/lit/ - Literature

>>4497113

>niggers

lol

Him and adjectives.

>>4497207

But of course. No mortal, nay, not even the noblest son of the proud, noble Aryan Race could ever grasp such squamous, blasphemous, yonic, stygian, slithering, mongrelized, eldritch niggerocity as emerges from the dread, primal, nigrous, un-European, dusky, mongrelic grovellers of dread shadowy black Zimbabwe, whose debauched negroid scions use no adjectives as they write their degraded nonadjectived myths to the dread, loathsome beat of darksome tom-tom drums.

What's your favorite Lovecraft story?

At the Mountain of Madness was mine, personally.

>>4497263
That one is my favorite as well. Next up would be the Colour Out of Space and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

>>4497263

probably the same

also i like sandwin's compact but it's arthur derleth

*august derleth

Derleth and everything he wrote can go eat a bongle of dongs and choke to death.

>>4497263

Liked it but dragged on for too long.

I'd probably say that the two Silver Key stories are my favourites.

Lovecraft is terrible.

On the Mountains of Madness is utterly disappointing.

It's fine for the first 1/3rd or so. There are genuine moments of suspense and excitement.

After that its just a fucking paleontologists diary with a fleeting visit from Big Jim at the end.

Utter trash.

>American writers

On the other hand, if it awares people of Nicholas Roerich's works, it's doing a good deed in the world.

>>4497435

>Lovecraft is terrible.

But there was a cat.

Named niggerman.

Niggerman.

How is that terrible?

>>4497435
>On the other hand, if it awares people of Nicholas Roerich's works, it's doing a good deed in the world.

i chuckled

Boy howdy, those ancient unknowable things sure are scary. But you know what's even scarier?

Minorities.

>>4497440
2deep4plebs

It's a shame he didn't live longer.
Would have love to see his style and subject matter evolve and take WW2 into account.

>>4497440
>cat shenanigans 100 years before the internet

>>4497435
>H.P. Lovecraft referred to the "strange and disturbing paintings of Nicholas Roerich" in his Antarctic horror story At the Mountains of Madness.
honestly
was there anything lovecraft didn't find disturbing or terrifying

>>4497515
Aslo

>Compulsive letter writer
>Racist
>Used to take up the opposing position even if he knew it was retarded to troll his friends

Lovecraft was born way too early.

>>4497522
He was probably thinking of paintings like pic related when he wrote that.

>>4497532

Yeah, that would make more sense considering his terror of anything that isn't European. I could easily see him being overcome with terror from looking at a painting of a Tibetan village.

Paraphrasing Borges: "Lovecraft is just an involuntary parodist of Poe".

Meh. Ultraviolet prose and mediocre plot in most stories. I did kind of enjoy "The Rats in The Walls" but I don't really get why everyone seems to think he was more than just pulpy trash.

>>4497548

Wasn't Rats in The Walls the one about how foreigners are scary?

>>4497561
They are all about that

>>4497565

... Touché.

I love how hideously he subverts the holy trinity in The Dunwich Horror.

The Music of Erich Zann, The Colour Out of Space, The Temple and The Shadow over Innsmouth are amongst other favorites.

>>4497522
Roerich is GOAT.

His pieces feel so primeval. So secluded. They feel like raw nature. Simple, pure, beautiful, and scary.

This is coming from someone who has read Mountain of Madness, though, which constantly refers to them. Maybe the effect isnt the same on people who havent read it.

What are the "must-reads" of Lovecraft's work, aside from Call of Cthulhu and Mountains of Madness, and whatnot? Had a collection of his stuff sitting on my Kindle for a while now, and I read a few things. But I got to Beyond The Wall of Sleep, and gave up for how shitty it was. Still undecided if I wanna bother with his other works.

>>4497774
The Colour Out of Space is his best

after that, just read Thomas Ligotti instead

Dream cycle > Cthulhu saga

you can't have a lovecraft thread without discussing LAIRD BARRON.

you just can't.

>>4499252

Laird Barron didn't hate niggers even nearly enough to do proper honor to Lovecraft.

Why would you even post anything other than "Shadow over Innsmouth"?

