The Hideous Unknown of H.P. Lovecraft

[cnpappas]

A review, in The New York Review of Books, of "The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft."

Kind of condescending, and sort of schizophrenic, but as to be expected, a well-written analysis of Lovecraft that, towards the end,
can by extension be applied to Ligotti.

The Hideous Unknown of H.P. Lovecraft by Charles Baxter | The New York Review of Books

[luciferfell]

Wow the author of that article is SOOOO stuck up and dismissive of anything that is not LITERATURE as he sees it. If its forced upon college kids and never read by anyone by choice. Then its for him. Wow.

[miguel1984]

Charles Baxter: "His narrators cannot calm down; the fever never breaks. Accordingly, simple human decency, kindness, and generosity have no place anywhere in the stories. Their emotional range is limited to dread on one end of the spectrum and hysteria on the other."

And this is where I figured out Mr. Baxter does not get H.P. Lovecraft.

[Nemonymous]

Lovecraft.
Our community taking sides on this is like fighting over the course history already took, here a literary history of which we are all part - when we know it can't be changed. That's not me sitting on the fence but just sayin'.
Time to move on, yes, to a new iconic symbol for an award, but not by destroying a past icon whose mind none of us can really know.

[hopfrog]

No, it is not time to move on to another iconic symbol of an award, and this is the entire point of my contention. I am inspir'd to create a new blog, perhaps calling in "H. P. Lovecraft and His Influence," where I can discuss Lovecraft's fiction and its place in ye history of fantasy literature; and where I can praise Lovecraft as an excellent writer. I cannot agree that it is fine to allow the Lovecraft detractors to spread their hatred and bigotry without comment.

[Spiral]

Quote Originally Posted by hopfrog

No, it is not time to move on to another iconic symbol of an award, and this is the entire point of my contention. I am inspir'd to create a new blog, perhaps calling in "H. P. Lovecraft and His Influence," where I can discuss Lovecraft's fiction and its place in ye history of fantasy literature; and where I can praise Lovecraft as an excellent writer. I cannot agree that it is fine to allow the Lovecraft detractors to spread their hatred and bigotry without comment.

please do, Willum. I'd love to read or hear more about that from you

[hopfrog]

Ellen Datlow is one of our most gifted editors, and as a person she is entirely admirable. I have read LOVECRAFT UNBOUND three times and will read it again. I was slightly disappointed by LOVECRAFT'S MONSTERS, mostly because I was thunderstruck by the lack of a tale concerning Nyarlathotep. Along with S. T. Joshi, Ellen is editing anthologies that are original in their approach to Lovecraftian horror, books in which the writing is always superb, intelligent, and effective.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by hopfrog

No, it is not time to move on to another iconic symbol of an award, and this is the entire point of my contention. I am inspir'd to create a new blog, perhaps calling in "H. P. Lovecraft and His Influence," where I can discuss Lovecraft's fiction and its place in ye history of fantasy literature; and where I can praise Lovecraft as an excellent writer. I cannot agree that it is fine to allow the Lovecraft detractors to spread their hatred and bigotry without comment.

Speaking of influence, HPL had a significant impact on Ligotti. Anyone who has read the Gale Research (TL's old workplace) entries in such volumes as Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism will immediately recognize that. The compilation of criticism on Lovecraft is far more extensive than other notable authors. I even feel that Ligotti played a role in the recognition of Lovecraft as an important author in certain circles.

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

Speaking of influence, HPL had a significant impact on Ligotti. Anyone who has read the Gale Research (TL's old workplace) entries in such volumes as Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism will immediately recognize that. The compilation of criticism on Lovecraft is far more extensive than other notable authors. I even feel that Ligotti played a role in the recognition of Lovecraft as an important author in certain circles.

Having just re-read a lot of Ligotti's works, I can see that is very true.

[Robin Davies]

Quote Originally Posted by hopfrog

I am inspir'd to create a new blog, perhaps calling in "H. P. Lovecraft and His Influence," where I can discuss Lovecraft's fiction and its place in ye history of fantasy literature.

This is a good idea. I've been unable to find a good, lively forum devoted to Lovecraft and I'd like to see some discussion of the recently published Variorum.