What's the appeal of Lovecraft? And horror in general?

[Extollager]

My two previous messages will have made a case that much of Lovecraft's appeal is not to whatever it is that, in some people, gives a taste for the experience of "horror."

On that topic, I would urge you to look up Edmund Burke's treatise on the Beautiful and the Sublime.

[Tinsel]

I read a little over half the posts, but I'll go back and finish reading the rest of them.

Someone said the word "erotica". Now that did grab my attention. It would have been so amazing if Lovecraft went into that area, and was able to include it in some of his fiction. As far as I know he did not. A short story like "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" was amazingly complete and for a general audience, however I did see an opportunity to create a sub story in at least one point in the plot. There is recent talk about a writers round robin. Now that would be a great place to write a short story since you can supplement the existing material. I'm not suggesting adding erotica to that particular story. Lovecraft just did not think that way at all or else old Farnsworth removed all traces.

You could go onto iTunes and purchase "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" dramatic audio recording that was done by the Atlanta Theatre Company. That may enhance the readability because it creates tension as the pace of the chase encounter in rumor shadowed Innsmouth provides for the ending.

[Extollager]

I guess one thing I am getting as it that you need to be clear on whether your character loves horror or whether he loves suspenseful stories, or the atmosphere of the weird, or the evocation of the Sublime, or the sense of wonder and awe, etc. -- none of which is the same thing as horror as such. My guess is that, of the people who contribute to this forum, they all like Lovecraft, but the reasons for their liking of Lovecraft might not be the same. One can like Lovecraft specifically as a horror writer; there are gruesome descriptions aplenty in his stories, as you'll have seen if you persisted with "The Dunwich Horror." And yet many other authors probably evoke horror much more dependably -- with nauseating descriptions and so on -- the sort of thing that goes back, at least, to the climax of Poe's "Case of M. Valdemar."

I suspect that a true taste for horror may be connected with a desire to escape from boredom sometimes. (I'm trying to get at an answer to your initial questions.) And people's imaginations can be tickled by the sense of the transgressive. But that sense needs a normal against which it can flaunt its aberrations, even if the main audience is oneself.

I don't care for horror as such, just for its own sake. But I think much of Lovecraft's appeal isn't based on horror. One wonders what he would have made of a book like The Silence of the Lambs. I wonder if he would have finished it. In short, I wonder if Lovecraft really liked horror all that much!

To the extent that he did like horror, I would suggest that he may have had something in common with Jonathan Swift. In Gulliver's Travels, the horror element comes out in some of the Third Voyage and even more in the Fourth, in which Gulliver has to admit that he "is" the Other (a detestable Yahoo). This has much in common with Lovecraft's "Arthur Jermyn" story, also "Innsmouth" and "The Outsider." Swift did want to "vex" (upset) his reader at times, and as he sought to do so he anticipated techniques of the modern horror writer. See his poem about the "beautiful young nymph going to bed." Now that is horror, and, I would say, probably more productive of horror than anything HPL wrote.

I think HPL wanted to evoke a sense of the eerie, the wonderful, a sense of dread.

So -- is that what your character wants to do? or does he want to shock and disgust?

[Extollager]

Wolery, one last comment from me for now. Don't miss HPL's "The Colour Out of Space." This is a story of horror. But I believe it is also a humane story. Lovecraft often went for the shock ending. What I remember from this story, rather, is pathos. You will find something of the sort in what I suppose is William Hope Hodgson's best story, "The Voice in the Night."

[Wolf873]

^I'd also add Shadow Out of Time to that. Another wonderful piece.

[Tinsel]

"The Call of Cthulhu" was definitely a horror story and so was "The Picture in the House". I personally wouldn't read Lovecraft if he did not create complex plots. That is what keeps me interested in his stories. I can read them more than one time and continue to gain a perspective on what is being described in detail. It is difficult to see all of it because it really is heavy work, but that is the appeal and the challenge!

If I simply read Lovecraft than it does not work well. I find it more productive to wait until I have a lot of energy before I read a story of his. I have tried reading it when I had mediocre energy and I did not make it through the story, however that is not the case with other books. I am not aware of any other writer that provides the depth of Lovecraft. One day, I intend to become a fire breathing dragon, and than I'll dive into the waters of Dagon.