This thread should be called /plebgeneral/

>>4497774

"The rats in the walls"

>>4497548
> I did kind of enjoy "The Rats in The Walls" but I don't really get why everyone seems to think he was more than just pulpy trash.

World building man. He created an intricate mythos that you could really sink your teeth into. He also was one of the first horror writers to make the jump from the supernatural to science fiction.

"The leathery, undeteriorative, and almost indestructible quality was an inherent attribute of the thing’s form of organization, and pertained to some paleogean cycle of invertebrate evolution utterly beyond our powers of speculation."

>>4497414
but why

Guess who is coming to Innsmouth this April to dispense some good old fashioned blazing .45 justice on some motherfucking Old Ones

>>4502419
then it'll only be a matter of time before the big dukearoo

>>4497113
He wanted to get fucked so bad by another guy.

>>4502419

Who?

Is that the guy from pulp fiction??

I still can't fucking believe that there are people that legitimately believe that cthulhu fucking exists

>>4497263
'The Shadow Out of Time' or 'The Dunwich Horror'. Probably more the former.

>>4497217
I love the most that that's actually partially taken from one of his stories...

It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

In Ulthar, before ever the burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there dwelt an old cotter and his wife who delighted to trap and slay the cats of their neighbors. Why they did this I know not; save that many hate the voice of the cat in the night, and take it ill that cats should run stealthily about yards and gardens at twilight. But whatever the reason, this old man and woman took pleasure in trapping and slaying every cat which came near to their hovel; and from some of the sounds heard after dark, many villagers fancied that the manner of slaying was exceedingly peculiar. But the villagers did not discuss such things with the old man and his wife; because of the habitual expression on the withered faces of the two, and because their cottage was so small and so darkly hidden under spreading oaks at the back of a neglected yard. In truth, much as the owners of cats hated these odd folk, they feared them more; and instead of berating them as brutal assassins, merely took care that no cherished pet or mouser should stray toward the remote hovel under the dark trees. When through some unavoidable oversight a cat was missed, and sounds heard after dark, the loser would lament impotently; or console himself by thanking Fate that it was not one of his children who had thus vanished. For the people of Ulthar were simple, and knew not whence it is all cats first came.

One day a caravan of strange wanderers from the South entered the narrow cobbled streets of Ulthar. Dark wanderers they were, and unlike the other roving folk who passed through the village twice every year. In the market-place they told fortunes for silver, and bought gay beads from the merchants. What was the land of these wanderers none could tell; but it was seen that they were given to strange prayers, and that they had painted on the sides of their wagons strange figures with human bodies and the heads of cats, hawks, rams and lions. And the leader of the caravan wore a headdress with two horns and a curious disk betwixt the horns.

There was in this singular caravan a little boy with no father or mother, but only a tiny black kitten to cherish. The plague had not been kind to him, yet had left him this small furry thing to mitigate his sorrow; and when one is very young, one can find great relief in the lively antics of a black kitten. So the boy whom the dark people called Menes smiled more often than he wept as he sat playing with his graceful kitten on the steps of an oddly painted wagon.

On the third morning of the wanderers’ stay in Ulthar, Menes could not find his kitten; and as he sobbed aloud in the market-place certain villagers told him of the old man and his wife, and of sounds heard in the night. And when he heard these things his sobbing gave place to meditation, and finally to prayer. He stretched out his arms toward the sun and prayed in a tongue no villager could understand; though indeed the villagers did not try very hard to understand, since their attention was mostly taken up by the sky and the odd shapes the clouds were assuming. It was very peculiar, but as the little boy uttered his petition there seemed to form overhead the shadowy, nebulous figures of exotic things; of hybrid creatures crowned with horn-flanked disks. Nature is full of such illusions to impress the imaginative.

