PatThe Works Of H.P. Lovecraft
February 19th 2008 13:01
Here is a photograph of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
It should be no surprise to hear that this hideous gent was a man crippled by horrible personal problems (both mental and physical) and spent the vast majority of his life in some kind of queer hermit-like existence with the brief exception of an unpleasant marriage to some poor tramp. Basically he was the kind of guy who every single person reading this would have bullied at school, and as an adult, he was undoubtably the kind of man who you would cross the street to avoid walking past due to his plain mental instability (he apparently constantly muttered to himself and gesticulated wildy as he stumbled along in an apparent fury).
(Just a quick note at this point in my poorly thought through review - the dead can't technically be defamed and while it is unpleasant business for me to be take a bit of poetic licence with the poor dead chap's history, I am completely safe from legal action - of course.. no man escapes judgement before the Almighty Lord God)
Despite (or perhaps because of) H.P. Lovecraft's curious background, he was an absolutely fantastic writer, and his collections of short stories are absolutely enthralling (that's a rare genuine sentiment on my part). There are a number of recurring characters, mysterious forces and themes throughout his stories and although Lovecraft never fully explaining the strange goings-on of the universe he created, this is perhaps one of the reasons why nerds (like me) find the whole thing so engrossing.
Generally speaking, the horror genre is crap. It is cliched rubbish written by morons for morons. If you are a person who has a bookshelf filled to near-overflowing with books from this despicable genre, then there is a strong chance that you're a human being with a substantial embarrassing personal problem (a la Lovecraft) and you have some kind of major confidence problem as a result. Chin up though, I'm sure it's not all bad.
Anyway, Lovecraft is the single exception I will allow to the above rule. The difference between Lovecraft and every other horror writer ever, is that Lovecraft got in early, and while I completely accept that his stories may seem like they've been done to death today they weren't when he wrote them, and on top of that, they are told in wonderfully descriptive prose which manages (in most instances) to develop a real sense of suspense and mystery (I am reluctant to use the word 'horror' here, because I was never actually horrified by his stories, but hopefully you catch my drift).
His recurring literary inventions, such as the ominous evil of Cthulhu, and the dreaded Necronomicon, and their prominence today demonstrate just how highly regarded Lovecraft's writing is, despite its age. The most notable recent example was the comparison of the monster from Hollywood major motion picture Cloverfield to Lovecraft's unpronouncable Cthulhu, which almost certainly was an influence in the movie's production.
You will find following this paragraph a list of the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft that I recall reading and perhaps a little snippet of information about that title. Maybe I'll make a little joke (ha ha, that Pat sure knows how to enjoy himself). Perhaps, I'll make a serious comment about the merits of the story itself (this goddamn idiot doesn't know what he's talking about - I am literally appalled by his opinions!). In most cases, I won't even be able to recall the specifics of the stories that I'm talking about. Read on to find out!
* The Call of Cthulhu (Summer 1926) - This story is probably one of the best in my opinion. It is told in the style of a documentary and deals with the story of the powerful and evil god-like creature Cthulhu and its abominable servants, the Cthulhu Cult. Read this story!
* The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (January-1 March 1927)
* The Cats of Ulthar (15 June 1920)
* The Colour out of Space (March 1927) - Yeah, this kind of sucks. It's about some lame kind of alien life force which makes people a bit loopy. Don't read this story unless you really want to.
* The Doom That Came to Sarnath (3 December 1919)
* The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Autumn? 1926-22 January 1927)
* The Dreams in the Witch House (January-28 February 1932)
* The Dunwich Horror (Summer 1928)
* The Festival (October 1923)
* The Haunter of the Dark (November 1935)
* Herbert West--Reanimator (September 1921-mid 1922) - Basically this is a zombie story involving some digging up of the recently deceased and 'reanimating' them. It's a good story and I liked it a lot!
* The Hound (September 1922)
* The Nameless City (January 1921)
* Nyarlathotep (early December 1920) - Nyarlathotep is a recurring name throughout a lot of Lovecraft's works. I don't recall the specifics of this story though.
* The Picture in the House (12 December 1920) - I didn't like this story much. It's about some crappy picture in some dumb house.
* The Rats in the Walls (August-September 1923) - This is a good one! Pretty much the standard distant-relative-leaves-house -to-someone-and-there-is-some thing-not-quite-right-about-i t kind of deal but things get pretty interesting (in my humble opinion). There is a cat named 'Nigger-Man' in this story (!!!)
* The Shadow over Innsmouth (November?-3 December 1931) - Fish-like creatures somehow linked to the Cult of Cthulhu rampage around the place.
* The Silver Key (1926)
* The Statement of Randolph Carter (December 1919)
This list is completely inaccurate by the way, and I most likely have included stories which I didn't actually read and left out ones which I did actually read. Who cares though.
DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN BECAUSE ORBLE USER: LUKE TOLD ME TO WRITE SOMETHING AND I AM NOT GOING TO PROOF READ IT BECAUSE I HOPE THAT IT COMPLETELY SUCKS AND IS FILLED WITH ERRORS AND THIS WILL MAKE LUKE FEEL BAD THAT MY BLOG CONTAINS SUCH POOR QUALITY WRITING (YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD LUKE)
It should be no surprise to hear that this hideous gent was a man crippled by horrible personal problems (both mental and physical) and spent the vast majority of his life in some kind of queer hermit-like existence with the brief exception of an unpleasant marriage to some poor tramp. Basically he was the kind of guy who every single person reading this would have bullied at school, and as an adult, he was undoubtably the kind of man who you would cross the street to avoid walking past due to his plain mental instability (he apparently constantly muttered to himself and gesticulated wildy as he stumbled along in an apparent fury).
