H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy and horror fiction, noted for giving horror stories a science fiction framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

Race, Class, and Sex

Controversial issues regarding race, class and sex stir up in Lovecraft's writing for a number of modern readers. While a minority of critics fall to historicism in failing to contextualize these opinions in a 1920s historical and geographical context, notably before the excesses of World War II, Lovecraft's writing showed even for his time a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

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Under this modern and more egalitarian lens, it can be said that racial, ethnic, and sexual stereotypes are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale The Rats in the Walls. Racist views can be found in his poetry, particularly On the Creation of Niggers and New England Fallen (both 1912). Perhaps the best example of his ethnic views can be found in the short story Cool Air (1926): the presumably Anglo-Saxon narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor Hispanics of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic Spaniard Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Related Topics:
The Rats in the Walls - Anglo-Saxon - Hispanic - Spaniard

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Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King Kuranes' nostalgy for England in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

Related Topics:
Kuranes - The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

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A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (1920), The Rats in the Walls (1923), and The Shadow over Innsmouth (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a syphilitic disorder.

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Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written September 25, 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book Selected Letters IV published by Arkham House. The beliefs are those held in early twentieth century American and European society, and which may be said to be held throughout the world in varying form today.

Related Topics:
September 25 - Arkham House

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Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed racial supremicism, particularly in the treatment of immigrants and African-Americans. However Lovecraft does not spare European ethnic groups. The degenerate descendants of Dutch immigrants in the Catskill Mountains, "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of white trash in the South," (Beyond the Wall of Sleep, 1919) are common targets.

Related Topics:
African-American - Dutch - Catskill Mountains

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The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered to be hostile

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towards Jews (although in reality several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), Italians, and Poles. The arrogant Prussian aristocrat of The Temple (1920) is another example of class vs ethnicity. Class and manner are demonstrably more valued by Lovecraft than racial or ethnic identity.

Related Topics:
Jews - Italians - Poles - Prussia

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Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a Jewish woman of Ukrainian ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Ukrainian

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