03 November 2010

While We are On the Subject of HP Lovecraft Quotes…

Yesterday, I posted H.P. Lovecraft's quote on Republicans, and I also forwarded it to my Lovecraft-reading family.

My brother, Stephen, aka "No I'm Not Wearing a Wookie Costume, I'm Just Hairy," asked the question, "Given Lovecraft's fondness for slimy spineless creatures, it is strange that he didn't have anything to say about democrats..."

Well, according to the Donovan K. Loucks, the Webmaster at The H. P. Lovecraft Archive, who posted in the comments, the author did make his feelings known on both parties:
“Democrats invariably ape the grotesque crudities of the lower orders and make conspicuous clowns of themselves; jeering at civilised speech, manners, and standards of accuracy and beauty instead of respecting these things and urging their beloved masses to work up toward them. As long as they persist in this position, they will win nothing but the distrust and hostility of men well-disposed toward civilisation and the fullest realisation of the human personality.”

(H. P. Lovecraft to Woodburn Harris, 9 November 1929)
Given Lovecraft's rather well documented nativist attitudes, though biographer L. Sprague de Camp implies that his attitudes moderated as he grew older, and that some of his statements were a way he taunted people that he did not like, this is an unsurprising statement from him.

Interestingly enough, he was a fan of FDR and an Ardent New Dealer according to the Wiki.

Truth be told, I am kind of torn as to whether, if I had a time machine, I would want to meet him or not.

0 comments :

Post a Comment