That night the wanderers left Ulthar, and were never seen again. And the householders were troubled when they noticed that in all the village there was not a cat to be found. From each hearth the familiar cat had vanished; cats large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white. Old Kranon, the burgomaster, swore that the dark folk had taken the cats away in revenge for the killing of Menes’ kitten; and cursed the caravan and the little boy. But Nith, the lean notary, declared that the old cotter and his wife were more likely persons to suspect; for their hatred of cats was notorious and increasingly bold. Still, no one durst complain to the sinister couple; even when little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, vowed that he had at twilight seen all the cats of Ulthar in that accursed yard under the trees, pacing very slowly and solemnly in a circle around the cottage, two abreast, as if in performance of some unheard-of rite of beasts. The villagers did not know how much to believe from so small a boy; and though they feared that the evil pair had charmed the cats to their death, they preferred not to chide the old cotter till they met him outside his dark and repellent yard.

So Ulthar went to sleep in vain anger; and when the people awakened at dawn—behold! every cat was back at his accustomed hearth! Large and small, black, grey, striped, yellow and white, none was missing. Very sleek and fat did the cats appear, and sonorous with purring content. The citizens talked with one another of the affair, and marveled not a little. Old Kranon again insisted that it was the dark folk who had taken them, since cats did not return alive from the cottage of the ancient man and his wife. But all agreed on one thing: that the refusal of all the cats to eat their portions of meat or drink their saucers of milk was exceedingly curious. And for two whole days the sleek, lazy cats of Ulthar would touch no food, but only doze by the fire or in the sun.

It was fully a week before the villagers noticed that no lights were appearing at dusk in the windows of the cottage under the trees. Then the lean Nith remarked that no one had seen the old man or his wife since the night the cats were away. In another week the burgomaster decided to overcome his fears and call at the strangely silent dwelling as a matter of duty, though in so doing he was careful to take with him Shang the blacksmith and Thul the cutter of stone as witnesses. And when they had broken down the frail door they found only this: two cleanly picked human skeletons on the earthen floor, and a number of singular beetles crawling in the shadowy corners.

There was subsequently much talk among the burgesses of Ulthar. Zath, the coroner, disputed at length with Nith, the lean notary; and Kranon and Shang and Thul were overwhelmed with questions. Even little Atal, the innkeeper’s son, was closely questioned and given a sweetmeat as reward. They talked of the old cotter and his wife, of the caravan of dark wanderers, of small Menes and his black kitten, of the prayer of Menes and of the sky during that prayer, of the doings of the cats on the night the caravan left, and of what was later found in the cottage under the dark trees in the repellent yard.

And in the end the burgesses passed that remarkable law which is told of by traders in Hatheg and discussed by travelers in Nir; namely, that in Ulthar no man may kill a cat.

>>4497263
Innsmouth and the medusa one really tickled my fancy.

I really never realized how much Lovecraft used niggery things.

>>4502772

ktulu*

Do you even listen to metallica?

>>4497217

It's funny because niggers don't write period!

Lovecraft was expounding mythically on their abilities.

>>4502412
>Claimed the copyright to Lovecraft works without having any real legal ground to do so, thus snatching it from the hands of people that might have handled it better
>Butchered some of Lovecraft's works by making alterations or cutting out stuff that he disagreed with, went against his faith or he didn't understand
>Writing and publishing horrible fan fiction under Lovecraft's name or in "collaboration" with Lovecraft and lumping it in with his work

Thank Azathoth for horror nerds like Stephen King and early Call of Cthulhu players, without them there probably wouldn't have been any call to fix this.

>>4502657
Well, there was a "lost" sort of time before he died which he spent corresponding, visiting and tutoring an adolescent boy that would later be outed as a homosexual when he grew up, eventually killing himself, but there's no evidence that suggest their relationship was anything but platonic; Lovecraft corresponded with and visited a lot of people throughout his his life.

Then we have the man's view on the subject:

As a matter of fact—although of course I always knew that paederasty was a disgusting custom of many ancient nations—I never heard of homosexuality as an actual instinct till I was over thirty . . . which beats your record! It is possible, I think that this perversion occurs more frequently in some periods than in others—owing to obscure biological & psychological causes. Decadent ages—when psychology is unsettled—seem to favour it. Of course—in ancient times the extent of the practice of paederasty (as a custom which most simply accepted blindly, without any special inclination) cannot be taken as any measure of the extent of actual psychological perversion

>>4502764
Big pulp dude from the 30's. /co/ is going nuts over this.

