Re: The obscurity of Smith
Posted by:
jdworth (IP Logged)
Date: 26 October, 2012 10:39AM
Knygatin Wrote:
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> But Lovecraft's work was not dominated by Martin
> or Goya. They were only two of many early
> influences. Lovecraft was a giant, an original
> genius, in his own right. His work is not about
> Martin's visions, he is way beyond that.
It isn't about domination of the material, it is about suggestiveness, and Martin's work, for instance, conjures up suggestions of the starker biblical stories, involving the wrath of God, extreme distortions of natural forces, and the like... all of which strike resonant chords with HPL's work, and in fact which he played on for many of his impressions. Lovecraft was constantly striving to get away from overly-explicit material and attain a more suggestive approach, something which would thus call to mind a host of such associations, which in turn aroused a multitude of complex emotional impressions. The work of each of the artists chosen does this admirably and, as I noted, I think each was rather particulaly fitting to the individual volumes whose covers they graced. While not literally tied to Lovecraft's tales within, they were very much in the mode of, and intensely symbolic of, the contents.
> Furthermore, to use motifs from the Bible on the
> cover of a Lovecraft book, I am sure he would have
> strongly disapproved of.
Again, I would have to disagree with you. Lovecraft had a high regard for the King James Bible as literature, however much he despised the religion; the language of the KJV was in fact a major influence on his own style, and not only in the "Dunsanian" pieces. He uses Biblical references in his work quite a lot, from the passage from Job used in Ward, to those I noted before, to the tongues of fire from the Pentecost in "The Colour Out of Space" to the use of "the Philistine legend" of Dagon in the story of that title (as well as its reference later in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"). There are quite a few other examples. Lovecraft played on the biblical associations because he was well aware of the deeply-rooted history the Bible has with the history of horror (cf. his comments on the relationship between "the religious impulse" and that of the tale of horror in Supernatural Horror in Literature), not to mention the importance of the Bible in the history of New England and its beliefs, folklore, and traditions. While he may or may not have approved of a particular image, I think it quite likely he would have recognized and appreciated the appropriateness of the symbolism, considering how often he used just this sort of thing himself.
Also, keep in mind that the Martin is not, in this case, of any actual Biblical scene; it is, however, strongly tied to those terrifying apocalyptic visions which he based on the Bible, and resonates with all those associations... much as Lovecraft's work tends to do. HPL plays on a number of things of course, including the classical Graeco-Roman mythologies as well; but these would be a bit too specific to particular Biblical tales and thus lack that broader suggestiveness allowed by the chosen painting by Martin. Martin's illustration derives the benefit of those associations without being so intimately linked to anything directly related to the Bible, and thus allows for a host of such associations to be called up; precisely the effect HPL so often sought to achieve (and did, in his best work).