Octavia E. Butler against Lovecraft (World Fantasy Award).

[marioneta]

From a letter to Catherine L. Moore, February 7, 1937:
"Events move swiftly, & the smashing victory of last November has so routed the enemy that I do not believe the barbaric Republican point of view will ever be seriously regarded hereafter in the United States. Civilized goals will have become so thoroughly taken for granted by 1940 that the bulk of the people will never again be bamboozled into voting for injustice, famine, & misery. It is not merely that they would revolt if Hooverism were put over on them. It is that they will never more allow Hooverism to be put over on them. The only way the handfull of defeated greed-worshipers could ever regain power would be through a shrewdly organized fascist movement based on primitive emotional appeals of the religio-hysteric type ( waving the flag, rousing nominal Christians against "Jewish intelectualism", exciting native-Americans against "Catholic-Irish-Jewish [ or whatever foreign element predominates in any particular section ] democracy, exciting Catholics against " materialistic communism ", exciting provincial pride against " decadent European innovations " &c. &c.), or through an armed revolt with foreign backing like that of Gen. Franco in Spain. Granting the scant probability of a Franco-like revolt of the Hoovers & Mellons & polite bankers, & conceding that- despite Coughlinism, the Black Legion, the Silver Shirts, & the KKK,- the soil of America is hardly very fertile for any variant of Nazism."
Howard Philips Lovecraft

Not bad for a so-called racist, xenophobic, bigoted white man. Kind of sounds familiar. Take out Hooverism and substitute Trumpism.

Of all the threads to revive... why... this one? It's one of the most consistently embarrassing, even by 'SJWs ate my hamster' thread standards.

H. P. Lovecraft was horrendously racist, and he was also one of the great American writers of horror stories from the 20th century. If people are put off by his racism and the frequent levels of disgust shown towards minorities in his fiction then that is fine and valid. If people still enjoy many of his stories despite the gross racism (as I do) then that is fine and valid. If white men are made mildly uncomfortable by criticism of their hobby and the replacement of Lovecraft with a *gasp* black woman for an award title then that is also very much fine with me. I still can't believe how overblown this controversy was or how entitled fandom can be, except I can because every fandom is like this now, whether it's Star Wars or My Little Pony. Any mild concession to people outside the sphere of white men is seen as some dirty attack on the rightful status quo. Lovecraft is still the most popular classic horror writer. His legacy is the least in need of protection of any writer we discuss on this site – bar none. Meanwhile, it's a nice gesture to non-white male authors not to exclusively name these things after white men and to be more inclusive. The 'WHY WON'T LIBERALS (who are the same as communists because... no.. I don't get it) STOP BRINGING THEIR POLITICS INTO EVERYTHING!?' cries are particularly tone deaf given the entire premise of this controversy is rooted in H. P. Lovecraft including his politics in many (all?) of his stories.

Oh, and the 'Yeah, he was disgusted by minorities, but he was REALLY nice to his white friends, so that cancels it out?' defence is really trash and off-putting, as is most of the anti-PC rhetoric during such discussions. Bonus 'squick!' points for verbatim quotes from white nationalists. I bet most of the people upset by this controversy couldn't even tell you who won the award in the last ten years, and bumping this thread with a quote in which Lovecraft says: 'the soil of America is hardly very fertile for any variant of Nazism' seems purposely outrageous to me given how acceptable it is to be a Nazi right now. It's probably the only way to guarantee you'll have a ton of people online protecting your right to spread your ideas.

[Evans]

Certain persons - let us just call them Mr J. or 'the White Male' - decided that Lovecraft as an individual should be as much a focus of attention as his fiction. That Lovecraft is being viewed as an intellectual on the basis of his letters as much as a writer means his personal views, including the racism, become part of his public persona.

Unfortunately the White Male, a figure who had came to dominate the weird fiction landscape through his scholarly work and had built up a little circle of Lovecraft the intellectual cultists, acted very badly to even suggestions of changing the award sculpture. Hysterical rants about shrill attention seeking SJWs and threats to boycott Fantasy.con and persuade all of his millions of friends to do so did not endear outsiders to the pro-Lovecraft cause. Worries about what Lovecraft represented were meet with ad hominem attacks and accusations of poor writing style.

Whilst most Lovecraft fans were left feeling rather embarrassed for good or for ill the New England writer remains just as popular. The White Male has gone off to arrange his own Lovecraft gathering and has recently published a memoir detailing his sexy, high-octane life in the field of Lovecraft scholarship.

