More on Lovecraft

[gveranon]

I feel that we need a thousand more think pieces about this before we can really come to grips with it.

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

Yes we can. We can ignore rehashed pc nonsense. There's a lot of interesting things to write about; but this isn't one.

There are indeed lots of interesting things to write about HPL's work and HPL.
And this IS one.
Judging just by his letters to Rheinhart Kleiner he was an extreme xenophobe, even for his era.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

The knowledge of History is a terrible thing to waste.

Forgive me, Druidic, but the above line reminded me of this quote:

"What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is."
-Dan Quayle

Politics is entertaining if nothing else.

[Frater_Tsalal]

Recently I've been thinking about what the Lovecraft fanbases of other countries are like, and whether they're less annoying than the American one. Take Japan, for example. Are Japanese Lovecraft fans as fixated on his racial views as American fans?

Interestingly enough, at one of the panels at NecronomiCon 2015 one of the panelists mentioned how Lovecraft was fairly popular in South American/Spanish-speaking countries... apparently his florid prose style translates well into Spanish.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Every time I see this or similar threads pop up, I get that sinking "oh fvvvvck".

[MadsPLP]

Quote Originally Posted by Frater_Tsalal

Recently I've been thinking about what the Lovecraft fanbases of other countries are like, and whether they're less annoying than the American one. Take Japan, for example. Are Japanese Lovecraft fans as fixated on his racial views as American fans? Interestingly enough, at one of the panels at NecronomiCon 2015 one of the panelists mentioned how Lovecraft was fairly popular in South American/Spanish-speaking countries... apparently his florid prose style translates well into Spanish.

There doesn't seem to be much focus on it in Danish Lovecraftian circles, small as they are. Thankfully.

I don't even feel like I can give my opinion on matters such as this any more without the thread being summarily erased from history.

[Frater_Tsalal]

Yeah, I've got nearly 450 comments here, but you wouldn't know it because half of the threads I post in seem to just vanish without a trace.

[Speaking Mute]

Quote Originally Posted by Frater_Tsalal

Recently I've been thinking about what the Lovecraft fanbases of other countries are like, and whether they're less annoying than the American one. Take Japan, for example. Are Japanese Lovecraft fans as fixated on his racial views as American fans? Interestingly enough, at one of the panels at NecronomiCon 2015 one of the panelists mentioned how Lovecraft was fairly popular in South American/Spanish-speaking countries... apparently his florid prose style translates well into Spanish.

I think the biggest issue with Lovecraft's racism at the moment is specifically his attitudes towards blacks - and the reason that so many controversies have arisen here is because of terrible race relations between American whites and blacks. In countries were black vs. white isn't an issue for one reason or another, Lovecraft's stereotypes probably come across as the par for nationalism in pre-WWII European literature.

[Ancient History]

Quote Originally Posted by Speaking Mute

Quote Originally Posted by Frater_Tsalal Recently I've been thinking about what the Lovecraft fanbases of other countries are like, and whether they're less annoying than the American one. Take Japan, for example. Are Japanese Lovecraft fans as fixated on his racial views as American fans? Interestingly enough, at one of the panels at NecronomiCon 2015 one of the panelists mentioned how Lovecraft was fairly popular in South American/Spanish-speaking countries... apparently his florid prose style translates well into Spanish. I think the biggest issue with Lovecraft's racism at the moment is specifically his attitudes towards blacks - and the reason that so many controversies have arisen here is because of terrible race relations between American whites and blacks. In countries were black vs. white isn't an issue for one reason or another, Lovecraft's stereotypes probably come across as the par for nationalism in pre-WWII European literature.

Even in other countries, there is at least some awareness of certain issues - the name of the cat in "The Rats in the Walls" has been translated as "Blackie" and the like in certain translations that I've checked, and as far as I can tell most of Lovecraft's letters that get translated over aren't the ones that deal extensively with his views on racism. So that might be, at least partially, an issue of translation as much as cultural differences.