H.P. Lovecraft: A Titan of Terror
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
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He shitposted himself into a job. Nice.
The God Emperor of Mankind absolutely heroic.
he shitposted, with style~
I read that with the TTS Emperor’s voice.
The emperor protects
The God Emperor of Mankind
Suffer not the alien to live
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" - H.P. Lovecraft
And that helped us to survive in primitive times 👍
Lovecraft seems to have been burdened with an overwhelming fear of mankind itself. Sad.
The greatest blessing to humankind is the inability to connect all the dots in the universe. - paraphrasing.
Thats why he hated blacks . for his fear was it true that he had black ancestry .
Indeed and rightly, so...
People who know nothing about Lovecraft: interesting
Lovecraft fans : *lol say his cats name*
His MOTHER'S cat. Who incidentally had a very common name for cats in those times.
Journalists: "J.K. Rowling is a transphobe"
J.K. Rowling Fans: "NOOOOOOOO! CANCEL HER"
Journalists: "H.P. Lovecraft was a racist."
H.P. Lovecraft Fans: "Yes. We've always known that."
@@musclestruts5032 And since our brains aren't made of gravel, we can see through that and appreciate his existence as a fellow human being and we can humbly accept he was a brilliant and imaginative horror writer. The man suffered his entire life. Let the dead rest in peace.
@@musclestruts5032 Is she even a "transphobe" though? Phobias are irrational fears and she's not scared of them. So... are we going by the new definitions where words don't mean what they actually mean?
If so, what did she do that was so hateful towards trans people?
Random Person bro is just a meme chill
I love how his friend came in clutch and kept his legacy alive
Not unlike Kafkas friend saving his work from destruction after his death
Robert e Howard
Howard died before lovecraft
@@Quietriot369Didn’t that actually depress him a great deal? He was already sick but then he got the news of Robert’s suicide; one can imagine the poor man hanging his head and covering his eyes with a shaky hand. He had his faults but god, the man needed a hug
@@TheCorrodedMan Robert E. Howard loved his mother dearly. On June 8th, 1936, his mother, who was ill with tuberculosis, slipped into a coma. Unable to bear the thought of losing her, and riddled with suicidal thoughts since a very young age, Howard took his own life on June 11th.
"The most merciful thing in the universe is man's inability to correlate all of it's contents. We live on an island of ignorance amid black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." H P Lovecraft.
He would have had many a good laugh over space exploration, had he lived that long.
@@cptnhknx7303 erm, we've hardly travelled that far. 50 years on from the moon landing and we're still fretting over going back, never mind the trip to Mars.
@@Useaname
yeh, i think that was his point
“I’m going to name my cat a racial slur.” H P Lovecraft
@@dasit1965 🤣🤣
Lovecraft always looks like he's hiding a bird in his mouth
🤣
He's waiting for his drugs to dissolve.
🤣
I feel like he might have scars from the mumps or something but that's just pure speculation.
They’ll never find my pigeons....
The combination of "you're grotesque!" and "never leave my side!" sounds like his mother had BPD
The mom got syphillis from his dad... Her Brain was probably damaged
Bpd is something that develops due to circumstance and experiences. Can confirm, I have it.
And, interestingly enough, children of BPD parents sometimes develop Schizoid Personality Disorder as a defense mechanism. During his life, Lovecraft had a lot of the symptoms of SPD.
you literally know 2 things she said and already propose a diagnosis. dare i say it might not be well educated.
@@pat-paterson Yeah
Imagine if he was around now to see how much he his work has inspired and influenced the world of horror, fiction, sci-fi and many more
Maybe he is . . .
@@ravenlord4* Vsaucemusic play* Vsauce Michael and is hp love craft controlling everything right now
Nah he'd probably die in shock at Nuclear technology and the internet
nah he'd be killed in all the blm stuff for the cat
Meh, the SJWs would cancel him.
11:30 "In summer 1926, a hideous creature rose out of the waters of the South Pacific...
...But enough about your mother, let's get back to Lovecraft."
This is the funniest commentary 🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Got em
Savage!
:pogchamp:
Summary: Sad boy gives everybody big spook.
Racist
This comment is gold 🤣
Me make talk like caveman, *points and grunts* you, listen.
Racist sad boy gives everybody a big spook
cher *honest.
HP Lovecraft was a man who needed a hug, some proper mental care and an invite to a cookout.
Exactly.
Racists don't deserve cookouts.
Nah, he only needed to change his cats name
Lovecraft probably would have really enjoyed a cookout.
Ok incel
Despite controversy, Lovecraft is and will always be a genre forming legend of Horror. Hell his work IS a genre.
Fun Fact: One of the pen pals Lovecraft regularly kept in touch with asked, in a letter, for the proper way to pronounce "Cthulhu". According to Lovecraft himself, the correct pronunciation is: ca-lul-loo, spoken in a low and guttural tone of voice.
Fun Fact #2: some might notice that Lovecraft's work has some archaisms, old words or old ways of spelling words. He did this intentionally; a sort of tribute to Edgar Allen Poe, who did the same thing in his work.
fun fact: I live in Kingsport, that was originally named Rossville after a prominent family until 1918 When George Eastman and a few men with railroad money came down. It then became Kingsport, allegedly after a Port owned by a man named King--although there is no sort of monument to this Port on a river. Also. Lovecraft names a city in one of his books Kingsport 4 years after the founding of this town. The only two places in the country named Kingsport- the Lovecraft mythos and east TN.
This guy is so interesting. I wonder if he ever had any animals like, a cat or what he would name his animals
@@fathercornelis9198 i named an egg Klansman
@@fathercornelis9198 dude are you serious, where did you hear that?