>>4499316
it's not like xenophobia and racism play a big role in lovecraft's prose. all those mongrels and subhumans can be viewed as a plot device, body horror, mental shortfalls...

barron's biggest problem lies in wanting to be a noir writer, a dime novelist and he severely gimps his narrative when he does those passages or even whole stories. he is even more verbose than HPL and that's enjoyable to read.

>>4499714
cthulhu mythos are far from elaborate. he was in a somewhat unique position to have an array of followers, mostly lesser writers who expounded on his short references to "obscure works". it was like what orson welles did with war of the worlds on radio, only lovecraft didn't have to apologize to general swaying public, and his work was mostly read by devotees and mythomaniacs in the beginning.

science fiction claim is far fetched. lovecraft dealt in cosmic horror, and while his protagonists are usually educated and secluded people, they are far from scientist. in fact, charles dexter ward is the most inclined for experimentation and he's a dabbler in occultism. you had one story where there are some travellers between the stars with brain fetish but lovecraft didn't care to discuss their technological impact further than needed to convey the cold silence of an dissecting table.

>>4503366
>he was in a somewhat unique position to have an array of followers

Not really, dude just loved to write and encourage correspondence. He started out as a fan, borrowing weird tales mythology from authors that preceded him and attracted friendship/followers/more work because he encouraged this model. Most were aware that "the Necrenomicon" wasn't actually real from the onset, and Lovecraft himself was more than happy to clear any misunderstandings on the matter. It wasn't until the Satanic scare of the late 70s/early 80s that people that knew nothing about him or his work bought into idiocy such as the Simon Necronomicon, long after he died.

And I disagree entirely with your dismissal of Lovecraft's work shifting increasingly to science fiction as he matured. His contraptions and beings are usually described in extreme technological and biological detail, and if he veils anything on the page you can bet your arse there's a letter or a diary entry that describe them further, complete with crude drawings and musings on their function. His work moves from naive fantasy and neo-gothic fantasy to pseudo-scientifical cosmic horror which has as much influence on later 20th century science fiction writers as it did on american horror.

>>4503406
>neo-gothic fantasy
*neo-gothic horror. Apologies.

>>4503406
what is unique about lovecraft's circle is how devoted they were to his mythos and continued to develop them, to willingly subjugate their works to his opus.

lovecraft's "shift" towards science fictions serves only to juxtapose rationalism confronted, exposed and trodden down by the irreverent horrors of horror from planets that 'roll without aim'. as for his stance, i'd say he indeed was a man who believed in science, but that didn't stop him from engorging himself in the esoteric and unnatural when it comes to art. you can contrast that with arthur conan doyle who wrote stories about a hero whose seemingly supernatural powers are firmly grounded in framework of nature, even when investigating vampires in essex. yet conan doyle was a gullible crackpot when it comes to belief in mysticism.

>>4503496
i would also add that we must judge his genre-work by aesthetic intent - and that intent was always to frighten, and every concept he wove in served that purpose. science fiction and horror hybrids are rare, the most prominent being ridley scott's alien, in my opinion. and lovecraft never did venture far into the sf setting. i'm inclined to agree that shift could have happened if he lived longer.

The Shadow out of Time is OBVIOUSLY his best tale.

>>4497263
Nyarlathotep

>>4497113
Should have been Lovecraftian thread, since his influence is greater than his work.

>>4503796
Anyone found good cosmic horror/Lovecraftian elements in other pieces of fiction?

>>4503828
I've mentioned Laird Barron as even more verbose writer than Lovecraft, and much more talented when he doesn't succumb to his noirish influences. Look up his short story collections first.

>>4503539
At least someone in this thread isn't a pleb.

>>4502977
Very true. and nice double

>>4503828
>Anyone found good cosmic horror/Lovecraftian elements in other pieces of fiction?
House of Leaves felt like 50% Lovecraft

>>4502995
Except if Derleth didn't start Arkham House and keep Lovecraft's work in print, it would probably be lost today.
So I believe most Lovecraft fans have a love/hate relationship with Derleth.

