/lit/ - Literature

>>10737234
Just read The Shadow Over Innsmouth - really enjoyed it. Going to read a lot more of his stories soon. Always wanted to read At the Mountains of Madness

is cosmic horror was not the best. his gothic horror and dream cycle works are better. I don't see the appeal to cthulu and being insignifcant in the universe, it's not that particularly scary. it must apply to those with a belief in science and rationalism.

robert e howard was better, along with Dunsany, etc

>>10737234
He's Reddit.

I read "At the Mountains of Madness" and would have liked it a lot more without the history lesson on alien races in the middle of it. Describing everything about the unknown, unseen threat sure takes a lot of the scariness out of it. And the fact that the characters were able to piece together this entire history by looking at paintings on the wall was just silly excuse for Lovecraft's masturbatory information dump.

>>10737234
His mentor clark ashton smith did it better

he's a seer and his monsters are all technological stand ins he saw in dream but did not recognise

>>10737377
He was not Lovecraft's mentor. And he was only better than Lovecraft at Dunsanian fantasies.

>>10737363
The horror in Mountains isn't the ancient race, it's the shoggoths -- the history is just neat sf/f world-building. At any rate, read literally anything else by him (except for "The Shadow out of Time") to avoid this problem.

>>10737318
Kys yourself

>>10737234
The Rats in the Walls really spooked me

I generally like the ideas of his works better than how they actually turn out.

>>10737234
The Bloop Sound ?

I wish he'd been a better writer. Every time I start reading his stories I find myself bored out of my mind by the blunt and clinical journalistic approach. It just doesn't mesh well with the subject matter.

>>10739511
It's supposed to give you the perception that it is real and he is a character within the lovecraft multiverse. It is perfect for fan fiction.

>>10739541
wouldnt you rather just die

>>10739562
What you said doesn't make sense to me.

>>10737234
racist, white supremacist

>t-that was then!

still was a straight up open racist

>>10739610
fuck off shitposter, /lit/ is a white supremacist board

>>10739298
That's my favorite one.

He's written a bunch of garbage, but from time to time I find something that I think is pretty good.

>>10737234
He's our /nigger-man/. The Music of Erich Zann and Pickman's Model a goat.

>>10739511
Sucks to be you, I enjoy the journalistic format.

>>10739610
In 80 years if someone theoretically saw that you browsed 4chan where racism is commonplace, and you continued to browse it, they might condemn you as you're condemning Lovecraft. Attitudes change with time, you little faggot.

>>10739610
Nothing wrong with this.

What bothers me more are his views of dogs.

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/cd.aspx

>>10739892
It's too bad they didn't have laser pointers back then, or that electric rolling ball with the tail. It would've shut him up quick.

>>10739161
>Kys yourself
LOL (laughing out loud)

>>10739902
Kek (orcish for lol haha)

>>10739892
He's right, the cat is among the most aristocratic and respectable animals and the domesticated dog is loyal to servility, though you can hardly hold it against them.
I like how he very particularly distinguishes between human beings and negroes

Just received the Wordsworth 4 book set, hope I didn't fuck up

>>10739968
Pretty funny he'd even write an essay on it.

>>10740002
Lovecraft has probably written more superfluous essays than I've had hot breakfasts

>>10739892
Well, I'm pretty sure his writing on the matter was tongue-in-cheek.

>literally, unironically, sincerely started his career by sending racist and misogynistic comments to pulp magazines
>at the time he was a NEET living with his mother

>>10740056
An inspiration to us all.

>>10737234
I love the guy's writing style. The blend of complex sentence structure and punchy succinctness... of conscious 18th century archaism and 1920s modernity... the delicate attention to the musicality of prose. Good stuff. Not that he always managed to reach those heights, of course, but in his best work he deployed a fantastic writing voice.

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
But sad mortality o’er-sways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
O, how shall summer’s honey breath hold out
Against the wrackful siege of batt’ring days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong, but time decays?
O fearful meditation! where, alack,
Shall time’s best jewel from time’s chest lie hid?
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?
O, none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

Best Lovecraft poem coming through

Slumber, watcher, till the spheres
Six and twenty thousand years
Have revolv’d, and I return
To the spot where now I burn.
Other stars anon shall rise
To the axis of the skies;
Stars that soothe and stars that bless
With a sweet forgetfulness:
Only when my round is o’er
Shall the past disturb thy door.

>>10739889
So you're a racist?

