As is now customary, the author has to grapple with this generation of writers’ great problem with HPL: he was and is an insanely persuasive influence on the horror genre, and we all know that he’d probably hate all of our guts. Well, in my case he’d just condescend to me massively and act surprised when it turned out that I didn’t believe in pookas. But you know what I mean.
There honestly is no good answer. Cosmic horror, for good or ill, is a prime mechanism where the post-WWII world strives to safely bleed off pressure and anxiety (which is what horror fiction is there to do, in my opinion); and H.P. Lovecraft cannot be removed from that genre. So I guess wee (‘we’ meaning ‘people who do creative work in this genre’) are all just going to be stuck with being uncomfortable with the man’s mindset for the rest of our lives. Or until we flee for the peace and safety of a new dark age, of course.
Moe Lane
[UPDATE]: Then again, there’s what the Ask Lovecraft guy did.
Eh. My stepgrandfather was offended that he had to rent an apartment to a bi-racial couple. My dad and his frat brothers worked on integrating restaurants in Dallas in the 60s, in a way that I’m not sure I’m completely comfortable with.
The inner recesses of a person’s mind are often dark. We know exactly what lurked inside HPL’s because he wrote it out in private letters. Scrubbing out all of history, or highlighting one particular blemish without any context, doesn’t seem to me to be helpful.
he was a product of his time and place, as are we all. perfection is not required or expected, except for those fine people who demand such. as to them – take every single SJW drop them on an island the size of, say, tahiti. lord of the flies in 6 months, tops.