@@brandonhill4197 I'm serious dude google it
Sounds like he suffered from sleep paralysis, I've had the same "faceless visitors" unfortunately it's terrifying
It is really terrifying and hard to explain to someone who has not experienced it firsthand. Take care
Same here. Even worse when they have no faces, but sharp teeth.
gousmc1983 aye me too mate
i've had sleep paralysis, but only where i couldn't move, never saw anything scary. Can't even imagine what it's like.
My other half also suffers from them, he says it's like he's prisoner in his own body, unable to speak or move any part of his body. He says it feels like something is holding him down and making him unable to talk.
I remember how I first encountered Lovecraft's writing. It was in middle school, I skipped classes and met a few years older girl in the schools corridor, reading Call of Cthulhu. We started talking, she left for a bit, leaving the books, and I immediately started reading. Couldn't stop. I've read Lovecraft in Polish, English, and in French since then. I don't even like horror that much, but Lovecraft's works are something very special to me, they have been for over twenty years now. I never learned what her name was...
Asenath, perhaps...
@@discordian100Well she did have black hair and was rather short, so who knows. As long as it wasn't Keziah.
🤣🤣🤣@@tomasz9429
It's okay, we all have that person who left a lasting impression on us but we never got to know them better and never saw them again as well. It's a really sad feeling.
cat
Cat
Cat
cat
Meow
@@perfectogaming5240 you ruined it
The most ironic thing about Lovecraft's work is the themes of abandonment to an uncaring system/universe, and alienation that he was so good at due to his life. Those same feelings that fostered his most toxic beliefs are also what made him so accessible to those who are marginalized.
Lovecraft's work is work I greatly enjoy, I have deep empathy for the man so destroyed by his environment and own prejudices, and his legacy is one to be admired. The horror and aesthetic far outpacing the vitriol.
I think as a loner myself who was originally raised Christian but lost that faith since everything seemed to indicate that there was no caring god, that's part of what intrigues me about Lovecraft's deities. Humans and Earth are such a microscopically tiny thing in the grand scale of the universe, so if there theoretically were entities out there like Azathoth, I doubt they would bear any resemblance to both the image and minds of humans, and sure as hell wouldn't give us any more than a passing glance.
@Jake Songster Man, shut the hell up. Dude came here to state his appreciation for Lovecraft and you’re gonna deride him for it? Piss off, leave your politics elsewhere.
Life imitating Art yes.
It is strange to think that people today hate on him for his wrong views, but he was able to show what it's like in his head, and gain empathy from others. Latter in life he would get better, not by much, but progress is progress and I will always applaud a man willing to better himself. Those who cannot see the beauty and tragedy in that are either ignorant due to similar circumstances, or willingly ignorant to spin thier propaganda were it does not belong. One must be willing to accept each other sins and all, to hold one to absolute virtue denies thier humanity.
"omg race-ism wahhh wahhh" *can't do a single push up*
The first Lovecraft story I ever read was The Colour Out Of Space.
It was remarkable how he could conjure up an image of something that is genuinely undescribable.
I've been hooked on Lovecraft stories ever since.
Seven Proxies I read that recently it was pretty damn good
It was also the first story I read by Lovecraft. I fell in love with his worka after.
For me it was the Lurking Fear!
He based the story on Fitz O'Brian's "What Was It?" written in the late 19th Century.
If you can find it, it is truly creepy.
That's my favourite.
Very well done. While addressing his imperfections that was a great synopsis of his sad but creative life. One of so many artists who died never having found success, thinking he and his work would be forgotten. We really do owe a lot to August Derleth, he is the reason most of us know of Lovecraft.
His love of cats was another funny side note to him. He named all the strays Plymouth and made them part of a fictional club, Kappa Alpha Tau.
As a writer myself, I admit it is all but impossible to ignore the way Lovecraft has influenced not just horror, but fiction as a whole. While I deal primarily in fantasy, I often look to Lovecraft for inspiration on things that are monstrous, alien, and evil. It is almost certain that Lovecraft was deeply mentally ill, or at the very least, traumatized in ways he never knew, or dealt with. However, he left a legacy that continues to shape and influence the way almost anyone who works in fiction writes.
He was a complicated man, but a brilliant writer.
Cain Latrani I couldn’t agree with you more. Lovecraft was clearly way ahead of his time. His stories are so well written in the genres of Horror and Science Fiction that it’s hard to believe that he wrote them in the early 1900’s, 1920’s and up to the 1930’s. I think the average person during his time just didn’t have the immense imagination he had. His stories are dark, very complicated and compelling. He truly was an amazing writer that multiple people in pop-culture have been influenced by his work so many times over.
What have you written?
@@MonkeyDBatman Two books, with a third slated for re-release later this year after changing publishers. Wonder Land: Black Ice is a post industrial fantasy mystery set to AC/DC, and Bunnypocalypse: Dead Reckoning is a zombie apocalypse set exploration of mental trauma. The other one that will be back out later, War Witch: Rise, is a somewhat more classical fantasy novel the explores grief and emotional trauma.
Those aside, I do also have a collection of short stories, some good, others meh, called Oddballs that definitely features a couple of pieces with heavy Lovecraft inspired concepts and imagery. While most of my work has hints and nods to his work, a couple of the shorts in Oddballs are heavily inspired by him.
Thank you for asking. :D
You should read The Dream Cycle of Randolph Carter. I think Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from it.
Warhammer 40K, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Event Horizon, the list goes on...
It’s honestly a challenge to think of sci-fi and fantasy universes that don’t at least partially borrow from Lovecraft
And of course the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, which did a lot to popularise Lovecraft in the first place.
