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  1. #11
    i3ullseye's Avatar
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    On a deeper note, and one that rarely gets discussed without devolving into argument..... we do in fact know Lovecraft's personal views from his letters of correspondence. He was certainly racist, but not necessarily a bigot, at least early on in his career. And we do see it in his earliest works. It does diminish over time however, and there is some anecdotal evidence that this changed over time and he softened. But man, the Horror at Red Hook could not be more direct.

    With all that said, the point I think is worth discussing, rather than simply trying to negate or diminish his history and his works, is how that world view likely helped shaped how well he wrote about the 'other'. The strange and different from us (and from himself), which he feared and loathed and couldn't fully understand. Without his own personal biases being what they were, I am not so sure he would have explored and presented these feeling as well as he did in his writings. The silver lining of it all I suppose.
    i3ullseye

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  2. #12
    Thank you that is exactly the conversation I wished to engenger in this thread. Nearly any book written 60+ years ago had a racist element "baked in", I reread a book from my childhood "The Microbe Hunters" about the development of vaccines, written in 1955 it hit the best seller lists, and I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it, When I reread it recently I was shocked by the casual racism, in a chapter detailing the fight against yellow fever, the author refers to one native tribe as "Fuzzy-Wuzzies"! This was in a book that was a best seller, and not because it shocked, but for its ability to make scientific methodology understandable to the general public. Nowadays it would be pilloried for that one line, (and rightly so!), but at the time it was considered acceptable. Attitudes have changed, and in the vast majority of cases for the better. Older authors will very often display attitudes we find repugnant, but there still can be something worthwhile, once you take out those elements. As i3ullseye says we should be cautious about "Throwing the baby out with the bathwater".

    I must admit I find the concept of Lovecraft's social background enhancing his ability to convey the atmosphere of his works interesting. I am afraid, I tended to assume that it was his mental health that allowed him to tap into that feeling of dread that so typifies his work.

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