fan ever since and I still enjoy Mythos stories. I'd love to see better film adaptations, but even the best CGI available cannot top the imagination of a HPL description.
That is because his technical skill is so deeply rooted in the modality of language that it goes beyond the boundary at which words can be translated to images. His works is very well made. They are effective because each has it's own meaning and they are relevant because they comment on many existential and intellectual concerns such as the human condition, the impossible, the nature of the mind, and so on. The language is somewhat dated but I find no evidence that he was trying to do so merely for the sake of showing off his knowledge of classics (as I seem to get with Poe's work). In all the are quite well developed, especially The Call of Cthulhu. The Colour Out of Space is another one that is quite interesting.
I love how he sets a euphoric type of atmosphere. It's one author that I find does a really good job setting a scene, before anything happens in the novel or story, I've always got a great idea of the scene and the imagery in my mind.
Love Howard! Classic weird fiction! The Cthulu Mythos and all that!! (Sure he gets crazy with all the long verbiage but that's his style) Also check out Clark Ashton Smith and Robert W. Chambers!