>>4503366
>lovecraft's work isn't sci-fi
stupid, stupid, stupid

>>4497113

What would Lovecraft's opinion have been on parody (of his own works)?

"Lovecraft belongs to the genre of writers whom Roland Barthes calls unreadable. Barthes's favorite list includes the Marquis de Sade, Charles Fourier, and Ignatius Loyola. Barthes calls them 'unbearable' because, as I see it, 'The language they found is obviously not linguistic, a language of communication. It is a new language.' The texts of these authors are what they are, heavy and thick with attempts to reach something unreachable. Sade speaks of pain and perversion as joys, which is an incomprehensible idea. Also Lovecraft mentions sadism and de Sade. Fourier's social utopianism does not reflect anything familiar in social reality. Loyola's religious enthusiasm blinds his reader.

"In a way, Lovecraft belongs to this same category. His writings are too massive, artificial, and boring, even when they are brief, to be approached by anybody but the most industrious students or ardent enthusiasts who do not read, but dissect and devour them. Something almost perverse is involved, an attitude which Lovecraft understood but did not like.

"Lovecraft is read and remembered because of his fiction. His stories tell about strange things, but they are also strange stories. Some are clumsy copies of Lord Dunsany, an Irish author who was once widely read. Others, like 'At the Mountains of Madness,' read like parodies of Edgar Allan Poe and 'A. Gordon Pym.' Indeed, Jorge Luis Borges says that he has 'always considered' Lovecraft as 'an unconscious parodist of Poe.' Borge's story 'There Are More Things' is dedicated to the memory of 'H. P. Lovecraft.'

"Lovecraft, however, deserves to be read, because some of his stories, if taken out of their context within the Lovecraftian saga, are almost readable. Or if they cannot be read, they can be glanced at and enjoyed on the basis that they have a surface style which feels interesting. The reader should not ask why this is so, since no answer follows. Even the best Lovecraftian stories are too defective to be part of the literary canon, as many people think. Yet in a sense which comes close to Barthes's point of view, you can feel their influence even if the message is not there. An industrious reader must conclude that no meaning is present."

Airaksinen, Timo. The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft: The Route to Horror. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. 89-90.

>>4504982

He parodied himself quite a bit. The Hound, Reanimator, etc. The show you posted has absolutely nothing to do with Lovecraft though, it is just moe moe kyun bullshit. Which maybe he would have liked in secret, I don't know. Demonbane is a more effective Lovecraft parody.

Lovecraft is a pretty hard guy to read.
He always puts me to sleep.

>>4505009
That is the longest "I am a pleb" I ever read recently.

>>4497263
Unknown Kadath and Nyarlathotep.

>>4505009
>Someone nobody writing tl;dr butthurt about his importance to the autism puzzle

Oh man.

>>4505337
some nobody*

>>4504876
Actually, a lot of Lovecraft's friends and correspondence were pretty pissed about this.
Problem was, most of them didn't have news of Lovecraft's death until weeks after, so when they stepped forward in regards of the estate, Derleth had already vultured it up.

>>4505034
He also encouraged other writers to parody him, and parodied some of his correspondence in his work.

>>4505346
Derleth sure is a cunt.

>>4505009
>Lovecraft belongs to the genre of writers whom Roland Barthes calls unreadable

best opening line ever

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necronomicon:_The_Best_Weird_Tales_of_H._P._Lovecraft:_Commemorative_Edition

this seems like it has all of the essential stuff. i havent read much lovecraft as of yet. anything not in this i should be checking out?

>>4506108
Personally, I always recommend Penguin's The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories and its two follow ups, The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories and The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories.
They're masterfully edited and footnoted by S. T. Joshi, the most prominent Lovecraft scholar of our time.
Also, after reading each story you could do a lot worse than to check out HPPodcraft for a lively and informative discussion of the tale you just read.

>>4506150
This. Pretty much get all the good stuff in the three penguin paperbacks. Most affordable option as well.
If you're going for a completionist thing, then you can't go wrong with the Arkham House hardcover additions. There's three that collect the principle tales--At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, The Dunwich Horror and Others, and Dagon and Other Macabre Tales--as well as a fourth, The Horror in the Museum, that collects all the collaboration material.

