Comments on: The Works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft

The Works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Shadowkeeper — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 10:22:19 -0800

The Works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft Unabridged texts of most of his short stories, poems, and essays, as well as biographies, photos, and even wallpaper. Cthulhu fhtagn, dude.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 10:32:06 -0800

I saw this somewhere the other day, and initially I got pretty excited. Unfortunately, I hate reading stuff on my monitor. I could print them up, but that seems kind of strange. A great reference, though, if you're into Lovecraft.

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 10:55:32 -0800

Why is it strange? Unspeakable, sure. And maybe full of angles that if you stare at them long enough will drive you slowly mad. But strange?

By: Faze

Faze — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 10:56:48 -0800

Lovecraft is evil and insane. However, if you are able to abide such stuff, this is a wonderful site. Like doug, however, I find it hard to read that much text on line. Wouldn't it have been simple for the site designers to create a table or column in the center of the page, and simply put the text in there? It's a pretty basic operation, viewed from my amateur web-designing experience.

By: dlewis

dlewis — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 11:18:01 -0800

Great link, Shadowkeeper. I actually wish a lot more sites were designed as basic as this one. If you find the text hard to read, you can always apply your own style sheet. Wish I could think of a Lovecraftian reference to follow up Kafkaesque, but it's been a while...

By: darkpony

darkpony — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 11:25:45 -0800

Yaahh!!! Shub-Niggurath !!!

By: j.edwards

j.edwards — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 13:46:03 -0800

You've read the books, now buy the plush toy. [via memepool]

By: dlewis

dlewis — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 14:23:26 -0800

Apologies for cross-posting, but the reading the Bloink! thread reminded me about The Colour Out Of Space for some reason... Great toy, j.edwards!

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 14:25:21 -0800

My other vehicle is a MI-GO BRAIN CYLINDER How could you not note the bumper stickers there, j.edwards?

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 14:47:06 -0800

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die. I was working at the post office the day Elvis died and this color xerox post card to S. Clay Wilson from Robert Ferrigno came through: The young Elvis onstage between two arcing transformers ala the animation scene in any given Frankenstein and the above quote. We all passed it around and laughed our heads off. One prescient piece of mail that was late in delivery...

By: signal

signal — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 15:27:40 -0800

Um , faze, just re-size your browser window. Voila!

By: edlark

edlark — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 16:06:16 -0800

Perhaps it is because I came to Lovecraft late (i.e., not in my teens/twenties), but I have never been able to get that excited about his work. A couple of interesting ideas, but, really, only one formula - plot-wheel writing at its best. I'll take Poe over Lovecraft any day of the week.

By: moz

moz — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 17:13:04 -0800

i liked "the white ship", reading the site just now. never read any lovecraft before.

By: retrofut

retrofut — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 17:42:17 -0800

On reading one collection of his short stories, I found it a little annoying that anyone insufficiently aryan is described in subhuman terms -- "Here his only visible servants, farmers, and caretakers were a sullen pair of aged Narragansett Indians; the husband dumb and curiously scarred, and the wife of a very repulsive cast of countenance, probably due to a mixture of negro blood." "I s'pose you know - though I can see you're a Westerner by your talk - what a lot our New England ships - used to have to do with queer ports in Africa, Asia, the South Seas, and everywhere else, and what queer kinds of people they sometimes brought back with 'em. You've probably heard about the Salem man that came home with a Chinese wife, and maybe you know there's still a bunch of Fiji Islanders somewhere around Cape Cod." [This one's arguable, I admit.] "There were only three passengers - dark, unkempt men of sullen visage and somewhat youthful cast - and when the vehicle stopped they clumsily shambled out and began walking up State Street in a silent, almost furtive fashion." -- and his attempts at dialect are truly dire. But he rang the changes of weird fiction well enough to be readable even at this late date. Anyone interested in fresh lovecraftian humor should check out the League of Gentlemen TV series from Britain, it's rather macabre and quite a riot.

By: rushmc

rushmc — Tue, 20 Nov 2001 19:42:39 -0800

Not exactly cricket to judge his characterizations by modern standards, retrofut. Lovecraft's purpose and focus was different than that of many writers today. Rather than promoting a sensitivity to diversity or psychosocial development, he was tapping into the psyche of his readership to unnerve and frighten them. Foreigners were generally perceived odd, poorly understood, creepy and not quite right. And their portrayal as such in fiction was a familiar and effective cliche. As such, they could be utilized as a sort of shorthand to help foster the mood that Lovecraft was aspiring to in his work.

By: finn

finn — Wed, 21 Nov 2001 23:34:27 -0800

Kafkaesque: I believe the adjective that should be used rather than strange is "eldritch" as in "I dared not look upon that eldritch horror arisen again from the depths of time and space." If you'd like to read Lovecraft on good ol' paper, I think the best Lovecraft books out there are the collections put out by Arkham House. The hardcovers are especially nice with well done cover illustrations that aren't too lurid. The most complete collection of Lovecraft's manuscripts, notes, revisions, etc. is housed in the John Hay Library at Brown University. Look for the plaque outside the library on Prospect St. commemorating Lovecraft, who lived much of his life just blocks away. (The Hay is rumored to have other interesting things as well such as a book bound in human skin.)