hey, so since I’m going to start blogging a lot about the new Call of Cthulhu campaign I’m running here in a couple weeks, and saying a lot of stuff like “Lovecraft’s work means a lot to me,” and probably at some point launching into a spirited TED talk about why Lovecraft’s writing specifically has value to the very same kinds of marginalized people he would have hated, I just want to get a few things on the record real quick:
3. didn’t like gays either. no sir
4. this is not something you can “death of the author” away either. a lot of his stories are also wild racist. especially the ones about “alien miscegenation”
5. plus he would write lines like “he was an especially nautical-looking Negroid”
6. what does that even mean
7. the fact that Lovecraft was such a twisted, hateful, everything-phobic little bitch directly correlates to what a fearful, malevolent, inexplicable world he created in his writing. like you can’t even say “yeah well what he wrote was compelling despite what a horrible person he was” no his being a horrible person was unfortunately a big part of why it’s compelling
8. there are a lot of reasons to enjoy Lovecraft’s writing that aren’t “I’m also secretly racist,” and actually (like I teased up top) there are reasons why I think marginalized people specifically become fans of Lovecraft, but if you love Lovecraft, it’s definitely worth taking some honest time with yourself to try to figure out why some of those stories about people interbreeding with subhuman monsters and the moral degeneracy that grips their little communities as a result work for you. like no judgment, bc a lot of those stories work for me too, but that’s what they’re about, and you have to look at that head-on
9. probably don’t leap to Lovecraft’s defense until you have a really thought-out answer to point 8. “that’s stupid”/”you’re reading too much into it” doesn’t work when a dude who never shut up about the moral danger of miscegenation writes a bunch of stories about shit like people having sex with apes and then all their descendants being criminals and madmen
10. absolute pieces of shit can, unfortunately, make powerful and meaningful art, and the point at which you decide you can no longer consume or discuss the work of a specific artist because of their personal horribleness is ultimately a deeply personal one that happens on a case by case basis. for me personally, I won’t engage with Woody Allen or Johnny Depp’s work, but I’ll still watch and derive meaning from Roman Polanski’s and (obviously) HP Lovecraft’s. but if “Annie Hall” is a really meaningful movie to you, I understand why you might draw that line in a different place
11. also, it’s not a line. it’s like, a weird meandering squiggle that takes into account all of your own personal traumas, your upbringing and background, when you were exposed to the artist’s work, what kind of effect it had on your life, and your personal relationship with art in general. I honestly think it’s one of the more personal and revealing decisions someone can make
12. so when I say “I’m a huge fan of Lovecraft” what I mean is “I found meaning, inspiration, and value in his work that he probably would have been uncomfortable with, and after a lot of soul-searching, I’m prepared to stand by my enjoyment of these stories,” not “boy I love this huge racist,” but if you don’t want Lovecraft shit on your dash because wow he really was a huge racist though, blacklist tag “#callofcthulhu.” I’ll use it on every post about our upcoming campaign.
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