>>4506150
This. You get all the good stuff in the three penguin paperbacks. Most affordable option as well.
If you're going for a completionist thing, then you can't go wrong with the Arkham House hardcover editions. There's three that collect the principle tales--At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels, The Dunwich Horror and Others, and Dagon and Other Macabre Tales--as well as a fourth, The Horror in the Museum, that collects all the collaboration material.
Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales, on the other hand, is probably the best single volume collection of Lovecraft there is. The only other one that comes close is the Library of America Tales collection.
Avoid the Complete Lovecraft Barnes and Noble edition at all costs--it is riddled with typos and other foolish mistakes.

>>4506150
one houllebecq essay trumped everything st joshi wrote. he's just an compiler without literary talent or a gift for criticism.

>>4506236
>he's just an compiler
And that is, frankly, what I want in an editor compiling and offering footnotes to the works of others.
If I'm looking for a critique or a literary expansion, I'll read an essay.

>>4506236
You're absolutely retarded. I've read the Houllebecq essay and it's pure polemic postmodern doggerel with no basis in fact or academic standards.
Joshi may be a bit forceful in his own interpretation and rendering of Lovecraft, but his biography is by far the best and most meticulously documented text on Lovecraft's life.

>The professor had been stricken whilst returning from the Newport boat; falling suddenly, as witnesses said, after having been jostled by a nautical-looking negro
topkek m8

>>4506247
>>4506250
bunch of irrelevant trivia without capability for insight. lovecraft's life was tremendously boring, there is nothing of note to be found there bar couple of letters, and that's what people like yoshi are good for, wading through the muck.

>>4506298
By those claims you've exposed how little you know about Lovecraft. His life was anything but boring and claiming that only a couple of the nearly 100,000 letters he wrote over his lifetimes doesn't just do him injustice, but also that of his correspondence. But from now on, I'm just going to assume you're trolling.

>>4506298
Actually, Joshi is a no-nonsense writer who makes Lovecraft interesting. I'm assuming you've never read his biography of Lovecraft. There are a couple boring chapters--the stuff that deals with his amateur journalism and poetry and such--but the rest is fascinating.
Maybe he's not the most gifted literary critic, but his point of view is basically new historicist (go figure), so if you're not down with interpretations of literature that involve social and cultural context, then I can see why you wouldn't enjoy it.
The real point is Hollebecq is basically a charlatan who projects his own ultraedgypsychoanalyticalnihilist themes onto Lovecraft without doing his homework, or showing, with due diligence, how such themes function in practice.
If you're looking for actual, good literary criticism of Lovecraft's work, I would recommend Levy's Lovecraft: A Study in the Fantastic, Waugh's The Monster in the Mirror, or the essay collection An Epicure in the Terrible.

>>4506349
will look into it, thanks.

>>4506342
somewhat, i don't dislike yoshi that much, then again i have never read him further than several fore/afterwords. i was bored by the level of discussion in this thread which is not an excuse. i still think that houllebecq's essay is excellent.

fuck

>>4506441
ITT: uber infectious cancer

why

>>4506295
When, long ago, the gods created Earth
In Jove's fair image Man was shaped at birth.
The beasts for lesser parts were next designed;
Yet were they too remote from humankind.
To fill the gap, and join the rest to Man,
Th'Olympian host conceiv'd a clever plan.
A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure,
Filled it with vice, and called the thing a Nigger.

I started reading At the Mountains of Madness recently. I really enjoyed the beginning, but I'm starting to get disenchanted with it. I feel as though it all may have been a bit too over-hyped for me.

>>4506498
kind of fail cloud, made from 1-2 stories or something. legrasse and johansen are as big as ctulhu

>>4506560
That's because it's a cloud made from the story Call of Cthulhu obviously.

>>4506535

At the Mountains of Madness isn't that good, Lovecraft is at his best with his floaty psychedelic fantasy prose poems and his creeping voyeuristic New England horrors and at his worst with his sci-fi. The Shadow Out Of Time is the only sci-fi story he wrote that really works for me, because it dispenses with trying to sound rational and reasonable and goes for borke right from the beginning. The Mound is pretty good too, it's Lovecraft writing a sort of subterranean sci-fi dystopia.

