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A review by savaging
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
4.0
I came to this because I loved the tv series based on it. Lovecraft's touted as a founding father of pulp horror, but read his work and it's clear the real horror is the reverse -- not the Black, disabled, femme, wild bodies and spirits he writes about with disgust, but the author's desire to gawk at and then punish them. I love that this work flips the lens and reveals the true horror. I love that it creates space for others to embrace the genre.
I'm also totally at sea with the revelation that this was written by a white man. Looking at others' responses to it, it seems like many Black critics find his characters to be well-done, not falling into stereotypes. There's a reason Jordan Peele and Misha Green wanted to adapt it. Also, I guess at least Ruff isn't falling into the pattern of writing only about white characters or only having peripheral Black characters who support the narrative arc of a white protagonist? In many ways it makes sense that if you want to write Lovecraftian horror, you have to focus on the creepy eerie all-pervasive threat of white supremacism.
I'm on uncertain ground and probably one insightful argument could make me change my mind about loving this book. But either way, lord it would be nice if Black authors got more space and time and funding to write all kinds of stories, their own and others'.
I'm also totally at sea with the revelation that this was written by a white man. Looking at others' responses to it, it seems like many Black critics find his characters to be well-done, not falling into stereotypes. There's a reason Jordan Peele and Misha Green wanted to adapt it. Also, I guess at least Ruff isn't falling into the pattern of writing only about white characters or only having peripheral Black characters who support the narrative arc of a white protagonist? In many ways it makes sense that if you want to write Lovecraftian horror, you have to focus on the creepy eerie all-pervasive threat of white supremacism.
I'm on uncertain ground and probably one insightful argument could make me change my mind about loving this book. But either way, lord it would be nice if Black authors got more space and time and funding to write all kinds of stories, their own and others'.