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/lit/ - Literature


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14199435 No.14199435 [Reply] [Original]

Is Lovecraft Overrated?

>> No.14199450

>>14199435
That's Evola you fucking retard lmao

>> No.14199454

Underrated. Man had a gift with prose which goes underappreciated by people who think he's just genre fiction

>> No.14199458

Our Hesiod

>> No.14199471

Overrated by plebs. Underrated by literary types.

>> No.14199480

>>14199471
/thread

>> No.14199481

>>14199454

I understand from a historical prospective, but for pleasure reading some of his stories are pretty hit or miss.

>> No.14199486

Yeah kinda

>> No.14199488

One of the neat things about Lovecraft is that so much of his vast corpus is overlooked. If you want hidden treasures, he's your man.

>> No.14199554

>>14199481
* perspective
>>14199488
Yeah, what bugs me is the collections usually only feature his most well known stories. There are literally almost 30 different books with almost the exact same short stories in different orders. Might just get the complete works from the library because I'm not sure yet if I really want to buy it (Just started reading Lovecraft).

>> No.14199577

>>14199481
But his hits are just so good. They're the kind of thing where it's difficult to figure out how he's doing it. Aspiring writers could glean a lot about language from his more abstract pieces

>> No.14199626

>>14199577

True, my first impressions of him was that he uses language more like a poet than a novelist. I got the sense though that he doesn't do so well writing scenes and that's probably why he relayed so heavily on epistolary style stories.

>> No.14199905

low fwhr

>> No.14201008

Definitely overrated. I just finished reading all of the stories in The Call of Cthulhu & Other Weird Stories and was left sorely disappointed. I really love the idea of his stories and what he's trying to do, but reading him is a chore. Even his best stories I found to be just good, and I never once felt any sense of horror or discomfort. Every story followed nearly the same exact formula and every description was over-written with the same recycled adjectives.

However, I might've enjoyed the better stories more if I didn't force myself to read the whole thing out of fear for missing out on hidden gems. Unlike what >>14199488 suggested, I'd recommend skipping the lesser known work since those weren't just disappointing, they were complete shit. After all, these were written for pulp fiction magazines.

>> No.14201119

>>14199481
Authors should only be judged by their best works.

>> No.14201187

Niggerman.

>> No.14201254

>>14201119
Good point. Almost every great author has books that don't live up to their best work.

>> No.14201259

>>14201187
I want to get a cat just so I can name him that.

>> No.14201293

>>14199471
This
>>14199435
But taken Generally... no. He pioneered a rather large subgenre, even if it is not entirely his and is kinda a continuation of romanticism and transcendentalism. Most of his works aren’t literarily brilliant, but they are decent and they are worth remembering.

>> No.14201397

>>14199554
borrow or buy complete works. the dream cycle consists of a bunch of short stories and a couple novellas, the short stories on their own only have the mythical dreamlike atmosphere and the novellas are boring if you don't get the references to the short stories. he also has some good stand alone stuff, mainly the colour out of space and herbert west-reanimator, and some kind of funny ones like the alchemist.

>> No.14201407

>>14201008
he's all or nothing, his writing is full of references to other stories and if you miss them it ends up just being adjectives.

>> No.14201426

In the same way that Stephanie Meyer is overrated. This books were written for a racist, 100-110 iq, and woman-hating audience in a time when Jordowsy & Lynch hadn't existed yet. Since /lit/ is not dumb, midwit, and misogynistic, there's no reason to even be reading LP's books, and no reason to consider them overrated since you aren't the audience. Ditto for Stephanie Meyer in a world where Thomas Ligotti's books are in mass print.

>> No.14201458

>>14201426
Nigger

>> No.14201465

>>14201458
Reagan

>> No.14201471

>>14201397
you know he wrote poems right incel?

>> No.14201508
File: 446 KB, 1296x825, cthoomer.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
14201508

IÄ! IÄ! CTHULHU FHTAGN! PH'NGLUUUUIIIII MGLW'NFAAAAHH CTHULHU R'LYEH WGAH'NAGL FHTAAAAAGGGGGGGNNNNN!

>> No.14201635

When somebody says he's too wordy you can tell they are plebs who do not read much literature older than their grandpa. And God help you if you actually read Poe or other horror memers of the late 19th/early 20th century, who were a thousand times "worse" if you want to call it that, and make Lovecraft seem like a breath of fresh brevity. Pretty good pleb filter.

That said he's still a genre boi so yeah, people (who haven't read him of him) pretending he's the GOAT are just dumb and didn't even get him, ironically.

>> No.14201645

Lovecraft is garbage and is one of the least creative thinkers look up the name of his cat

>> No.14201725

>>14201508
Wtf, is that a Coomer Cthulhu?

>> No.14201729

>>14201645

Nigger

>> No.14202090

>I did not shriek, but all the fiendish ghouls that ride the night-wind shrieked for me as in that same second there crashed down upon my mind a single and fleeting avalanche of soul-annihilating memory. I knew in that second all that had been; I remembered beyond the frightful castle and the trees, and recognised the altered edifice in which I now stood; I recognised, most terrible of all, the unholy abomination that stood leering before me as I withdrew my sullied fingers from its own.