>>4506575

>Lovecraft writing a sort of subterranean sci-fi dystopia.

*Lovecraft ghostwriting a sort of subterranean sci-fi dystopia for some lady who wrote shlock romance.

I like the King in Yellow more since Chambers is a better writer being of the Symbolist tradition. Incidentally Borges thought Lovecraft was an involuntary parodist of Poe.

My favorite is Arthur Jermyn.

I reread it every few months, and love to give it to people in my apartment who go to take a shit. They always walk out of the shitter with interesting looks.

>>4506582
>Borges thought Lovecraft was an involuntary parodist of Poe.

Lovecraft thought he was an involuntary parodist of Poe. The man was self conscious to a fault. His opinion of himself was never high and he was humble to the literal point of death in his letters and cared more about appearing gentlemanly than eating or seeking medical attention. When he died, those closest to him weren't able to access his estate in time >>4505346 because Lovecraft never told them trough his letters that anything was wrong and didn't know of his condition or death until weeks after due to hospital incompetence.

>>4506575
I really enjoyed the Shadow out of Time as well, although given how long it's been since I read any HPL I don't feel like I can really add a lot to the discussion.

Also why do so many people wang on about the cat's name yet half of them seem to have not even read The Rats in the Walls?

If I could go back in time and give one author a hug it would be Lovecraft.

>>4507466
Same. I'd hug him tenderly and whisper to him that he should eat more and healthier.

>>4497548

Yet in a collection he writes a story in tribute to Lovecraft. He grew on him over time and recognized his talents.

What an awfully misleading paraphrase.

>>4507460

Because most people who have been told to read Lovecraft read The Call of Cthulhu, for some damn reason, and conclude from this that he is crap.

>>4497263
I'd always say The Mountains of Madness, but I read some of his earlier stories recently and The Temple was just captivating. It left me feeling claustrophobic after I read it, and I've always liked it when a story sticks with you like that.
And as plebian as it sounds, the Call of Cthulhu is a close second favorite.

>>4506108
Just get the Barnes and Noble special edition. It's great quality, and has all of his fiction works, and introductions by ST Joshi, who seems to know his shit.

>110+ post thread
>what is the best edition of lovecraft tales
>which lovecraft tale is your favourite
>lovecraft is a sci-fi writer
>did you know? he disparaged niggers and mongrels

such a waste of keys on a board.

>>4507818
>see image
>open image
>zoom in clicking on nose by chance
>DAYUM DAT NOSE HAIR

>>4507818
You're one to talk. Taking up moot's valuable server space with that six hundred and twenty kilobyte image of some woman you saved on your computer.

>>4507818
>talking about a popular author on the /lit/ board
yeah, waste of time, I know

>>4507785
Barnes and Noble edition is not the best option

See:
>>4506198

>>4509166
Filling out a lexicon entry =/= meaningful conversation.

>>4508662
>>4508112
Do you think H-Love would would have whispered in darkness after cyclopean beauty that is K-Stew?

http://www.evilbeetgossip.com/2013/05/06/is-kristen-stewart-racist/

A bit off topic, but has anybody seen True Detective on HBO.
It's very clearly self-aware Lovecraftian.

>>4509220
King in Yellow is not neccessarily a Lovecraft reference. It is a bit surreal but it's about Evangelistic iconography with some atavism thrown in, nothing esoteric.

>>4502772

lol you're tripping, nobody believes cthulu exists

>>4509239
I dunno, man. There is the the weird "cult-like" ritual stuff. Then MM's character, who's very rational-like in 1995 but a broken man in the present.
The King in the Yellow ref was what sealed the deal for me though.

>>4509251
"cult-like" ritual stuff isn't uniquely Lovecraftian.

Enough reaching.

Daily reminder that the Cthulhu Mythos is shit; Dream Cycle for the win.