Well you forgot blood-borne sorry to love crowds work
Frank Herbert's Dune has done much the same thing
Bloodborne baby
D&D (mind Flayers)
One of my favorite authors to ever set pen to paper. His stories came to life in my teen years, I would read them often. I still remember flipping the pages of “at the mountains of madness” feverishly as I could imagine every scene. No one painted a horrific picture with words like Lovecraft.
The opening paragraph of " The Call of Cthulhu" hooked me. Absolute classic!!👻
Fun fact: Lovecraft also created the very first ever documented "Found Footage" horror, it was found in one of his unfinished projects.
@madchina hexubus Film has existed since the 1890s so that's just completely wrong. How do you think we have footage of WW1 if there were no film cameras in 1914?
@madchina hexubus Film cameras were first invented in 1888 so yes it was very much possible, idiot.
madchina hexubus nice one lol, I love blatant CZcams ignorance
@madchina hexubus Pro-tip: Search up something before calling someone an idiot over it if you're unsure, it might save you from being clowned.
That sounds awesome can I find it ?
My favourite Lovecraft quote comes from the Mountains of Madness: "After all, they were not evil things of their kind. They were the men of another age and another order of being [...] They had not been even savages-for what indeed had they done? [...] God, what intelligence and persistence! What a facing of the incredible, just as those carven kinsmen and forbears had faced things only a little less incredible! Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star spawn-whatever they had been, they were men!" About incomprehensible starfish creatures.
That was his mightiest step forward into universal understanding. Pity he didn't live long enough to carry that forward.
I just read At the Mountains of Madness, and I, too, was struck by his sympathy toward the starfish men. It seemed so unlike him to grasp that the Other could be Man.
With this biography I wish they included a short sentence about how obsessed he was with the Antarctic adventurers of the time. He lived through the era when it was impossible to travel there, when explorers first pushed their ships close enough to get on land, and when they finally got to fly over the frozen land. And then if he followed up Poe, it's like John Carpenter was the modern variant in movies, one of the extreme few of directors who ever managed to make good movies out of Lovecraft, like _In The Mouth of Madness,_ or ones clearly inspired, like the frozen alien awakening in Antarctica, _The Thing,_ often called his best work although, much like Lovecraft's stuff, was a failure on release.
_At the Mountains of Madness_ was the best thing Lovecraft did, and it took 5 years to get someone to publish it... jeez...
Wow, just got to the part where Ghostbusters was mentioned, and she was right, dang... the comedy facade has you miss the fact that the Ghostbusters story [what little there really is] is absolutely Lovecraftian to the fullest extent. It's almost like the writers were asking themselves: "what if we do a Lovecraftian horror but have the main characters too clueless and self-absorbed to actually feel the horror of it?"
Which reminds me of one of my favorite Bill Murray movies, _The Man Who Knew Too Little._ I can't figure out how that movie gets panned so much... anyway, it's Murray again doing the "too clueless to realize the situation", in this case, that he's _actually_ been mistaken for some James Bond-style super-spy. It's amazing the semi-plausible lengths they go through to keep it up (plausible for pure comedy anyway).
@@TransRoofKorean I loved that movie as a child
Without Lovecraft we probably wouldn’t have the masterpiece that is Bloodborne
One of the best games I ever played, “Eternal Darkness” for the Nintendo GameCube, was inspired by Lovecraft.
I hope you played bloodborne then
I used to run TTRPGs of CoC and still have most of the original gaming source material.
A legend. May have died penniless but his impact on culture is colossal. RIP from Providence.
Nice to see a fellow Rhode Islander that can appreciate his work.
Awesome Sauce Another one right here ✋
Love Lovecraft. Depressing to hear inferior intellects tearing him apart with
absurd anachronistic criticisms.
@@thomaszaccone3960 ignorance is bliss. They don’t care about the cultural impact he had. Racism are his legacy to them….
@@tobiasmogensenolesen5428 I generally agree, still must suck to be black and enjoy his works and then realize how he felt about them. I'd still read, but definitely would be sorta hurt.
Lovecraft was the product of severe social isolation. There are kids suffering from this today. And still today, there is no treatment. Being a loser is taboo. It is the ultimate horror.
I've been that weird socially awkward loner since 9th grade. Almost thirty now and I struggle immensely with conversation and even looking someone in the eye.
Downside of being a social species, we group together and collectively forget about outsiders.
@@JME2191 Let's be friends.
@@JME2191 Only you can overcome it. If you want to. There's help. But there's also no shame in it if that is the way you want to live.
I use to be very popular and I threw it all away when I realised that people are shyte. Society has a predetermined idea of what people should be and how they should act. They are conditioned by TV and pop media. I agree with lovecraft about how people act in NYC, they are pushy and rude , greedy arseholes , it's not about race it's just crass , ignorant, unrefined scum. But I can only speak for my self , but if he was really racist he wouldn't have married a Jewish girl. People love to label people , when they're all the same way and just wont admit it.
It's amazing how every aspect of his life explains the horror in his writings.
True
They say write what you know best.
In my opinion, he’s the greatest horror writer of all time.
He practically invented eldritch/Cosmic horror
@@gizmoatlas lovecraftian horror. His work became an adjective, that is the peak of success.
I agree. His name literally became a genre of writing
Stephen King thinks so...
I absolutely agree! I actually own his complete works. Well, at least the ones I could find.
He paid the prize for absolute greatness. Obscurity in his life time.
But posthumously immortality as well.
I don't really consider him great. Iconic yes, great no.
no, he chose to be a weirdo
Says the loser
And post humorous slander, where almost 2 million viewers watch his grave get pissed upon.
