this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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Lovecraft Mythos - Cosmic Horror
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H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is a shared universe far larger and more terrifying than that of humanity, where ancient, malevolent beings known as the Great Old Ones slumber in the depths of space or time. After Lovecraft's death, the Mythos has been expanded and developed by many authors, including August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. These and many other authors have helped to flesh out the Mythos into a rich and complex Dark Universe.
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HP was racist? TIL.
In Herbert West: Reanimator he describes a black person with such dehumanization that I felt physically sick. I had to put the book down. Which is disappointing, because I really enjoy the writing other than the racism, but I comfort myself in knowing that he doesn't profit off his writing now.
Lovecraft was horrifically racist. Which is a big inspiration for his writings actually. There's a reason he writes horror about "strange beings nobody quite understands". He was massively scared of the unknown himself, like people with a non-white skintone or who speak in "strange tongues" that aren't English.
IIRC he wasn't really a proponent of racism through a white-supremacy lens. He just feared any culture that wasn't his own. The books are quite an interesting read if you know this btw, it explains why he chose the way he describes the eldritch horrors.
Also he named a cat Niggerman. So take that as you will.
he calls mixed races mongrels in his books so yea...
Yeah he was definitely against race mixing, especially if he considered one of those races to be "scary".
Yep. But was married to a Jewish woman for 13 years. Supposedly at the end of his life it wasn't quite as egregious, although still pretty bad.
That would have been about 2.5ish years before his death. So it shows that he is, in fact, still racist towards the end but not quite as bad as he was early in his career when he was so far beyond the racism of the day that other racists had to pull him back.
I think his time in New York had a lot to do with it. However, it took a toll on his mental health so he went back to WhitefolkIngton.
I got into lovecraft around 10. As a kid with severe unchecked anxiety, his horror spoke to me in ways nothing else did. He was also my first case of death of the author. Finding out his eldritch inspiration was just "color people scary" was a world shaking thing for me as someone who couldn't understand why racism was a thing.
Having read and reread every word he put to pin, I genuinely believe he could have been rehabilitated. He comes off as the end result of a sheltered child raised to fear the world in isolation and he was very much exactly that in the historical record. His issues actively decreases when he started experiencing the world. He genuinely reads as someone who would grow to be an ally if he had a better way to be part of a community outside of his very small world.
I agree entirely. He was terrified. It doesn't excuse what he said at all but I truly believe he could have turned a corner as well.
And full disclosure, I got into him for the same reason. I get it.
I totally agree. All he needed was little of love.
The dungeons and dragons dudes were akin to white supremacist.
He was so racist, the KKK told him to chill out on his racism. Just imagine being too racist for the KKK.
almost as absurd as a right-wing asshole killing another right-wing asshole for not being enough of a right-wing asshole.
Extremely. IIRC, even other racists were concerned at the level of racism.
The bad guy in the Shadow Over Innsmouth is race mixing, bro
Try to guess how he named his cat?
Cat named [moderator removed this comment]
this text matches my reading of Lovecraft stories (i haven't read any of his other texts, like letters)
https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Racism_in_the_Works_of_H.P._Lovecraft
my understanding is yes, he was very racist, but this racism sounds almost comically from todays perspective. but then again, I'm a white male so...