But in the cosmos there is balm as well as bitterness, and that balm is nepenthe. In the supreme horror of that second I forgot what had horrified me, and the burst of black memory vanished in a chaos of echoing images. In a dream I fled from that haunted and accursed pile, and ran swiftly and silently in the moonlight. When I returned to the churchyard place of marble and went down the steps I found the stone trap-door immovable; but I was not sorry, for I had hated the antique castle and the trees. Now I ride with the mocking and friendly ghouls on the night-wind, and play by day amongst the catacombs of Nephren-Ka in the sealed and unknown valley of Hadoth by the Nile. I know that light is not for me, save that of the moon over the rock tombs of Neb, nor any gaiety save the unnamed feasts of Nitokris beneath the Great Pyramid; yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage.

For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men. This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass.

He's an absolute joy to read and there is a lot of substance to his works, definitely one of the greatest when it comes to horror although he really inspires terror and dread more than pure horror.

>> No.14202117

>>14199435
His non horror writings are some of the most beautiful things I've ever read. He isn't scary in the slightest though which was a huge disappointment.

>> No.14202190

he wrote POEMS

>> No.14202229

>>14199435
>It was so scary that I can’t describe it. Just believe me.
Bravo

>> No.14202413

>>14201508
based img

>> No.14203297

>>14199435
No.
/thread.

>> No.14203452

>>14199435
Definitely. His prose is lame as fuck, no one who uses three or four adjectives per sentence can be considered a good writer. He's a hack and losers here only like it because their writing is as shitty as his, and because they relate to his pathetic life.

>> No.14203475

>>14199435
He's not even rated. He's a special interest writer. His influence is about to hit its zenith and after his work becomes popularized and widely distributed there won't be much value to revisiting his work

>> No.14203723

He has like 5 good stories all of which are dragged down by horrible prose. Pretty overrated in pop culture but worth diving into stories like at the mountains of madness for some unique elements he pulls off well like the world building and presentation.

>> No.14203976

>The thing was indescribable
WHOA THIS IS THE BEST PROSE EVER I'M CUMMMIIINNGGG

>> No.14203989

Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour Out Of Space are his peak work, everything else is okay

>> No.14204150

>>14203989
Thing on the Doorstep wasn't bad either

>> No.14204168

>>14199435
HPL is like Yogurt, some people like himand some do not, and some acquire the taste whilst others never bother. I like his stuff, but I do not expect most people to do so.

>> No.14204862

>>14202229
Kek, I'm a fan and I even laughed at that

>> No.14205279

>>14199471
this

To me, the best thing about HPL's writing is how honest he is about himself. He gives a face and identity to his prejudices and fears and its really neat to dive into his psyche through his work.

Everything you need to know about HPL can be found in his writing. It's so closely linked to his fictional narrative that you can miss it if you aren't paying attention.

>> No.14205292

>>14203989
>>14204150
At the Mountains of Madness is pretty good/10
drags in the middle when it just turns to exposition, but everything that happens through the horror at the camp and after they find the the missing student and dog is great stuff.

>> No.14205645

>>14199450
It's actually Guenón you dumb schmuck, go back to /x/ you occultist hack.

>> No.14205673

>>14199435
Yep. He's a purple-prose racist who just happened to be the first person to imagine aliens that he didn't feel like describing.

>> No.14205846

>>14203452
>and because they relate to his pathetic life.
What's pathetic about his life? He had a large circle of friends who literally deluged him with correspondence, and while he wasn't that successful in his lifetime, he was highly respected among the close-knit community he was involved with (there's even a book that collects dozen of memorial writings dedicated to him), and he got to fulfill his love of traveling the country on meager means. The meme of him being a shut-in loser is hugely exaggerated and mostly applies to his teenage years.

>> No.14206205

>tfw fell for the Lovecraft meme
Absolutely. Read Dogan and Tomb, halfway through Innsmouth and I've been duped. This guy might have been amazing 100 years ago but it's cringeworthy nowadays. Like, you can't even read to appreciate it for what it was because it's so bad.

>> No.14206263

>>14201635
Yeah I agree. HPL was far more modern/less awkward in his style than someone like Bram Stoker or even Poe, both of whom were obvious inspirations.

>> No.14206267

>>14206205
The Color out of Space is his only story I've read that I really like, try that one. If you don't like it, don't bother with anything else.

>> No.14206353

>>14206205
>>14206263
samefag

>> No.14206364

He was the nexus point after which people can take the outside seriously. He wrote trash in his life which unexpectedly captured true artistic meaning.

>> No.14206625

>>14199435
no

>> No.14206661
File: 1.01 MB, 480x248, prGfadj.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
14206661

>>14201508
>cthoomer.png

>> No.14206739

>>14206267
K fuck it, I'll pause Innsmouth and try that

>>14206353
Incorrect

>> No.14206767

>>14201508
Fucking kek

>> No.14206945

>>14199435
>When I speak of poor Norrys they accuse me of a hideous thing, but they must know that I did not do it. They must know it was the rats; the slithering, scurrying rats whose scampering will never let me sleep; the daemon rats that race behind the padding in this room and beckon me down to greater horrors than I have ever known; the rats they can never hear; the rats, the rats in the walls.
I love his work.

>> No.14206952

>>14203989
The Music of Erich Zann is my favourite. He gets the tempo just right.
Also, the Outsider. And the Rats in the Walls have a great ending.

>> No.14207589

>>14199471
This is succinct and accurate.