Lovecraft being a racist is actually old news. People who have studied his life, and writings, as well as his correspondence with R.E. Howard are well aware of it. HOWEVER, he was also aware of it, and as his life went on, he tried to correct it. He grew up with his very racist aunts (he was raised by his mother, who was rarely around, and his two aunts) and when he married, and moved to New York, he was surrounded by many races, but in a time when race relations were quite bad in New York (actually, thats called tuesday in New York) and like many people who wish to pass blame, he blamed his failed relationship with his wife on race, and returned to his aunts in New England even more racist than before. However, as he would write to fellow writer R.E. Howard, on the subjects of civilization and politics, and race in general, he began to see (as he states in many letters) his views on race to be just as bad, and worse, in fact, than his views on his treatment in New York, and at that point, as he reached his conclusions, he did start to try to correct his views. Before his death, in 1937, he started seeing race being used as a political tool by the nationalist, and fascist movements in both Europe, and the US, and he spoke out against it in letters on numerous occasions. So, we can hate the man because he was a racist, or we can admire the man because, unlike so many, he saw his own attitudes towards race as wrong. Personally, I dont believe in punishing a person who sees the error of his ways, as that only leads to others using that as an excuse to deny they have done any wrong at all. Did he write racist poems, and racist stories in his early writing? Yes. Did he in his later writings? Not intentionally. Do we punish a person, and call them a thief, because as a child they stole cookies? (well, some people do, I suppose... but those are the people who want to make issues to promote themselves)
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 16:00:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015