This is my favorite quote by him:
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”
I love this because it's most likely true. Are technology/science has gotten really far. We are about to send a satellite into space that will find exoplanets at a much rapid rate. We are constantly sending information into space about our location, and god only know what is going down in labs. Things are about to get weird. Not Lovecraft weird, but weird.
Reminds me of the story of the Tower of Babel. What man was able to accomplish because we all spoke the same language. Basically there was nothing to slow us down.
racism isnt born out of ignorance, it grows from knowledge....or something like that
I adore Lovecraft, and I love this kind of objective look at his life. The only book I own that I'd never give up is his collected works, and I have a second copy still wrapped in plastic for my son when he's old enough to appreciate it. You can -- and we all should -- reject his racism without throwing out the massive influence he had on the horror genre, and appreciating his talent at crafting really amazing stories.
Anyone who blames Lovecraft for his racism is an ignorant fool dog whistling for validation.
"American Literature's Titan of Terror." Love it!
HP Lovecraft is basically a 4Chan regular
Except even more autistic and depressed and scared of strangers
He was born in the wrong time I guess.
@@MLBlue30 without him there will be no 4chan regular
Peter T
- racist
- always making ridiculous stories
- Has a somewhat insane side of him
- Has a dad with syphilis and economical problems
- Has a pretty abusive mother
- depressing life
- Doesn't know how to do love
- Trolls people
Yeah he's kinda the definition of a 4chan regular
I thought the same thing! 😆
“Gloriously mustachioed Whipple Van Buren Phillips”
🧐 what a title.
Don't know if this guy was gloriously mustachioed, but he was just as gloriously named:. Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
"Father of Horror"? Nah. "Gloriously mustachioed Whipple van Buren Philips"? Yes please.
"The Whip" to his friends.
Being a member of the mongrel horde that he so despised I can say without reservation that I don't care at all that Lovecraft was racist. His unique contribution to humanity is one of my favorite things in life. I have read all of his stories and despite any literary or stylistic flaws I or anyone else can name I thoroughly love his works. He is a national treasure of the United States, and the fact that after a life of torment he never knew how important and influential his stories would be is a horrible tragedy.
He has an angular look himself. As does his mother who looks a tad dark skinned.
@@therespectedlex9794 racism is often used like homophobia - to draw attention from one’s self. Perhaps his mother was just “passing”
@@magicmyc2672 Yes, but denial can sometimes just be a random good (because bad) thing to deny.
And frankly, "mongrel horde" is just a fun term. You can tell yourself you're part of a famous band or something, "oh, you must have heard of us, we're _The Mongrel Horde._
@@TransRoofKorean Good crack, but actually no, you must surely know. 😁
the more we stare into the abyss, the more the abyss stares back at us
Thanks for this. I will always cherish the memory of discovering that old black hardcover book in my father's bookcase, cracking it open, and falling into a world so gorgeously horrible that I didn't come out until the book was done. 1970 and nobody I knew had read him, until I began to find references in underground comix. Distressingly a friend who writes role-playing games was recently forbidden from referencing Lovecraft because of his racism. Out goes the baby with the bathwater. I can't think how many classic writers hated women, but we read them all the same.
Necronominon.
Wagner was a racist too, a fact often ignored by fans. Its important to remember that Lovecraft was a product if the world he grew up and lived in. Sadly racism was (and still is sad to say) prevalent in American society. While his racism is really unfortunate but we need to remember that creators are human and have human failings.
@@shawnwales696”racism was prevalent in America?” You are naive. Racism is “prevalent” EVERYWHERE. It is normal. It’s not “bad” because it’s “racism,” it’s BAD because it’s prejudiced.
Simon, you are a heavenly man. I've been waiting for this for ages.
That moment when H.P. Lovecraft was the inspiration of one of the best games ever and made it one of the most creepiest, unsettling and disturbing games in the gaming industry.
8:13 he look like he's about to burst into tears
The first book I read was "In the mountains of madness", and I freaking love it. It felt terrifying, unique and left that impression so particular of cosmic horror
Same here
We were just in Providence recently on a road trip and swung by his grave and a museum they have for him. Troubled people are often some of the most creative.
starbtle that’s true
How is providence?
@@italian896 It's a neat city. I am a native of Rhode Island, and I always have a lot of fun when I go in. You will see homages to Lovecraft and Cthulhu everywhere, there is a store in the Arcade mall dedicated to him, plus a nice coffee shop across the way. And there are a lot of cool stuff that have nothing to do with Lovecraft, and it is an incredibly artsy town. There are museums, art galleries, the theatre scene is quite good, lots of street art. There's water fire in the summer, lots of awesome festivals, and in June there are crazy fun Pride celebrations. Though not this year obviously. And a building with a dude even scarier than Lovecraft.
@@sylviasammon-burns6021
There are those things in Providence,however,there's also a lot of bad neighborhoods also,gangs,drugs,homeless problems,just like every other city, Providence is a poor city,those who can move? They move .
Misery gave us the best writers, yet every one of them would trade their legacy for a peaceful life.
I read a few of his works several times and each time you can get a feel for how emotionally disturbed he was deep down. A man of little pretenses.
Didn’t know that “Dagon” was his opening salvo!¡!
Way to go H.P.?¿?
Aww! 5:56.
I've never seen a photo of Lovecraft smiling!
I never see anyone smiling in those old photographs!
