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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Sorely, sorely disappointed. I simply don't see what all the fuss is about. I have heard it said though that no book is completely devoid of value, and at least my reading of Lovecraft did throw up a few interesting questions.
The main question is this: how fair is it to criticize an author for being a blatant horrible racist, given that the author lived a century ago and such attitudes were widespread during his time? I'm sure some allowances have to be made for the 'product of his time' factor. If the racism gets in the way of my enjoyment of his stories, some may say well, that's my problem - not Lovecraft's. Get over it.
However, the problem is that the racism is not confined to a few remarks here and there. It is constant, and indeed it is apparent that Lovecraft intended race to be a main contributing factor to the 'horror' of the stories. A couple of examples: in the story 'Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family', the horrible dénouement is the protagonist's realisation that he is descended from a tribe of ape-men. The explanatory notes expand on Lovecraft's difficulty coming to grips with the fact that the white race is derived from a 'primal' African race - that "we are all products of miscegenation". Likewise, at the end of 'The Rats in the Walls', the protagonist displays a supposed regression down the evolutionary scale through babbling in various languages, each one 'baser' than the last - English, Old English, Latin, Gaelic, grunting. This is not to mention the numerous times the mere fact that a person is of colour or otherwise 'low breeding' is shamelessly used as a device to convey the unnaturalness of the events at hand - e.g. the Negro sailor and exotic cultists in 'The Call of Cthulhu' - or even when the description of someone being 'of mixed blood' etc. is entirely superfluous.
The main problem here is therefore that the 'horror' of many of these storeis derives from Lovecraft's assumption that his reader shares his revulsion and obsession with humans' evolutionary predecessors and the idea of 'low breeding', reverting to type, the savage lurking beneath the surface, the 'corrupt' origins of the white race. This simply isn't a problem for the modern reader - and consequently, the stories are not scary - they do not work.
The repeated racism is symptomatic of another, stylistic defect in Lovecraft's writing - namely, that his formulaic style (first person, ex-post-facto recounting of events) shows negligible variance throughout all his stories. It may as well be the exact same protagonist in every single story - the same wordy description, the same racial obsessions, the same "this may be terrible but I am a man of science" attitude. Lovecraft, you are a one-trick pony.
Indeed, this wouldn't matter so much if the one trick was at least a good one. In fact, these stories were overblown, predictable and anticlimactic. The trope of 'the horror was indescribable and it has driven many men to madness' is a boring cliché. Additionally, many of the stories bear striking similarities to other stories by better authors - who couldn't note the uncanny resemblance between 'Herbert West - Reanimator' and 'Frankenstein', or 'The Hound' and 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?
Finally, a note on this particular edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) - the notes were distracting and pointless to the point of absurdity. I think the series editor is paying people to shoehorn the author's biography into the notes section to give the impression of value for money, no matter how irrelevant the details may be. For example: in one story, a mentioned date of "Oct 19, 1852" was noted with the detail "Lovecraft's mother was born on October 17, 1857". So what? In 'Cool Air, the passage describing the protagonist's landlady as Spanish explains that Lovecraft's own landlady was an Irishwoman. I flipped all the way to the back of the book for this? Who gives a shit? How is this relevant?
God, this book was crap.
The main question is this: how fair is it to criticize an author for being a blatant horrible racist, given that the author lived a century ago and such attitudes were widespread during his time? I'm sure some allowances have to be made for the 'product of his time' factor. If the racism gets in the way of my enjoyment of his stories, some may say well, that's my problem - not Lovecraft's. Get over it.
However, the problem is that the racism is not confined to a few remarks here and there. It is constant, and indeed it is apparent that Lovecraft intended race to be a main contributing factor to the 'horror' of the stories. A couple of examples: in the story 'Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family', the horrible dénouement is the protagonist's realisation that he is descended from a tribe of ape-men. The explanatory notes expand on Lovecraft's difficulty coming to grips with the fact that the white race is derived from a 'primal' African race - that "we are all products of miscegenation". Likewise, at the end of 'The Rats in the Walls', the protagonist displays a supposed regression down the evolutionary scale through babbling in various languages, each one 'baser' than the last - English, Old English, Latin, Gaelic, grunting. This is not to mention the numerous times the mere fact that a person is of colour or otherwise 'low breeding' is shamelessly used as a device to convey the unnaturalness of the events at hand - e.g. the Negro sailor and exotic cultists in 'The Call of Cthulhu' - or even when the description of someone being 'of mixed blood' etc. is entirely superfluous.