[Fried Egg]

I'm fairly new to both Lovecraft and horror in general. Only recently have I started to read horror, being previously primarilly a fantasy and SF reader.

What attracted me to horror? I suppose it was becoming aware that there was a type of horror out there for me, one that is not about about trying to shock and disgust the reader but instead about humbling one's self by being confronted with the vastness, indifference and strangeness of the universe. By being filled with a sense of awe and wonder at nature and confronted with our own insignificance and irrelevence and the knowledge that we might be living in a small, fragile oasis of calm and simplicity surrounded by an infinite sea of choas that might snuff out our sanity like a candle frame in the eye of a hurricane.

I don't like all of Lovecraft's stories but many of them I adore. "Shadows over Innesmouth" is one of my favourites although it is unique in at least one way, I seem to recall J.D. mentioning that it is the only Lovecraft story that contains a chase scene. In that sense, it might even be thought of as being one of Lovecraft's more conventional stories.

[Connavar]

Myself i love reading horror because in the hands of a quality writer it can be great,thrilling read in many shapes.

HPL archaic prose style i dont have much respect for but its easier to get past for me now that im trying to read him again.

I got from the library The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories and his prose style doesnt bother me. I just hope the stories thrill,scare me because i love classic horror and with my taste in horror it wouldnt be nice if i found HPL to be overrated.

[Magnus85]

Just want to add that to me, Lovecraft's stories work better orally. When I read The Statement of Randolph Carter loud to myself it had much more impact.

As has been said, my fascination for Lovecraft is his universe, his mythos and how he attacks the fear of the unknown. Fear of the dark, of the deep, of the beyond. Our own sanity. That's some powerful **** right there.



:M:

[Fried Egg]

Originally Posted by Connavar

I got from the library The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories and his prose style doesnt bother me. I just hope the stories thrill,scare me because i love classic horror and with my taste in horror it wouldnt be nice if i found HPL to be overrated.

I'm glad you're trying him again. I would suggest not necessarilly reading them in order and going straight for "Pickman's Model" and "At the Mountains of Madness" first as they're the best (in my opinion) stories in that collection. If you like those, then go on to try other stories in the collection.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

I'm glad you're trying him again. I would suggest not necessarilly reading them in order and going straight for "Pickman's Model" and "At the Mountains of Madness" first as they're the best (in my opinion) stories in that collection. If you like those, then go on to try other stories in the collection.

Yeah i have not much interest in reading his Dunsanian stories like Joshi said he would not be remembered if he ever only wrote those stories. I checked them out only to see how his prose style improved in those stories from his regular stories. Maybe not Dunsany poetic prose but nicer to read than his regular style.

The introduction said his later,mature style is first seen in "Under the Pyramids" which i started with to read before "Pickman's Model" and "At the Mountains of Madness".

I did read The Tomb to know his early stories from earky 1920s or earlier is his low level,younger days works.

His prose style is the hardest i have read of all slow horror styles but i had to give him a fair chance even if i might never like him like i do CAS,REH. You dont have to be great prose write to be quality horror writer in my eyes.

[Fried Egg]

I would also avoid "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" for now too. I found that quite hard work, although ultimately rewarding. Just not for reading now while you're still making up your mind about his work.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

I would also avoid "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" for now too. I found that quite hard work, although ultimately rewarding. Just not for reading now while you're still making up your mind about his work.

I had the same thoughts since i dont think i have the time to read all the stories since its a interlibrary loan i can have only 2 weeks. I choosed him this time since i dont have time for novels but i can read a shorter story or two per day.

[Fried Egg]

Originally Posted by Connavar

I had the same thoughts since i dont think i have the time to read all the stories since its a interlibrary loan i can have only 2 weeks. I choosed him this time since i dont have time for novels but i can read a shorter story or two per day.

Well, "At the Mountains of Madness" is quite long...but worth it.

[Tinsel]

There was a hell of a lot of running around in "The Call of Cthulhu" but the long scene in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" was articulated by irregular sounds and later more obvious signs of what was taking place. He had to escape, rather than get chased (now that I think about it).