Mr Somewhere said:
U235 Is The Bomb said:
Vandenberg1 said:
H.P.Lovecraft... How many of you actuallyyy read it instead of just looking at fanfiction stuff?
The problem I've always had with Lovecraft, and all horror for that matter, is that I am not scared by anything that I read or watch. So, reading Lovecraft, I found myself reading on only for the sake of reading on. I mean, the first half of At The Mountains Of Madness was a Arctic explorer going crazy by
staring at rock formations. Although Lovecraft is in no way a
bad writer, I just never found it terribly interesting.
But that isn't the purpose of horror, nor did the genre start with such a title either. It was Gothic fiction, characterised by a gloomy atmosphere. It wasn't the direct intention to frighten the reader beyond belief, but to unsettle, the scares are part of the work, it doesn't rely entirely on it, or at least a good work shouldn't. Horror or Gothic fiction delivers a different, morose outlook on the world, the fear adds to the oppressive atmosphere. Horror works the same level as science fiction, it's an examination of life through an impossible angle. It takes life, throws it into a nightmare and investigates the results of our darker natures.
You are absolutely right about the genre of Lovecraftian stories. They aren't specifically horrors, but they do have a horror-like edge that is critical to the novel. In fact, Lovecraft almost
introduced the concept of 'weird fiction': a mix of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. However, since I care very little for the horror elements of his work, I found the whole book a little tiresome; the fact that the book relied heavily on the reader's own interest in mythical, god-like creatures whilst remaining somewhat vague about them in all aspects but appearance (which he takes several paragraphs to describe) meant that I was often left very uninterested in both the characters and the plot.
And I also understand that most of Lovecraft's work was based on his own fears and nightmares, which he recreated in his stories in the form of beast-like monsters and the insanities of his characters. I did find his imagery in his works very clever, and the creatures he imagines and describes are genuinely intresting. However, since I don't share his interest in nightmarish creations, I was just
bored whilst reading through his stories. I found the suspense dragging, and the way his characters often go spontaneously fruitloopy bat-guano little bit silly. Which was a bit of a pity, as most people who I talk to who have read Lovecraft have told me that they had found his stories very interesting and chilling. Well, maybe I'm just boring.
