Mikey_C:
Quote:Pretty good, to my mind. I'd take issue with "Those who love life do not read", but overall this a welcome contrast to the patronising crap we are used to from the purveyors of 'serious' opinion.
Yes, that quotation gave me pause, too, but it's just a glib gallicism, I think, and his meaning becomes clearer as one makes one's way through the essay. On the whole, though, I think that it is an excellent essay, and it demonstrates, as you mention, a far more profound grasp of Lovecraft's work than, say, "Lemony Snicket", Stephen King, or Peter Straub will ever possess.
I, too, have had a bellyful of the "patronising crap" that passes for critical remarks on Lovecraft. In this regard, I recall some famous author/idiot--was it Brian Aldiss?--who went on and on about how "funny" he found the tale "The Music of Erich Zann", how he and his mother would laugh together over the notion of the "deaf-mute" musician,
ad nauseam. If they had stopped laughing long enough actually to read the story, however, then perhaps they'd have noticed that there is no reference whatsoever to Zann's being deaf, merely mute. Nonetheless, this anecdote gives a further indication of the typical quality of well-known authors' commentary on Lovecraft.
JimRockhill2001:
Quote:everyone here will love his listing of William Hope Hodgson among those influenced by Lovecraft's work.
Are you serious?!?!? Thanks for starting my day with a good laugh!