1. Justin Rocket 2

    Justin Rocket 2 Contributor Contributor

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    Literary Lovecraft

    Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by Justin Rocket 2, Nov 6, 2015.

    Does Lovecraft belong alongside Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc. as a literary author? If not, why not?
     
  2. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    I would say: definitely not. His style is laughable - his prose overwritten to the extreme. When he's trying to horrify his audience, he keeps describing things as "ancient" and "nameless" and sometimes "eldritch," hitting us over the head with a limited set of adjectives until we're unable to contain our mirth. He had a line in "At the Mountains of Madness" about terrified blind penguins fleeing something ancient and nameless that had me rolling on the floor. :rofl:

    He did have his strengths, though. He had a terrific imagination and was a first-class mythmaker. I think that's why people remember him today.
     
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  3. Justin Rocket 2

    Justin Rocket 2 Contributor Contributor

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    In your opinion, how does he compare to Poe?
     
  4. A.M.P.

    A.M.P. People Buy My Books for the Bio Photo Contributor

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    Poe and Lovecraft had very different styles to incite fear/horror/unease.
    Poe was obsessed with eyes and the fear that stems within someone's mind.
    Lovecraft, as @minstrel says, was more about the supernatural, not as in paranormal, but what's possible beyond our limited comprehension.
     
  5. Gisella_M

    Gisella_M Member

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    No, he was a genre writer. His prose is often over wrought, but then that kinda goes with what he was writing. He must have been doing something right to have spawned such a legacy. I'd like to do something lovecraftian, but it is a million miles away from my style, maybe some cthulhu erotica...
     

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