>>10737393
The Colour out of Space was nuclear radiation for example

>>10740086
nice

>>10740130
It's Shakespeare not Lovecraft lol. I accidentally posted it here instead of in the "best sonnets" thread

>>10739610
>implying races aren't inherently supremacist

>>10739610
'ya see lovecraft, in the future we have dangerous racial tensions, racial conflict and a generally unhappy society. Cool isnt it?'

>>10740186
>you see anon, in the past we had literally institutionalised oppression and violence. cool isn't it?

>>10740270
Compared to this mystery meat shopping mall society you've created? Yes, absolutely. Super cool. Very chill. Trendy AF.

>>10740295
>you need to have institituional racism in order to not have soulless materialism

these things do not correlate

>>10740312
>institituional racism
do we not have that today?

>>10737234
Awesome! A true monster

>>10740323
considering the institutions that govern us are explicitly not supposed to discriminate based on race, then no, we don't.

>>10740312
You can't have a multi-racial/cultural society with strong sense of community/national identity
Human beings are not born blank slates

>>10740312
You need to have institutional racism to preserve a coherent identity and nation and community and culture. That doesn't mean there won't be soulless materialism, but it helps

>>10739298
That has to be one of his best. For once I was actually shocked by the ending, most of them are signposted to hell and back.

>>10740331
>>10740340
Only if your society has no transcendent principles that it values.

Look at India. There are hundreds of ethnic groups there and yet everyone gets along (for the most part), since the Hindu cultural recognition of higher truths means people aren't as invested in petty racial/ethnic identifiers to give their lives meaning.

>>10740356
They also - up until recently - had a caste system, which I believe was a good thing

>>10740356
>hundreds of ethnic groups there
In the US and Europe all these 'ethnic groups' or races are from almost everywhere and share no common cultural history really. Apart from Indians and the British. India and the west don't really compare

>>10740356
If the situation In Britain was about minor trouble between the scots, english, irish and french or something like that then it would be far easier to deal with than the random mystery meat raffle we have today.

>>10740384
Which is more important - justice or cohesion?

>>10740356
>There are hundreds of ethnic groups there and yet everyone gets along
Is that some kind of joke?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_violence_in_India#Modern_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_against_Muslims_in_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste-related_violence_in_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurgency_in_Jammu_and_Kashmir

And we haven't even mentioned the barbaric levels of inequality, pollution, general ignorance, poverty, and yes, public defecation problems on that godforsaken subcontinent

>>10740356
>India
>everyone gets along
Not true at all

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/25/padmaavat-bollywood-epic-film-hindu-queen-muslim-threats-violence

>>10740356
>Everyone gets along
Really? 600K people a year die from street shitting, extreme right-wing Hindu party are also on the rise
India is on the brink of an ethnic cleansing of Muds taking place

>>10740356
*shits in your street*

>>10740397
*poos on your street*
nothing personal bilal

>>10740393
That doesn't matter. 'Cohesion' won't be achieved in modern Britain, lots of placers are terrible now but in the future it will be an even worse place to live. Unless of course you are an immigrant, refugee, economic migrant etc

Understood the inhumanity of Blacks

>>10740356
A functioning civil society needs the philia of a shared racial nature. This was understood from the beginning of political science, most recently confirmed by Putnam:
>The downside of diversity
A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life.
http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/05/the_downside_of_diversity/

>>10740487
just look at any european country that has been enriched by diversity

>>10740487
>highlighting that deeply those thin innocent pages

is there any recopilation of his famous tales i don't want to deal with downloading every single one i heard they are all pretty short

>>10740529
Theres several books of compiled tales yes

Overrated

I like it when he talks about "you know who".

>>10740529
You can find one for free online, all his stories are public domain. Just search on b-ok or libgen.

>>10740676
The accursed kraut immigrant, bane of civilization, menace to our collective success and happiness...

>>10740356
>people in India get along!!
>literally had to cede a territory to Muslims just to stop dealing with their violent shit

>>10737234
literally garbage, as in, the only redeeming value it has is to take note of the fact that it belongs in the trash, throw it away, and let everyone perceive that it does indeed take it's rightful place in the trash can, which should hopefully deter anyone from trying to mimic it ever again

>>10742156

>Besmirching a holy prophet

>>10737234
A lesser W. H. Hodgson.

I like his poem about niggers, though

>>10739892
>implying superior people don't prefer to own slaves rather than share their vital space with someone they consider somewhat equal.

He clearly wanted to be dominated by cats. Fucking closeted proto-furry