(Just a quick note at this point in my poorly thought through review - the dead can't technically be defamed and while it is unpleasant business for me to be take a bit of poetic licence with the poor dead chap's history, I am completely safe from legal action - of course.. no man escapes judgement before the Almighty Lord God)
Despite (or perhaps because of) H.P. Lovecraft's curious background, he was an absolutely fantastic writer, and his collections of short stories are absolutely enthralling (that's a rare genuine sentiment on my part). There are a number of recurring characters, mysterious forces and themes throughout his stories and although Lovecraft never fully explaining the strange goings-on of the universe he created, this is perhaps one of the reasons why nerds (like me) find the whole thing so engrossing.
Generally speaking, the horror genre is crap. It is cliched rubbish written by morons for morons. If you are a person who has a bookshelf filled to near-overflowing with books from this despicable genre, then there is a strong chance that you're a human being with a substantial embarrassing personal problem (a la Lovecraft) and you have some kind of major confidence problem as a result. Chin up though, I'm sure it's not all bad.
Anyway, Lovecraft is the single exception I will allow to the above rule. The difference between Lovecraft and every other horror writer ever, is that Lovecraft got in early, and while I completely accept that his stories may seem like they've been done to death today they weren't when he wrote them, and on top of that, they are told in wonderfully descriptive prose which manages (in most instances) to develop a real sense of suspense and mystery (I am reluctant to use the word 'horror' here, because I was never actually horrified by his stories, but hopefully you catch my drift).
His recurring literary inventions, such as the ominous evil of Cthulhu, and the dreaded Necronomicon, and their prominence today demonstrate just how highly regarded Lovecraft's writing is, despite its age. The most notable recent example was the comparison of the monster from Hollywood major motion picture Cloverfield to Lovecraft's unpronouncable Cthulhu, which almost certainly was an influence in the movie's production.
You will find following this paragraph a list of the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft that I recall reading and perhaps a little snippet of information about that title. Maybe I'll make a little joke (ha ha, that Pat sure knows how to enjoy himself). Perhaps, I'll make a serious comment about the merits of the story itself (this goddamn idiot doesn't know what he's talking about - I am literally appalled by his opinions!). In most cases, I won't even be able to recall the specifics of the stories that I'm talking about. Read on to find out!
* The Call of Cthulhu (Summer 1926) - This story is probably one of the best in my opinion. It is told in the style of a documentary and deals with the story of the powerful and evil god-like creature Cthulhu and its abominable servants, the Cthulhu Cult. Read this story!
* The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (January-1 March 1927)
* The Cats of Ulthar (15 June 1920)
* The Colour out of Space (March 1927) - Yeah, this kind of sucks. It's about some lame kind of alien life force which makes people a bit loopy. Don't read this story unless you really want to.
* The Doom That Came to Sarnath (3 December 1919)
* The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Autumn? 1926-22 January 1927)
* The Dreams in the Witch House (January-28 February 1932)
* The Dunwich Horror (Summer 1928)
* The Festival (October 1923)
* The Haunter of the Dark (November 1935)
* Herbert West--Reanimator (September 1921-mid 1922) - Basically this is a zombie story involving some digging up of the recently deceased and 'reanimating' them. It's a good story and I liked it a lot!
* The Hound (September 1922)
* The Nameless City (January 1921)
* Nyarlathotep (early December 1920) - Nyarlathotep is a recurring name throughout a lot of Lovecraft's works. I don't recall the specifics of this story though.
* The Picture in the House (12 December 1920) - I didn't like this story much. It's about some crappy picture in some dumb house.
* The Rats in the Walls (August-September 1923) - This is a good one! Pretty much the standard distant-relative-leaves-house -to-someone-and-there-is-some thing-not-quite-right-about-i t kind of deal but things get pretty interesting (in my humble opinion). There is a cat named 'Nigger-Man' in this story (!!!)
* The Shadow over Innsmouth (November?-3 December 1931) - Fish-like creatures somehow linked to the Cult of Cthulhu rampage around the place.
* The Silver Key (1926)
* The Statement of Randolph Carter (December 1919)
This list is completely inaccurate by the way, and I most likely have included stories which I didn't actually read and left out ones which I did actually read. Who cares though.
DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN BECAUSE ORBLE USER: LUKE TOLD ME TO WRITE SOMETHING AND I AM NOT GOING TO PROOF READ IT BECAUSE I HOPE THAT IT COMPLETELY SUCKS AND IS FILLED WITH ERRORS AND THIS WILL MAKE LUKE FEEL BAD THAT MY BLOG CONTAINS SUCH POOR QUALITY WRITING (YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD LUKE)
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Lovecraft's writing is indeed provocative and captivating, a favourite of mine too.
The sweeping statement on horror literatures lack of worth though seems a little over enthusiastic...all I have to do is mention Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker to circumvent the claim Lovecraft is the only worthwhile author of the macabre....(those are just teh classics) plus so many more clever weavers of dark magic.
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Comment by Anonymous
ps tell luke to stop being an arsehole to me on the shell
aimee
Comment by Luke
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....
joss.
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