Lovecraft and Barlow

[waffles]

Quote Originally Posted by The Alchemist

... One last remark on Burroughs lest I change the primary subject of this thread: I read somewhere (and it is only rumour) that David Lynch wanted Burroughs to play the mayor in Twin Peaks. As fascinating as this might have been, I think a collaboration between Burroughs and Lynch would have been too powerful for the universe to handle. Burroughs in the Black Lodge. (Rare Twin Peaks production still.)

The guy who played the mayor in Twin Peaks was great. I think Burroughs would have been too distracting. Although, I loved Burroughs in Drugstore Cowboy.

[Ruina]

Well, the premise of this new book looks a bit unusual, but certainly less so than Edward Lee's Lovecraftian books. From the articles I've read it seems the author likes Barlow a lot - it can be a great chance to know more about him at least, even if the book itself turns out not that great. After all, it's Barlow who wrote one of the best Lovecraftian stories that is so good that I wish Lovecraft wrote it.

Edit: eh, nevermind.

Quote

“Oh,” Magnus said. “If they were lovers, and I’m not saying that they were,” Loveman continued, “then that was the stupidest thing Howard ever did. Although in truth, it was probably the most endearing thing, too.” “How do you mean?” Magnus asked. Loveman patted the stack of books on the desk beside him, as though to reassure them of something. “Don’t you see?” he asked. “If he really did love Bobby, at least that would mean he was human.”

I see a lot of people still have very limited understanding of what does it mean to be a human.

[Ancient History]

Quote Originally Posted by Ruina

Well, the premise of this new book looks a bit unusual, but certainly less so than Edward Lee's Lovecraftian books. From the articles I've read it seems the author likes Barlow a lot - it can be a great chance to know more about him at least, even if the book itself turns out not that great.

Haven't read it yet, but honestly I'm not looking forward to La Farge's take. Had to deal with enough bull#### claims in print that Lovecraft was a pedophile these days - there's no evidence that Barlow or Lovecraft had any thoughts regarding each other in that way. Honestly, at least Lee has a enough respect for his subject matter to nod-and-wink at the readers. La Farge's novel is historical slashfic.

[Hidden X]

If novel presented Lovecraft as a homosexual, that would explain the strange negativity I've seen online as well as the veritable onslaught of one star ratings on Goodreads (as opposed to universal acclaim from critics and other authors)... Lovecraftians are ever the funny lot.

It's a work of fiction mate, not a biography or criticism.

[Ruina]

Quote Originally Posted by Ancient History

Honestly, at least Lee has a enough respect for his subject matter to nod-and-wink at the readers. La Farge's novel is historical slashfic.

Well, you're not really famous until they write slash about you. It just proves HPL is a real superstar now. And considering the specifics of Lovecraft fandom, of course it's gonna be a published slash - in this fandom, things that in other fandoms are not even envisioned can appear in print.

(Ironically, Lovecraft fanfic fandom seems to be refreshingly gen, with majority of high ratings being due to innocent gore and violence.)

I wouldn't be too disturbed by fiction that presents Lovecraft as attracted to men, but IMHO it makes just as much sense as fiction that would present him as secretly Communist - it could be interesting, but why do this? There are a billion of themes that are more related to Lovecraft and that would make a good premise for a book.

Quote Originally Posted by Ancient History

there's no evidence that Barlow or Lovecraft had any thoughts regarding each other in that way.

There are even facts that can be used as evidence against it - didn't Barlow mention in his memoirs he had a crush on some young guy in the time of his friendship with Lovecraft? Lovecraft was hardly young at that time.

[Speaking Mute]

Quote Originally Posted by Hidden X

If novel presented Lovecraft as a homosexual, that would explain the strange negativity I've seen online as well as the veritable onslaught of one star ratings on Goodreads (as opposed to universal acclaim from critics and other authors)... Lovecraftians are ever the funny lot. It's a work of fiction mate, not a biography or criticism.

There's a history here that you may not be aware of - prior to Lovecraft being pigeonholed as a racist, he was pigeonholed as a deeply repressed homosexual.

But there's another, more obvious and less contentious explanation for the disconnect between critics and popular readers: La Farge's novel is a family drama in the Oprah book club vein that's being miscast as a Lovecraftian horror novel. I'm skipping it mostly because I skimmed through it and found the same prosaic wisdom of life shown in Ruina's excerpt.

[Shadenuat]

I don't find the possibility that HPL was gay so impossible. Possible clues are there, in his fiction, sometimes less than obvious, sometimes painfully obvious like the palpable homoeroticism in "Hypnos"... And it is reasonable to assume that neither he nor his lovers would be public about it, as it would be damaging to him during his life, and damaging to his reputation and commercial appeal after his death.
But if it is easy to understand why something like that would be kept in secret back then, as any charge of homosexuality was effective way to character assassinate someone, it is night impossible to justify fandom's animosity towards the very idea in this day and age. I could swear that they take it way worse than any charge of racism or misogyny...

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I can't speak for all fans but I'd guess it wasn't so much a homophobic response as a feeling that it's an attempt to make Lovecraft more interesting.
Or that thing people do when they explain an important figure away by making them look like a contradiction or a tragedy, it feels almost like a smug dismissal to me (even if the person making the claim isn't homophobic at all).

But people do talk about Lovecraft fans freaking out in a reactionary way on social media and I'm never on twitter and facebook to see it.

I find it odd that people haven't made more of Bram Stoker's probable homosexuality.

[Shadenuat]

Stoker's probable homosexuality has been accepted by the academia for some time now, I doubt that you'll find any modern Stoker scholar who's attacking that idea. He is also much less of a controversial figure than Lovecraft is and, in spite of his mainstream popularity and influence, he doesn't have the sort of dedicated fandom that Lovecraft has. I think that should explain the lack of noise.

As to Lovecraft... Well, I wouldn't count the investigation of his possible homosexuality as a dismissal. Quite the opposite. It might engender some empathy and understanding for him as a human being nowadays, as opposed to his other widely discussed traits that make him extremely unsympathetic to any non-reactionary modern reader.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I don't mean dismissal as entirely dismissing the person and their work.
It's something that even huge fans do to their favourite artists, saying "he/she was a genius but I've got this poor bastard figured out, I know what their struggle was and how that made their work the way it was". It's a strange sort of disrespect people do to their heroes.

I'm not saying this is what La Farge or anyone in particular is doing to Lovecraft but it's not unlikely that some have claimed "Lovecraft was just repressed" as a way to pigeonhole what he and his work are really about.
It's a certainty that he was extremely racist but I find the people who claim his racism was the engine for his whole creative vision to be too presumptuous.

I think there have been bisexual versions of Dracula but it just seems odd there wasn't more focusing on this aspect of Dracula and Harker's relationship. Maybe just too much Dracula fatigue?