Not Loving Lovecraft
Nnedi Okorafor has a very interesting post regarding the statuette of her recent World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for Who Fears Death.The statuette is a bust of H.P. Lovecraft. Sound okay to you? Well, it's not so cut and dry if you're an African American. (Or if you're sensitive to the legacy of racism.)
Wonder what I'm talking about? Let Nnedi - with some help from China Mieville - explain.
Labels: Award Stuff, Other Authors, That Old Race Thing Again
posted by David Anthony Durham at
6:45 AM
4 Comments:
From what I've heard, Lovecraft hits the double whammy of racism and misogyny. Though I've only read At the Mountains of Madness, which happens to be rather lacking in human characters. Apparently it's easier to avoid prejudicial statements in the vast antarctic wastes.
That's what I've heard...
Very interesting. I did not realize he was such a jerk of a human being. I have read a couple of his pieces, and honestly I loved them. I now too wonder if it is okay to feel disgusted with the author, but love his work (save for the racist crap of course). Maybe they should change the bust from "The Howard" to "The Cthulhu".
There are a few authors I really admire that I don't think I'd personally like. I wouldn't say they "disgust" me, but I definitely object to their worldview and politics. That seems important, but then again if their fiction speaks to me... well, that's important, too.
Lovecraft is a more extreme matter, of course.
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