Could you tell someone, who admitedly isn't that insightful in writing but loves Lovecraft, why people are bashing his prose so relentlessly?
It's just bad. He was a good story teller, and a terrible writer.
They hate him cause they can't be him.
>>7406793
DUDE CTHULHU LMAO xD
>>7406793
Those people haven't read his Dream Cycle.
So fucking reddit it hurts
LOL LIKE WHAT IF CTHULHU RANDOMLY SHOWED UP XDDD
>>7406930
wow
It relies heavily on the topos of indescribability. Even within this, the language is incredibly repetitive.
>>7406793
Because it's not invisible style which is superior.
>>7406793
Caring too much about form and too little about story. The same kind of people that like to hate on games because of graphics or fanbase. Get over it, Lovecraft won't be forgotten.
>>7408354
>Get over it, Lovecraft won't be forgotten.
The philosopher Graham Harman basically puts it adequately: although Lovecraft did little in terms of style, his creation in terms of content guarantees his place in the history of literature despite being considered pop lit.
>>7408354
People here will say he's not a bad story teller but his prose is so purple it's pretty much undetectable to the human eye.new meta essay on lovecraft
>>7408379
Call me a fucking pleb, but I think Bloodborne did Lovecraft better than Lovecraft.
>>7406793
It's a tad stale for some, which other attack unfairly. Personally I love him, he had one of the most captivating imaginations of all time.
>>7406793
His word choice is a little formulaic at times.
>>7408385
Well, at the same time, his content doesn't have to be the greatest to make him memorable, it just has to be different enough from everything else and also allow for development in it's newfound opening. Where some just see unfathomable ancient fish people, others see the style (despite arising from content) for creating a horrifying otherness that is never fully manifest and never fully clear or identifiable and which, precisely because of this, never releases the tension that it builds, making people question their mental and even bodily health.I've never read Lovecraft.
>>7408385
>Call me a fucking pleb, but I think Bloodborne did Lovecraft better than Lovecraft.
Nearly a century later.
Oh OP, I feel you, I love Howard. We're on a first name basis.
But, to answer your question, Lovecraft has a nasty tendency of beating his audience to death with a dictionary. I don't think he's doing this intentionally - that is, I don't imagine him sitting there with a thesaurus trying to shoehorn words in. Lovecraft was very well-read and made an effort to learn every word he saw. It makes sense he would use "gibbous" to describe a moon. Does this mean it was a good literary decision? Nope. Does it take you out of the story? You bet. Does it make a lot of first person perspectives all sound the same? Yup.
Along with the purple prose, when Lovecraft likes a word he definitely works it.
Oh, and he's really found of the "oh no I can hear them coming for me....." cliche - which makes you wonder, "Why the fuck aren't you running then?".
I disagree with this, but some people hate the "monsters that are so awful they can't be described but trust me man this shit is fucked" thing that Lovecraft did a lot. I think it's a personal preference, though. I never minded it.
Basically there are times where Lovecraft's prose is really pretty or effective, and then there are times where you want him to shut the fuck up and get on with it.
>>7409461
I can't help it, I love everything the guy wrote. his really short stories like "Nyarlathohep" are still the only things i've read that genuinely capture the feel of a nightmare.
Not even a guilty pleasure. Best horror writer ever.
>>7409461
>>7408382
Now, I'm not going to disagree, he can be flowery at times, but holy shit, you haven't seen purple until you've read Irene Iddesleigh:
"The December sun had hidden its dull rays behind the huge rocks that rose monstrously high west of Dunfern mansion, and ceased to gladden the superb apartment Sir John occupied most part of the day. They had withdrawn their faint reflection from within the mirrored walls of this solitary chamber to brighten other homes with their never-dying sheen."
After skimming through this mess, I've become more forgiving of Lovecraft's wordiness, for better or worse.
>>7406793
"To the point of your query, his prose is an unfanthomable, oppressive writhing mass. It is a monstrous and indescribable in its hideousness. It is an undulating unspeakable Cyclpean void. A diseased precipitous abyss full of shrieking, slithering, torrential shadows of red viscous madness chasing one another through endless, ensanguined corridors of purple fulgurous sky . . . formless phantasms and kaleidoscopic mutations of a ghoulish countenance".
But I like reading his stories.
>>7408385
Bloodborne is more like a walmart Solomon Kane imitating Lovecraft.
>>7408385
You're a pleb. I bet you also prefer August Derleth's pastiches.
>>7409560
Actually Bloodborne gives off more of a Titus Crow vibe. Still a second hand imitation.
>>7409564
>You're a pleb. I bet you also prefer Emacs.
Has /lit/ read Laird Barron or Thomas Ligotti?
Can you recomend anything by either?
>>7409578
Yes. I prefer Ligotti but Barron's stories are more traditional stories whereas Ligotti's are a bit more experimental.
>>7409585
thanks based anon
Tried to read pic related. Hurled it into the fireplace, went mad.
>>7409621
I just read the poem at the beginning, the Carcossa one (I believe it said it was a song in a chapter). But then I forgot about it, think I started something else and never gotten back into it. Must admit, I liked the poem.
>>7406930
Cthulhu is actually pretty much irrelevant in Lovecraft's lore. Go blame the redditing on Derleth. Yog Sothoth plays a much larger role.
>>7406793
Because he's just one of the hundreds of racist white men that only became well known due to their hate of POC rather than any real talent? His cat was named the n-word ffs. It's 2015, time we realized that white people are too full of hate to be of any use whatsoever.
>>7410781
>>7409621
I read this because of True Detective hype and was kind of disappointed. The first story showed promise but then I found the rest mostly dull.
>>7409461
And here I thought I was the problem since English isn't my native language... Reading Lovecraft on Kindle, I probably spend 1/5 of the time in dictionary mode.
>>7409461
>when Lovecraft likes a word he definitely works it.
H O A R Y
>>7411091
Which ones?
>>7406793
>reading Rats in the Walls
>book succeeding in creating a creepy atmosphere
>except the protagonists cat is literally named "Niggerman."
>getting spooked
>"and then Niggerman ran around the room chased the invisible rats in the walls"
>spook broken
>spook begins to build
>"And then Niggerman yowled"
>goddammit
>mfw
>>7412007
It wasn't shocking back then. The only reason why it brings you out of the spook is because it's a modern taboo.
>>7412027
It's not shocking, it's just funny.
>tfw no cat to name Nigger Man.
>>7409578
Not familiar with Barron, but I like the Ligotti stuff I've read. A lot of his books are out of print to the point of being ludicrously expensive, but Penguin just reprinted two collections of his short stories in one volume called 'Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe', so get that and the 'Teatro Grottesco' collection. Also don't expect elder-beings or cosmic monstrosities.
>>7412007
That was actually the name of a cat Lovecraft himself owned
>>7406930
my little Anon cant be this retarded.
>90% of his protagonists are self-insert bitch niggas.
>Adjectives, Adjectives everywhere.
>Obvious racism everywhere, but who gives a shit about that?
>His work was later butchered by an idiot who went full retard, added Cthulhu to everything, and had everyone go insane when they looked at a cobweb in the corner.
>WARREN IS DEAD, YOU FOOL!
Honestly, I prefer Robert E. Howard.
>>7406823
I really like the dream cycle where others seem not to because it's the sort of place where I think his convoluted writing imbues the work with this ever surreal effect.
>>7414560
>complains about obvious racism
>likes Robert E Howard
>>7414828
What's funny is his other complaints (adjectives aside) are also true for Howard. Howard's work got butchered by De Camp and even had Howard's original works tampered to line up with his own fan fiction. Even August Derleth never did that.