>>4509317

The two aren't in any way discrete. There are some total clunkers among Lovecraft's dream stories, as well as some of the best stuff he ever wrote. And as for his stories that involve big spooky monsters, some of them are good and some are crap. For me it makes more sense to look at Lovecraft's works (and those related works of others) as a legendarium like that of Tolkien. We have Derleth to thank for D&D-level bullshit that constitutes the "mythos".

>>4509317
Daily reminder that you should read more closely and that most of the "dream" stuff is actually "early earth" stuff that fits in with the Cthulhu mythos.

>>4497263
The Rats in the Walls and At the Mountains of Madness. The Terrible Old Man is also a favorite, because as a New Englander, I can just see the areas of decadent old anglo blood poor people way out in western massachusetts. Most of it is hippy territory now though.

Best Lovecraft stories:

Celephais
The Quest of Iranon
The Music of Erich Zann

>>4502772
Who? Besides people into Discordianism, which is paradoxical in itself as soon as you start to adopt an hierarchical system amid Chaos.

>>4497528
What would authors of the past sound like if they posted on /lit/ today?

I'm doing a read through on Cosmic/Lovecraftian horror.

I've read most of the early works: The Great God Pan, The King in Yellow, Arthur Gordon Pym, The House on the Borderlands.

Next up is the man himself.

>>4509450
I'd have to agree. Those were nice.

>>4510344
how was the king in yellow?

>>4510337
in his book 'on writing', stephen king said that hpl would probably lurk in some chatroom somewhere. or a forum where he would have extensive posting history.

>>4509450
>>4510793
Celephais is something special imo. Not really convinced about the other ones.

I will settle this once and for all.
Lovecraft's great stories are (in no particular order):
The Call of Cthulhu
The Colour out of Space
At the Mountains of Madness
The Whisperer in Darkness
The Shadow out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark
The Dunwich Horror
The Shadow over Innsmouth
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Dreams in the Witch House
The Thing on the Doorstep

Lovecraft's good short fiction includes:
The Outsider
The Music of Erich Zann
The Rats in the Walls
Pickmen's Model
Dagon
The Statement of Randolph Carter

>>4512483
Only taking a quick glance, I see you forgot The Temple.

I remember reading a short story in a Lovecraft collection called The Woods and it wasn't the poem. Apparently this doesn't actually exist

>>4512483

>Erich Zann
>Not best of the best

It's like you're trying to be a pleb.
Erich Zann is literally the perfect story. Prove me wrong.

>>4512562
Like I mentioned, it's one of Lovecraft's better short pieces and a thematic foreshadowing of the great "Lovecraftian" pieces he would go on to write and is generally remembered for.

>>4512530
What was it about?

>>4512712

It's been like 4-5 years but something about a guy being afraid of the woods he lives next to. It didn't really have an investigation or climax but it disturbed the hell out of me because it's similar to where I live.

>>4512791
Think I've read the same story. The tree by the window moving on its own accord and other eerie happenings? Elements he would revisit later in stories like Colour from out of space.
Can't recall its name either, but pretty sure that it's one of his earliest and perhaps even a part of his surviving juvenilia.

>>4512827

I don't remember any straight up supernatural elements, it just had an extremely oppressive atmosphere of dread. Not that such a thing is rare for Lovecraft but it was very much a Poe influenced story I felt.

>>4497263
GTFO POOR TASTE NEWFIG

>>4512868
Are you sure that The Woods was the name of it? There are tons of Lovecraft stories with scary woods in them... Dunwich Horror, Colour out of Space, Picture in the House coming to mind.

>>4512483
>The noun preposition the noun
You forgot The Temple, but other than that it's spot-on. I forgot about Dagon,I need to read that one again sometime.

>>4512791
Are you thinking of 'The Damned Thing' by Ambrose Bierce? It is somewhat lovecraftian.

omg lovecraft

>>4515971
This comic is just stupid.

>>4515981
It would have been okay if it stopped after the third panel or had a different ending

>>4497263
Innsmouth and Color Out of Space for me.
Also, Rats in the Walls was a fun read.

But my favorite probably goes to The Whisperer in Darkness. It was pretty goddamn predictable at points and the main character was outright retarded at times, but goddamn, those final sections.

>>4514969

To be fair, that describes most titles in general.