My Top Five HPL stories:
1. Shadows over Innsmouth (Arguably his best writing, the scene of escaping the hotel is a great action sequence)
2. The Dunwich Horror (A Perversion of Birth of Christ in a way. Quintessential weird tale)
3. The Thing on Doorstep (Massively underrated. A fascinating body-swap tale)
4. The Call of Cthulhu (Essential Lovecraft. Actually written in a very modernist way)
5. The Color out of Space (Well, Stephen King's favorite HPL tale. Read it)
Honorable mentions: The Festival, The Dream in the Witch House, Rats in the Wall (Very Poe-ish)
What are yours?
1. The Statement of Randolph Carter (For a tale that conveys the terror of the unknown and the unseen, this one is hard to beat)
2. The Whisperer in the Darkness (The slow buildup in this tale and the revelation at the end is unforgettable)
3. The Hound (You can see the influences of Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles on Lovecraft in this early tale but it's still a memorable little story and it introduces the dreaded Necronomicon and a creature far more terrifying than Dr Doyle's hound ever was IMHO.)
4. The Call of Cthulhu The foundation of Yogsothery, In the same way the Hobbit was the foundation for Middle Earth. Both Tolkien and Lovecraft were Universe Builders in their own way in the 20th Century.)
5. A tie between The Color out of Space or The Shadows over Innsmouth (They're both must reads, Shadows is creepy and a classic and is enough to make you swear off of eating seafood at times, But The Color is unforgettable and epitomizes cosmic horror and was Lovecraft's own favorite out of all his books, Read them both already. LOL)
Honorable mentions The Temple, Herbert West Reanimator, (a fun twisted little read plus the very first zombie book ever)
The Outsider, (a tale for anyone who has ever felt different from everyone else around them.)
Nyarlathotep, (A tale that seems more and more relevant and prophetic to our day and age somehow concerning the influence of Lovecraft's malevolent shapeshifting trickster throughout the ages.)
Jim Tao Dagon is my favorite because it was the first one I read at my elementary school library and I was terrified by it because as a kid I thought it might be real. The way he writes in first person makes it like you’re reading a journal that someone found, I’d say equivalent to what lost tapes horror movies are like. I do love all of his stories but reading Dagon as a child greatly influenced my writing.
1. The Dunwich Horror - where it all comes together - the characterisation, the scene-setting, the occultism and breathless atmosphere, the way the action shifts from area to area in movie style and the final confrontation. The passage from the Necromomicon that Armitage reads over Wilbur's shoulder is the very essence of the whole 'cosmic horror' concept in a single paragraph and as a concept no one has ever written anything more genuinely terrifying.
2. At The Mountains of Madness - it's a massive, sprawling narrative that does take a while to get going, but when it does the payoff is incredible. The scenes where Lake's camp is discovered have been repeated a thousand times in a thousand movies, and the sense of slow descent into inexorable horror as the protagonists explore the city is overwhelming - as well as a damn good bit of alternate history and worldbuilding.
3. The Call Of Cthulhu - not just 'because', its also an excellent little group of stories bound into one, and Cthulhu himself is probably the best realised fictional monster since someone in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago looked at a lizard and thought 'What if one of those was really big and had, like, wings and stuff'?
4. The Shadow Over Innsmouth - great atmosphere, great background and the escape from the hotel is probably one of the most nail-biting action sequences ever written.
5. Between The Outsider, The Colour Out Of Space and The Temple, all for very different reasons...
Charles Dexter Ward is my favourite. Joseph Curwen and his essential saltes. Interesting film version as The Haunted palace with Vincent price.
Dunwich Horror. Taut, compact little tale with a giant invisible monster and lots of whippoorwills.
Dreams in the witchhouse. Cowboy builders and Brown jenkins. Bubble congeries. I love how it mixes higher mathematics, alien races and Salem era witchcraft.
Shadow over Innsmouth. Hilarious ending. Whole story dripped with seaweed and stank like rotting fish. Reminded me of Southport.
Dreamquest of unknown kadath. Like a guided meditation. A really beautiful surreal work. Could have come from one of the opium soaked romantics.It's been a while since I've read it but doesn't Pickman turn up at one point?
Mentioned in dispatches - Mountains of Madness, Thing on the door step, Pickman's Model, Color out of Space (big influence on Annihilation), Call of Cthulhu, the unnameable.
My favourite work from the Lovecraft mythos is the graphic novel/ comic book Providence by Alan Moore. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in HPL.
Hellstar Remina. Not a direct hpl story but he's such an obvious inspiration for Junji Ito that it's worth mentioning. Suffice it to say, Howard and all his mythos penpals would have loved it.
Absolutely loved that bio! I first encountered the name HP Lovecraft after seeing the cover art by Derek Riggs on Iron Maiden’s 1985 live album ‘ Live after Death’ which pictures the band's mascot, Eddie, rising from a grave. Engraved on his tombstone is a misquote from H. P. Lovecraft's ‘The Nameless City’:
"That is not dead which can eternal lie
Yet with strange aeons even death may die."
The original Lovecraft text reads
"That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die."
( From Wikipedia )
Then years later actually heard a compilation of stories on audio book inc Call of Cthulhu... amazing stories and even before you mentioned Stephen King, I thought this must have inspired...Stephen King! 😊👍
Blood borne is the reason I discovered HP lovecraft..
What an incredible fantasy...
I just can't unsee how Lovecraft looks uncannily similar to Mark Zuckerberg.
Both of them have created eldritch abominations after all, so yeah.
They're both lizards
Lol
Take a look at Michael Phelps side by side . . .
Lovecraft was anti semitic and would have taken offense with that comparison.
Put glasses on him and he's Woodrow Wilson as well.
"The Outsider", one of Lovecrafts shorts stories published in Weird Tales, sudently makes a whole lot more sense.
TheJOBeffect How? Did you read the story?