I have no idea if Octavia Butler is a suitable replacement or not. I was under the impression she was more of a sci-fi writer but then again the WFS has been dominated by horror so why not? I do wonder if they would have chosen Ursula Le Guin instead had she died a couple of years earlier.

I suppose it was inevitable that as Lovecraft reached the cusp of mainstream success the reactionary male contingent of the fandom would get more territorial as more diverse voices entered the fandom. A similar thing has happened with Doctor Who and comic book superheroes and looks to be the case with James Bond.

On an aesthetic level I prefer the old award design (it looked freaky), but I also have minimal to no investment in what these awards look like, and I'm also aware representation matters more to people overall than whatever mild fanboy quibble I would have. All discussions like this seem to do are empower the reactionary types, and I don't think they're voices worth amplifying. While people were complaining of this petition to change an award being the sign of a Stalinist dystopia and comparing it to the oppression of climate change deniers (seriously, go back and read), literal Nazis were walking the streets and killing people, so, y'know, maybe some should keep some perspective on why being okay with racism and saying we have 'done more than enough' to stop it forever might rub *many* people the wrong way....

[Gnosticangel]

As someone with no personal stake in this debate, or in either defending or mocking ST Joshi, it's been interesting to watch this thread over time. As others have noted, one can be repulsed by Lovecraft's racism and still appreciate and continue reading (at least some of) his writing with a more discerning eye. The notion of an imperative to repudiate his "toxic legacy," as if he was some genocidal political leader, seems a bit hysterical.

I generally choose to read, view or listen to any artist that I appreciate regardless of their worldly politics. Speaking of "genocidal political leaders," if for example Emperor Nero, Genghis Khan, Torquemada, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Richard Nixon, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussein, or even Dick Cheney or the Koch Brothers, also happened to be skilled writers of weird tales, I would likely be interested to read them at least once. That would in no way imply any support for their philosophies or actions in the world.

Re. the award as a physical object, I always found it odd that a materialist, (often science-focused) author like Lovecraft was chosen to represent the winner of the "World Fantasy Award." I once believed that the choice was based more on his creepy, unusual and iconic facial features than on his work!

Also a longtime fan of the work of Octavia Butler, I have no problems with the suggestion for her to replace HPL. While political rhetoric may have as much to do with this suggestion as her artistry, still Butler was a brilliant and pioneering writer who I continue to reread. Though in both cases these choice are for a materialist and (sometimes) science fiction writer, rather than a supernaturalist or surrealist, or even an actual "fantasy" writer. My own choice for such an award would be someone with a stronger focus on the atmospheric, uncanny or surreal elements in weird fiction.

Choosing an author as a universal representative of a genre based solely on gender, race, ethnic origin or political affiliation feels "off." That seems to demean the actual writing of these authors, instead imposing a biased political evaluation on independent works of mood and the imagination which often reflect different times and places. There is also an element of irony in the current political "othering" of certain authors who themselves built their own legacy in writing about the Other.

If I had my druthers (which I don't), this award would always have been a bust of Edgar Allan Poe. Regardless of race, gender or politics, that author was arguably the Founder of the weird fiction genre who influenced more future authors than any other.

But also happy to see the image of O Butler to replace HPL. Why the hell not?

If some people didn't win with dignity or celebrate the right way, it still doesn't really bother me when compared to the white supremacists on the other side. People on the left can be a bit annoying sometimes, but I don't see it as a hill worth dying on. It's better to spend more time mocking Counter Currents than Laird Barron, who is overall a pretty decent guy.

[miguel1984]

The main problem with all of this was that, in his online petition to replace the bust, Daniel José Older said that Lovecraft was a terrible wordsmith, and the World Fantasy Convention implicitly accepted that by replacing the bust.

[dr. locrian]

I may regret posting the link in short order, but... this article by Ruthanna Emrys just appeared today.


H.P. Lovecraft And The Shadow Over Horror : NPR


For the record, I truly believe that the most vociferous voices on both sides of this debate are making mountains out of molehills.

I don't see it that way, but even if it were the case it wouldn't bother me if a group of people did think Lovecraft was a bad writer. They'd be in pretty good company. His style isn't for everyone, and he's so wildly popular I don't feel the need to defend him. People are allowed to think Lovecraft is bad. Aickman and M. R. James did. Lovecraft himself openly bashed countless writers.

[miguel1984]

I agree that people are allowed to think that; I am not a fascist. But this is the WFA who are implicitly accepting that as a fact; this is the same organization that had his bust as its main award for almost thirty years.

Also, by replacing the bust, they allowed those Counter Currents imbeciles to claim ownership to his legacy.