By: Quinton Wood
As the month of October lingers upon us, many of us look to the deepest depths of the world to find mystery and horror. Several SOAR students partake of their Halloween shivers, by looking to a deep, cosmic horror writing genre: the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Written over 100 years ago, Howard expanded the cosmic horror genre exponentially, and students today are still reading his works. Even today, video games such as “connarium” and “the call of Cthulhu” are rehashing his classical mythos. Though, Lovecraft had a deep burden in his immense prejudice, which has been described as “A bit much, even for his time.”
An anonymous local soar student is versed in Lovecraft’s works and had some things to share on the works:
Which of Lovecraft’s works do you enjoy the most?
Of all of Lovecraft’s works I have to say it's between The Colors Out of Space, The Thing on the Doorstep, and of course The Call of Cthulhu.
What do you like about Lovecraft’s writing?
The existentialism of his works, with elder gods and horrors that can be almost hard to comprehend. The fear that is held within the unknown and unfathomable. Not to mention, the way it has yet to be forgotten, as it is still popular in pop culture and media.
Do you notice the prejudice in his writing?
Not in his writing, of the stories I’ve read it's not part of his writing in his greatest stories in my opinion. I actually didn’t know he was prejudiced until I had researched him after reading much of what he has made. I believe it's terrible that he had beliefs that were immensely unsavory toward someone like me, a person of color. I think it’s awful that a great writer would have such beliefs. It isn’t exactly surprising, and it is admittedly a hard pill to swallow, I know he was born not long after slavery was legally ended and racism was prominent in his time, but its still something that I can’t take very lightly. In New England, where he grew up, this attitude towards people of color was actually extremely common. This should be acknowledged, and not something to gloss over. However, this has little if not nothing to do with his works on their own.
Do you think that we should disregard Lovecraft’s works because of his prejudice?
I don’t think we should disregard his works, but we shouldn’t gloss over the fact that he was in fact prejudiced. It should be acknowledged, but his works should not be affected by this. It's no different than how we see Thomas Jefferson or Woodrow Wilson, who have both made contributions to America but had also had a similar view to Lovecraft. It is what he believed, but that has very little correlation to what he has created. It is like blaming an object for the action of a person, the books themselves did not contribute to what he believed in, neither was it made with the purpose of reflecting his personal beliefs. An object is neither good nor evil, it is how it is used and interpreted by the person who has it. The books focus on psychological and existential horror stories, not Lovecraft’s inherent beliefs. While it may be one of those things that would be affected by nowadays cancel culture, we have to consider the actual contents of the book were not created with this purpose in mind. I praise the stories I have read, but not the person in this case.
ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn?
Yes.
However you feel about the author, his works can be found on Amazon.com and in local bookstores. Follow the oddities of a traveller through a hidden New England town in The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Hear the tail of the dream-like oddities far off in the ocean in The Call of Cthulhu. Revisit the strange hidden hills of New England in the tale of The Dunwich Horror, or even follow avid researchers as they make strange discoveries in the Antarctic wastelands in At the Mountains of Madness. If you are looking to get in a spooky mood this October, these short stories are a great place to start. Happy Halloween, everybody!
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