@@jackgooding5808 Of course I did. The story is about a character who has lived their whole life locked away from the outside world, only to escape one day and come across what they perceive to be a happy pleasent world. They then realize that their own hideousness (which they fail to recognize at first) causes others to fear and run from them. However they end up finding some sort of morbid peace in their ultimate isolation. While not identical to Lovecrafts life, the themes of the story and the emotions it invokes seem to fit his circumstances really well.
@@TheJOBeffect
It really is a reflection of his own life!
Hey man, I just want to let you know , your lexicon, delivery , and overall presentation are absolutely top notch, your content is absolutely engrossing and addicting. THANK you for what you do , you are an incredible orator.
Also, I want to express my thanks to those behind the scenes at Biographics, great material and writing. You all make Simon sound very good!
He and Robert E. Howard wrote each other enough that their combined letters fill two volumes called A Means to Freedom. Dry but fascinating read.
"The world is comical. But the real joke is on mankind." -H.P. Lovecraft
Thank you Simon, there's alot in this biopic that i didn't know. I'm a reluctant fan of Lovecraft, but will look into his writings again. Love the channel.
If you happen to be in Providence RI and are a fan of HP Lovecraft, head over to the oldest indoor shopping mall in America, the Arcade Providence (circa 1828). There you will discover Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council, a storefront gallery, visitor center, and weird emporium, offering a wide selection of new and used weird fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and topical nonfiction books.
Sonia Greene/Lovecraft must have had the patience of a saint.
probably...
There is so much i want to say about this man’s writing. He was my first truly favorite author and he opened my eyes to the world of the occult and the bizarre and wonderful world of aliens living right here on Earth. I really wish he could have seen what his writings had inspired. What I really enjoyed in his writing style was his exceptional, almost obsessive use of detailed descriptions. To this very day, I will always remember seeing “At the Mountains of Madness” play like a movie in my mind’s eye.
By the time he died most historians were just _so absolutely certain_ they had all of history figured out, human migration and civilization, etc. He would have a grand old time today with a lot of our discoveries that historians were wrong even about how long humans have been around, tens of thousands of years earlier in the Americas, finding 600,000 year old butchered rhinoceros in the Phillippines, that sorta thing. And it's starting to look like our universal stories of a global flood wiping humanity out probably have more basis in the actual past than in religious fiction and mythology.
Even if they weren't worshiping some evil elder dogs from beyond the cosmos, whoever the people of "Atlantis" were, even if it's silly to imagine they were more advanced than we are today, we've gotten to the point where it seems more likely than not it _was_ simple fact that relatively advanced cultures were wiped out by a global flood, specifically 10800 years ago, water rising hundreds of feet in a decade as a result of comets striking the ice-covered Nothern Hemisphere (Greenland one is discovered a few years back in particular). And ofc, what people never think of, humans build their cities on the waterfront, you raise water levels a couple hundred feet aaaand.....
Ah, Lovecraft would love that, that even humanity got wiped out in relatively recent history from a fairly advanced state, and it's all buried and lost to time.
"Lovecraft did exactly what any angry weirdo living alone with his mum would do. He totally trolled him."
The more things change, the more they stay the same. 🤣
You didn’t miss a beat, Simon...five minutes later.... nailed it 👏🙌
The weirdest part for me is someone thought Whipple was a expectable name for a human being.
It’s been a last name for centuries. Also there’s Mr Whipple who molests toilet paper lol. And the boy who always caught him squeezing the Charmin was a young Adam Savage from MythBusters lol
When you come from a rich family like that you get some pretentious first names
That is funny. Especially when you think of the doozies that Dickens came up with. Uriah Heep, Pickwick etc.
@@nateworthy530 Names come go in and out of fashion. For example, Lavinia was a popular name in the 19th century, but now, you rarely see it.
It’s a perfectly cromulent name.
🖤💀I liked this. A few people have come to me with brief questions as to why (as a black woman) I like Lovecraft, considering the racism thing (and I like that you got straight to it here), BUT you are right: we wouldn't have alot to work with in horror of it weren't for him, or people like him. Im in love with horror, both in literature and in film, and given how he's inspired the people I look up to today (Guillermo, Ito, etc.), I respect his work and work ethic regardless. He had such a disctinctly unsettling, painful life, and I oftentimes find myself relating to those dark places and feelings he kept falling into. As most of us do. Isolation is something I personally have a fear of.
Alot of his stories reflected his life, in a way, looking back.
I completely recall reading about how this man wasn't necessarily an open person, so I can understand why his narrow-minded thinking, hatred, and/or various biases might develop over time, especially when one is young.
It doesn't excuse it, but I do understand. Given the time period, this was normal, since everyone wasn't nearly as integrated as humans are today.
This is what ultimately makes me look past this a bit, well enough to find the good in his situation; i.e. his writing.
The way he gained this vast amount fame after death is probably the most ironic thing about his life as a whole.
Even if they were works of fiction, Ive always had an affinity for knowledge, or the ability to dig deeper into existential belief systems and philosophy. Reading stuff like his just made it alot of more exciting and thought-provoking, and i hope the art of cosmic horror doesn't die out too soon.
Wonderful video~🖤
Ravenna Lovecraft If I only appreciated art made by people I agree with, I’d be pretty bored. Socrates said that the people who read poetry understand it better than the poets themselves. As a reader we can get a deeper meaning out of a work than the author intended and not only that but multiple meanings. All of the great philosophers were probably either sexist, racist or both but that doesn’t mean we can’t push that wisdom forward and keep using it.
