"Lovecraft, Nihilism, and Fascism: An Article by Paul St John Mackintosh"

[Druidic]

It amazes me that on a site where intelligent people regularly discuss nihilism, suicide, antinatalism and other things that would elicit violent retching in most folk, Politics is the one thing that can get the fur up. Strange.
I recall reading that in experiments brain scans showed the brain waves involved in the analysis of data going into neutral when an opponent in a debate attempted to explain his position. I believe it since everything in my experience supports it. I never waste time trying to convert another to my point of view in matters philosophical or political, I just state my opinion and be on my merry way.
My own positions (I like to believe) are dictated by Logic and experience but not without a touch of compassion; and they span both sides of the aisles. I have no political identity and no party would want a piece of me.

Me too.

The more I see of politics the more I am convinced such power should be farmed out to the lowest possible level where it can do the least possible damage.

The "old-fashioned" unit of the traditional extended family would be a good starting point.

Mark S.

Damn.

I can see how that last remark won't go down well with the advocates of state-level societal planning. My apologies, again, for any "left-bashing" I may have invoked.

It's not deliberate. If you want to raise your kids communist that's your business.

Mark S.

[Druidic]

I don't see any need for starting a new thread for this, especially in view of the light political comments which might justify a mention that, for those unaware, Harlan Ellison now has a YouTube channel. And it's worth checking out. I'm not sure Harlan and I would agree on much but I like the guy. His recollection of Mingus and Eric Dolphy reminded me of Ginger Baker and the late Jack Bruce. But without the kiss. Really, its priceless.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

I don't see any need for starting a new thread for this, especially in view of the light political comments which might justify a mention that, for those unaware, Harlan Ellison now has a YouTube channel. And it's worth checking out. I'm not sure Harlan and I would agree on much but I like the guy. His recollection of Mingus and Eric Dolphy reminded me of Ginger Baker and the late Jack Bruce. But without the kiss. Really, its priceless.

Thanks, Druidic, I will definitely check this out. Harlan Ellison is as much hit as miss to me as an author, but he has admittedly written some classic stories. And he is always entertaining to listen to, even if you disagree with him. I'm sure Harlan still has more piss and vinegar in him than most people are ever endowed with, but can you imagine if he had a Youtube channel twenty or thirty years ago? Ouch! The devastation left in its wake would probably make one tremble.

(But without the kiss. You got that right. lol)

[Druidic]

When I was young, I really liked Poe's Haunted Palace (Hey, I was a kid and, besides, it included The Unnameable, two for the price of one!). In a letter, knowing my enthusiasm for the film, August Derleth remarked that the original script was far superior to what Corman finally filmed. Ah, I would have loved to have read the original.
Bloch and Matheson worked the same side of the street as Beaumont did but stylistically Beaumont's work stood out. Bloch was a gifted writer who preferred a bare bones style while Matheson could be more than a bit uneven at times. Bradbury and Sturgeon were brilliant stylists if you didn't mind an "in your face" element. But Beaumont's mastery was quiet and unobtrusive and inattentive readers would never fully appreciate the magic of his words.

[gveranon]

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

I don't see any need for starting a new thread for this, especially in view of the light political comments which might justify a mention that, for those unaware, Harlan Ellison now has a YouTube channel. And it's worth checking out. I'm not sure Harlan and I would agree on much but I like the guy. His recollection of Mingus and Eric Dolphy reminded me of Ginger Baker and the late Jack Bruce. But without the kiss. Really, its priceless.

Thanks. I knew Ellison had a YouTube channel, but I hadn't watched "Harlan Ellison on Jazz." Some great stories there, with outrageous name-dropping. I envy him his record collection and his library (which you get a glimpse of at 9:40).

[Druidic]

Ben and Gveranon: Glad my post was helpful to you both. I just discovered the channel the other day.
Outrageous name-dropping and outrageous anecdotes from a rich and manic life are a big part of what Harlan is all about. I hope he's with us for many years to come; the Devil doesn't deserve entertainment this good.

[xylokopos]

As I get older and reread Lovecraft's work, his nihilism no longer seems that obvious or pervasive. HPL revised, refined and reviewed his attitudes and opinions over the course of his life. Most intelligent humans do so.

His pessimistic, conservative and misanthropic tendencies had found expression by the early 20s, a time when he read Schopenhauer and sent letters to Sonia about the rule of the aristocracy as a counterweight to the pointless horror of it all [I am thinking primarily of "Nietzscheism and Realism"]. These same tendencies exploded in hysteria during his NY days. But even though HPL remained irreligious and aware of the blind, cosmic indifference, he tempered his lamentation for humanity not just with compassion, but with a sense of solidarity and even, or rare occasion, guarded admiration.

Hence, that bizarre lyrical explosion near the end of ATMOM, where Dyer contemplates the escape of the Great Old Ones from Lake's camp, their horror at being attacked by the dogs, their sojourn through their fallen city and their realization of the death of their civilization. I now read that part as an example of a strangely deferred humanism, as a way for HPL to define the tragedy and the pinnacle of mankind: men as scientists and creators within a hostile sphere always ravaged by time. Scientists to the last, HPL writes, whether radiates or vegetables [!] it matters not: the Old Ones were men, in the true sense of the word.

So many of HPL's protagonists are motivated by decency and bound by friendship, loyalty or duty and so many of his cities and natural landscapes are touched by near unbearable beauty that I think someone like Houellebecq projected very heavily to come to the conclusion that HPL was anti-life. Of course, these days Houellebecq has changed his own attitudes, so I guess his youthful readings of Lovecraft are even less relevant. I don't mean to imply that HPL ever became optimistic or a true humanist, but I do doubt that he harbored a Ligottian wish for it all to end, pain and everything else alike.


[For those who first heard of the Iron Guard in relation to Cioran, I recommend reading Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts, specifically the chapters on Romania. There is great background on Codreanu and his Legionnaires, on Antonescu and his relationship with Hitler and of course the whole religio-historical mess of eastern Orthodoxy's anti-semitism and mysticism as it re-emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, within new nation-states. Kaplan's narrative is that of a well-informed travelling journalist, who has actually lived in the region.]

[Druidic]

Quote

So many of HPL's protagonists are motivated by decency and bound by friendship, loyalty or duty and so many of his cities and natural landscapes are touched by near unbearable beauty that I think someone like Houellebecq projected very heavily to come to the conclusion that HPL was anti-life.--xylokopos

Exactly. A few years ago I made a similar point here; Despite his numerous rants comparing humans to insects, Lovecraft had a sense of human dignity and expressed it in many of his characters; Armitage, Dr. Willit, even Walter Gillman who tries to save the child in Witch-House and pays a horrible price for it. Lovecraft was too complex to be defined by a word. As Durrenmatt says, "Nihilist is just a word they use when they want to marginalize you."