Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born this day in 1890. He died of cancer of the small intestine in 1937. Lovecraft’s greatest claim to fame these days is the creation of what has become known as the Cthulhu Mythos, although he started out writing fantasies in the vein of Lord Dunsany, richly detailed stories with a dreamlike quality.
As great as his contributions to weird fiction were, one could make the argument that his most lasting influence was on those writes who corresponded with him as well as those who came after. Those writers include but aren’t limited to Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Stephen King, Henry Kuttner, Brian Lumley, August Derleth, and many others. (I know I’m leaving some out.)
I would argue that Lovecraft is to weird fiction what Tolkien is to fantasy. In both cases, the authors had a tremendous impact on the field, one that continues decades after their deaths. Both have many imitators as well as detractors. It is almost impossible to escape their influence.
(And speaking of detractors, there is a movement to replace Lovecraft’s image on the figurine given as the World Fantasy Award with that of another writer.)
I’m a relative latecomer to Lovecraft. I never really got into his work growing up. It’s only been in the last five to ten years that I’ve come to appreciate his work. There are still some majors stories by him that I’ve not read.
I think I’ll read some of them to celebrate his birthday.
I heard that yes, but I always wondered why they used him in the first place. His writing is more horror and weird fiction than fantasy, although, I would say he’s still better suited than Octavia Butler who some people are now pushing with that petition. On the other hand, maybe they should just use a dragon or some genre appropriate trope. You know, in case the next generation gets offended by whomever’s face is next on the award.
I have not read Butler so I don’t have a strong opinion about her as the face of the award other than I thought she was primarily a science writer. If a person is used as the award, it should be someone who is known primarily as a fantasist.
I think your suggestion of a dragon is a good one. Of course since the WFA has always had literary pretensions, someone will probably object that a dragon is too genre and therefore the literati wouldn’t take the award seriously.
I haven’t read Butler either, haven’t even heard of her until this week, which is probably more a reflection on me than anything else. I agree with you, get someone who actually writes fantasy if redesigning the award is so important. People will find a reason to rage, not even a dragon is safe. It’s a pity, of course, because fantasy is genre writing. Wouldn’t it be uber cool to get a bust of Tolkien?
Butler died a number of years ago, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of her. My impression, which I readily admit could be wrong, is that while she garnered quite a bit of critical acclaim, she was never a major seller.
A bust of Tolkien would be great. Or perhaps Fritz Leiber.
Yes to Leiber!
Happy birthday to the Dark Scribe of Providence!
I read darn near everything he wrote while I was in college. I fell out of reading horror as a staple quite a long time ago. With my semi-newly acquired taste for pulp (via discovery of sword-&- sorcery) I’ve come full circle and I’ve been revisiting him and reading Mythos stuff I never did the first time around. And thanks to NECON, reading more horror than I have in quite a while.
RE: the statue
I don’t see why Octavia Butler fits, either. She was one of the first and few African-American female scifi writers, which is great. I have not read her myself. I always thought she was scifi, not fantasy. I could be wrong – maybe she was mislabeled.
Anyway, I don’t think she is a wide influence nor a huge seller so her nomination as the figurehead smacks of p.c. overreach to me.
Dragon or Tolkien or bust for the bust!
I’m wondering if part of the motivation is to put an African-American author as the bust as a reaction to some of Lovecraft’s attitudes about African-Americans. I’ve not read much of his writings other than fiction, so I don’t know just how extreme he actually was in his views or how much they changed over the course of his life. I thought there was already an award or writing scholarship or something named after Butler, but my memory is fuzzy, and I have too much to do to hunt down the reference at the moment.
I may see if I can find some of Butler’s work at the book store closing and give her a read. By all accounts, she was a powerful writer. Everything I had heard about her work was that it was science fiction. There’s not much science fiction these days that appeals to me, at least not to the extent it did a decade or two ago, so if I like her work, I’ll start reading it.
The first story i read by him was “The Festival” during the Great Blackout in 1977. I was hooked and never looked back. I still dip into his original works almost every year. If “The Thing on the Doorstep” doesn’t creep you out I don’t know what to say.
I understand the concerns about HPL’s opinions. China Mievelle wrote how he keeps the award on a shelf but with the face turned to the wall. I get it. But part of me doesn’t care. Maybe that betrays something about me, but I don’t care.
For the most part I don’t care about the personality and opinions of any writer. Don’t know ’em, probably never will, and they’ll never be my friend. How does their writing effect me, that’s what I care about. Besides, Butler doesn’t make sense for a fantasy award. If you have to change, Leiber makes a lot of sense.
PS – I learned early on I shared a birthday with HPL and that made me like him even more.
Happy belated birthday.
I also understand how people would be turned off by HPL’s views on race. I’m not really familiar with them, but what I have heard doesn’t sit well with me. But he was also from a different time, and standards do change. There are attitudes from the first half of the 20th century that were considered progressive for the time that would be considered offensive today. And 100 years from now, some of the attitudes that are considered enlightened today will be viewed as primitive or even barbaric.
That’s just the way it is. When I read something from the pulp era, I expect to encounter attitudes that aren’t widely acceptable today. That’s called historical context, and I don’t let it bother me. Like you, I care more about how an author’s words on the page affect me.
Tor.com ran a story on the petition to replace HPL with Butler today. I haven’t read it, but it looks like this is might be an issue that is going to be with us for a bit, I’m going to try to read some Butler over the next few weeks.
I’ve read one story by her, “Bloodchild”, when it was republished in Vandermeer’s The Weird. It’s very good, very creepy, and totally sci-fi, no ifs, ands, or buts.
The reality is, there’s few authors writing fantasy or horror who can claim to have effected the genre as radically and deeply as HPL. Again, Leiber makes sense, as does JRRT. Butler, nope.
I would be tempted to suggest Moorcock, but he’s not dead. The only others would be Clark Ashton Smith or Robert E. Howard. I don’t know about Smith, but Howard would probably provoke a similar reaction to HPL.