Everyone’s mind is like a neighborhood with good and bad people in it, we all have thoughts we wish we didn’t but we must nurture the good thoughts and suppress the evil thoughts. Sorry I’m babbling... I’ve had a cold all week and can’t sleep. I’m glad you’re able to enjoy Lovecraft though.
I might be too forgiving but it’s just my nature, I don’t think people have nearly as much control over their lives as most people think they do. People justify their decisions “I’m only doing this because of that” but truly it doesn’t matter how they justify it. The justification is an afterthought. They didn’t actually make the decision, they did what they always do because that’s who they are and that philosophy makes it easier for me to forgive because I don’t think people can help who and what they are.
Lovecraft may seem prejudiced or even racist on the surface, but as I'm sure you've noticed in his writings, all of the "ethnic" and "lower class" white peoples are the only ones who know what's really going on and try to warn these "scientific" and "sophisticated" white intruders who don't listen and always cause disasters with their meddling, perhaps there is a subtle message there. Lovecraft was also a product of his time where the wealthy upper class whites had a tendency to look down on everyone else and looked askance at anyone else's accomplishments. Remember, for example, that when Irish working peoples started arriving in any numbers, the New England Brahmins did not consider them "white". Ensconced in their exclusive neighborhoods, they could live as they'd always had and at least for the time being, ignore the changes taking place around them.
As America began a rapid industrialization, any workers with skills from anywhere were desperately needed. As an example, the Panama Canal was mostly built with physical labor from the "black" islands of the Caribbean. While the contributions of many peoples has been ignored, things are slowly changing as new information is published and forgotten histories are remembered.
Lovecraft was one of the great American writers of the 20th century and foreshadowed everything that was to follow and you can appreciate his works without agreeing with his politics, whatever may have been in his heart of hearts. Let's hope that he has found peace after so many troubles and perhaps he is smiling somewhere that we are still reading his stories.
@@josephwarra5043 also, it seems like lovecraft also realized how wrong he was about his racism and almost tried to erase his works that had to do with such slandering of minorities. he was talked out of it by the few authors that he befriended. in general he showed signs of change and i do think that deep down he may have been a good man and that he could have shown it, had he lived longer.
Can I just say this has to be one of my most favorite comment threads I've seen on here? So many individualistic intellectual thinkers. Lovecraft's socially acceptable although warped mindset has little impact on the writing created by his pain and imagination. Fantastic.
And the OP mentiontioned Junji Ito. 😁
He probably had little use for Italian Americans either. But it was a totally different world and he was a product of it. You have to judge historical characters by their times and locations.
Shaka was a military genius. Today some people would consider him a homicidal maniac.
Great work on this piece sir, just facts ....Thank You, love all your work!
Excellent video.
My introduction to H.P Lovecraft's writing was At the Mountains of Madness. I've since got through a good few of his other stories including The Call of Cthulhu, The Colour out of Space, and The Horror in the Museum.
Lovecraft's creative creature designs are unmistakable, conjuring up indescribable horrors that defy explanation and the loss of sanity in the process.
Marvellous writer and storyteller.
Thank you for addressing Lovecraft's positives instead of just boxing him into "racist/bigot." Too often have I seen the latter, and the comments filled with misunderstanding of a truly great artist.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being a racist
@@traditionalfascists3303 except that these individuals cultivate a society of distrust and judge others based on bloodline rather than merit or trait. If you're being sarcastic, I'm not defending Lovecraft's racism, only saying he was more than just this quality. Otherwise, I'll just give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your terrible position comes from a lack of interaction with individuals of other races.
Let me assure you, any notion you may have of "race" or "purebloodedness" is an illusion you've convinced yourself of in order to feel more secure in your narrowminded worldview.
ZemikianUchiha You’re right I just hate Black people because I’ve never met one. I bet I’m 25% black too because I’ve never taken the time or money to research my family history. And all those things you said are true because your totally not Marxist propagandist trained teacher can never be wrong. You got me
@BaaldEagle People also don't seem to understand that you can dislike a group of people in a broad sense, while still giving *individuals* the benefit of the doubt.
That's not racism, that's just being a normal human being. But in *CURRENT YEAR* that makes you Hitler incarnate I guess.
Macaroons the sequel racism when fascists use the term means preferring and protesting your own people. Not hating or exploiting other’s. Look at George Lincoln Rockwell who was allies with Malcolm X
One thing that wasn't mentioned in this video, was lovecraft's influence on role playing games as well as heavy metal.
I definitely agree with you. Lovecraft most certainly influenced Heavy Metal and ROll Playing Games. Metallica has at least 3 songs that I can think of that are heavily influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos. The Death Metal Band Obituary used a painting by Michael Whelan which is clearly influenced by the Cosmic Horror Gods the Old Ones and the many formless creatures found in Lovecraft’s stories. Sepultura and Evile and many other Heavy Metal Bands have been influenced by Lovecraft.
@@archangel5627 death metal bands LOVE chtulhu mythos :)
@@liltito1519 Yup they sure do!👍🏻🤘🏻
@@archangel5627 Metallica made 3 songs about Cthulhu specifically. "Call of Ktulu" (an instrumental, but still), "The Thing That Should Not Be," and "Dream No More"
Great point!!!
Bravo! Always heard about Lovecraft but never much. This video filled in a lot of blanks. Thanks!
Nice bio, Lovecraft is a huge inspiration to me, thank you for putting this up
The abyss called to him so he became it.
ljupce trninkov he’s in it now and for eternity, sadly.
Pretty sure hes writing so he good lol, away from everything
@@dougroberts9821 was he a satanist?
@@BigSi-xw6wv No, he just had depression.
@@fernandosolorzano2668 He’s no longer here. How can he be writing?