The main problem here is therefore that the 'horror' of many of these storeis derives from Lovecraft's assumption that his reader shares his revulsion and obsession with humans' evolutionary predecessors and the idea of 'low breeding', reverting to type, the savage lurking beneath the surface, the 'corrupt' origins of the white race. This simply isn't a problem for the modern reader - and consequently, the stories are not scary - they do not work.
The repeated racism is symptomatic of another, stylistic defect in Lovecraft's writing - namely, that his formulaic style (first person, ex-post-facto recounting of events) shows negligible variance throughout all his stories. It may as well be the exact same protagonist in every single story - the same wordy description, the same racial obsessions, the same "this may be terrible but I am a man of science" attitude. Lovecraft, you are a one-trick pony.
Indeed, this wouldn't matter so much if the one trick was at least a good one. In fact, these stories were overblown, predictable and anticlimactic. The trope of 'the horror was indescribable and it has driven many men to madness' is a boring cliché. Additionally, many of the stories bear striking similarities to other stories by better authors - who couldn't note the uncanny resemblance between 'Herbert West - Reanimator' and 'Frankenstein', or 'The Hound' and 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?
Finally, a note on this particular edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) - the notes were distracting and pointless to the point of absurdity. I think the series editor is paying people to shoehorn the author's biography into the notes section to give the impression of value for money, no matter how irrelevant the details may be. For example: in one story, a mentioned date of "Oct 19, 1852" was noted with the detail "Lovecraft's mother was born on October 17, 1857". So what? In 'Cool Air, the passage describing the protagonist's landlady as Spanish explains that Lovecraft's own landlady was an Irishwoman. I flipped all the way to the back of the book for this? Who gives a shit? How is this relevant?
God, this book was crap.
Jamás en la vida me pareció que me fuera a gustar tanto Lovecraft, nunca le había entrado no sé por que pero hasta ahora y la neta me gusto chingo.
Muchísimo.
Si no lo han leído, háganlo no se van a arrepentir.
Muchísimo.
Si no lo han leído, háganlo no se van a arrepentir.
These are all masterworks and, in my opinion, pretty much all you need to read of HPL. When he's bad, he's unbearable but when he's good there is no one like him. These are his best and read by a terrific reader. I think this edition is only available as audio.
This is saved from a one-star rating because I really liked one story. It was "The Colour Out of Space." That one was genuinely creepy, and also wasn't pervaded by some of the most sickening racism I've encountered in a long time. This sets it apart from the other stories by a large margin.
Este libro cuenta con 4 relatos, de los cuales los mejores sin duda son El Color que Cayó del Cielo y El Horror de Dunwich. Me desilusionó un poco la Llamada de Cthulhu, esperaba más acción y era más una especie de crónica. Varios cuentos de Lovecraft son como de este estilo, especies de crónicas de acontecimientos que sucedieron con entidades cósmicas o cosas así, creo que eso le da la particularidad a su escritura, pero siento que me falta un poquito más cuando leo sus historias.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Me encantó el libro y el trabajo de Rafael Llopis al catalogar los mitos de Cthulhu. Rafael nos recibe con una breve historia acerca de como evoluciono el cuento de terror antes de Lovecraft y nos cuenta también, como fue la vida del talentoso escritor.
Algunos de los cuentos que influyeron en el trabajo de Lovecraft, aunque breves y a veces un poco lentos, son una joya. De las colaboraciones en vida y dedicatorias de y para Lovecraft puedo decir que son fascinantes, aunque los mitos póstumos no me convencieron del todo.
Si quieres leer parte de las obras más significativas de H. P. Lovecraft y su circulo, este libro es para ti. Como bonus encontraras obras de Algernon Blackwood y Robert W. Chambers. Además posee una bibliografía muy buena respecto a otras obras de Lovecraft y sus allegados, e incluye la mayoría de sus cuentos relacionados.
Algunos de los cuentos que influyeron en el trabajo de Lovecraft, aunque breves y a veces un poco lentos, son una joya. De las colaboraciones en vida y dedicatorias de y para Lovecraft puedo decir que son fascinantes, aunque los mitos póstumos no me convencieron del todo.
Si quieres leer parte de las obras más significativas de H. P. Lovecraft y su circulo, este libro es para ti. Como bonus encontraras obras de Algernon Blackwood y Robert W. Chambers. Además posee una bibliografía muy buena respecto a otras obras de Lovecraft y sus allegados, e incluye la mayoría de sus cuentos relacionados.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow. Had me wondering where HP Lovecraft has been all my life.