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dethb0y t1_j6kcw82 wrote

Reply to comment by DevinB333 in The letters of T. S. Eliot to Emily Hale that were kept sealed from 1956 to 2020 have been released for free online by RunDNA

You should see the entire field of study dedicated to H. P. Lovecraft's letters. Of course, that motherfucker wrote more letters in his life than most people ever dream possible, so it kind of makes sense.

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Based_nobody t1_j6kov3p wrote

Any of them good? (good in this sense meaning applicable to literary theory, writing, etc?)

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ASilver76 t1_j6kpkkj wrote

It depends entirely on how much you like reading about things like xenophobia, bigotry, and antisemitism. And classism. Never forget classism.

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CVfxReddit t1_j6l33bo wrote

There’s one he wrote near the end of his life where he realizes how fucked up his thinking was and started to sound very left wing. Then died a couple weeks after

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Tat25Guy t1_j6kxlsu wrote

Yeah he hated everyone who wasn't a wealthy white educated Christian city dwelling New Englander of British descent

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lordpan t1_j6l1jra wrote

He was about as racist as a New Englander at the time (very racist).

I heard he repudiated some of his racist beliefs towards the end of his life but I could never find a source for this.

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arvidsem t1_j6l7q6a wrote

Be fair, he was way more racist than a normal New Englander. To be clear, the average New Englander was pretty damn racist, but H. P. Lovecraft would have placed first in the racism Olympics, but he refused to compete on the grounds that lesser people would be there.

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lordpan t1_j6ldcqc wrote

In what way was he more racist? Like, was he a KKK member during its New England revival in the 1920's?

I'd honestly be interested to hear. I wonder if it's more that his racist views are more accessible to us than the idle thoughts of a random New Englander.

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arvidsem t1_j6o94ti wrote

No, he was pretty damn racist even for living when and where he did.

There is a pretty good run down here. Skip the first half and start at "Response to those who say Lovecraft merely reflected the racism and hatred of his times"

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beldaran1224 t1_j6ldqqw wrote

Lovecraft was considered racist by the people of his time.

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Mcbrainotron t1_j6l6dh9 wrote

Where do fish people figure into all this?

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DFreestyle t1_j6l9lxu wrote

Fear of misceganation, and the past or future corruption of your bloodline.

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Gnochi t1_j6l9ibf wrote

Thalassophobia. Plus racism.

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lolexecs t1_j6kz7y3 wrote

At it’s root, it seems quite a lot of it is classism.

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SAT0725 t1_j6mzjzi wrote

> wrote more letters in his life than most people ever dream possible

Writing letters back then was essentially like writing online comments. I'd bet the average person writes way more "correspondence" today than in the 1920s if you count messages online and texts, etc.

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