Need to do Elgar Allen Poe. His life was fascinating with his death surrounded in mystery.
I second this!
There's a theory that he died of rabies
Exactly how was his death surrounded by mystery? He died of intestinal cancer in 1937...or do you think that's just a cover and he actually finally completed his transformation and he now lives in the Atlantic off the coast of Providence?
@@wtrdawnlord He's talking about Poe, not Lovecraft.
@@MarkCactus59 HOMOPHOBE!
This is the best Lovecraft biography I've seen yet.
Might be my favorite video yet!!! Excellent job!!
“Boo”
-H.P. Lovecraft.
True Poetry, Pure Genius
That's too far
*Dies of fear*
"OHEMJEE GUY'S IT'S A CURVED SHAPE" - lovecraft probably idk
A A H H
I really enjoyed this. I've been reading Lovecraft's work since the 1970's. It was great to learn more about him. Thank you.
What do you think about his story's as far as movies?..i loved from beyond. .color out of space. .Re animator etc.
@OriginalYithian awesome ill check that out thanks 👍
One of my absolute favorite horror writers. He and Clive Barker satisfy almost all of my horror needs. He doesn't translate too well to the modern era, movies have removed the horror of his unknown amorphous horrors, but his atmosphere and the emotions of his characters are superb. Definite recommendation for anyone who wants something different. Especially Mountains of Madness and Call of Cthulu. Two great reads.
Lovecraft’s visage has always chilled me. The way his eyes pierce you in every photo.
The master of Cosmic Horror.
Is that mustache real?
now that is TRUE HORROR! @@dehydratedculture9126
@@rusalkin hahaha
The creator of Cosmic Horror*
Master? Wasn’t he the father, the sire, if the genera?
Edgar Allen Poe would be another excellent figure to do a Biographics episode of!
Yeeees
Awesome video, beautifully narrated
This was great. I really knew nothing about Lovecraft and I needed a quick primer home run!
This guy's life reminds me of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Lovecraft's damage and talent reminds me of Kafka if Kafka was really into E.A. Poe and monster myths.
Celephais has to be among the greatest Lovecraft works and easily among the most cinematic.
You should have mentioned the massive influence he has had in videogames like Bloodborne and Darkest Dungeon, that´s why I and many other ppl know him for
Thank you. I have been clinging to Poe for inspiration, but now I have another. Great video.
Now you must do a vid on his bestie pen-pal: Robert E. Howard.
Best timing as Conan is back on the Marvel scene as well, and doing amazing.
Wait where?
I was introduced to Lovecraft by a high school teacher way back in 1975. The book he recommended to me was Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath. I loved that book and went on to collect and read a bunch of Ballantine paperbacks including The Tomb and other tales, The Doom that Came to Sarnath and Other Stories, The Lurking Fear and Other Stories, At The Mountains of Madness etc... Over the years I've occasionally gone back and read Lovecraft and always enjoyed his stories but it wasn't until the internet that I actually knew anything about his life. Right now I'm reading The Complete Cthulu Mythos Tales and discovering all over again what a fine writer he was. From that book my favorites so far are The Color Out of Space, The Whisperer in the Dark, At The Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
I've been a long time fan of his work. Introduced to his work in the late 1960's I've read everything he's written.
I never thought I’d ever see a pic of Lovecraft smiling
Tbh I'm a very big mega fan of Lovecraft. Have been since highschool when I first read his work from a book that had a good number of his short stories. I now own a hard cover book of every piece he's made. That being said, this video actually taught me some really neat and insightful things. Awesome video, dude! :)
Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard created modern day fantasy and escapist literature genre.
@NASA F What?
I love both, two of the great ones.
after a couple days ago, having read the story Dagon, i just felt a magnet pulling me in to more about Lovecraft, and im just a casual gamer, i fish, cook, and barely touched books, but Lovecraft really pulled me in to something else, and i really appreciate that. might pick up a huge honkin book of his tales.
Dude awesome documentary my man ty
Very nice and honest review.
It's good to see an analysis on the character of Lovecraft himself that doesn't waste time stating his obvious racism every possible minute of the video.
His life was a pretty sad story, maybe that's why he managed to tap into such an obscure and new genre of literature.
Yeah that's why I love this presenter (Simon). 10/10 seriously. The previous video I watched on Lovecraft was by some chick who did nothing but nag on and on about muh racism without even attempting to understand a the man's circumstances or time.
Her absolute smugness was positively revolting, deliberately misconstruing a dead mans life for internet attention.
No one in the comments appeared to have learned anything besides the fact that he was racist in every story he ever wrote.
For me the saddest part was agreeing to leave her lover in order to survive with his aunts. The poverty he lived in and how many deaths impacted him like a stab on his chest.
Lovecraft´s racism really IS obvious when one reads his stories, but I doubt it has been much worse than the average white person´s racism during Lovecraft´s days.
Like to know time in human history when there was no racism a 100 years from now wonder how they will be judging us.
@@NKA23 I mean, it was. I love Lovecraft's works, but the man was an incredibly racist even for the time.
It's like your in my mind I was just checking earlier this week if you have a Lovecraft video
Yeah, we knew you were looking, so...
You're
Keep thinking people can read your mind and you'll end up like a character in one of Lovecraft's books.
Great video! Love it
I remember reading "Rats in the Walls" out loud to my young son. I believe I was more terrified by this story than he was. His mother, hearing that I was reading "scary stories" to the boy was quite put off and suggested I try some upbeat books especially written for early adolescents. She actually never heard these stories as I read them aloud, or all Hell would have broken loose in my home. But my adult son today loves a good horror story still!