Alan Davey Vision Quest Request

Fri Jan 8 12:01:30 EST 2010

John,

I'm not sure I'd agree with your term "hijacking".  Lovecraft had his mythos open to the world for them to play in, and indeed, there are items that are part of the Mythos that Lovecraft himself took from other writers.  Frank Belknap Long's Hounds of Tindalos, Ambrose Bierce's Hastur, August Derleth's Tcho-Tcho, etc.

I think Lovecraft would be pleased by how endemic his work has become.

Arin
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Arin Komins                                  
akomins at uchicago.edu
Assistant Director - Solutions Architecture
University of Chicago/NSIT/RP&A
1155 E. 60th St. #409, Chicago, IL 60637
tel: (773)834-4087
fax: (773)702-0559
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: -----Original Message-----
: From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List [mailto:BOC-
: L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET] On Behalf Of John Majka
: Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 10:52 AM
: To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
: Subject: Re: Alan Davey Vision Quest Request
: 
: No offense taken, Madame Quantum.  I'd agree that there are certain
: aspects
: to his writing which appear in multiple stories, but I'd also argue
: that
: this is due to the milieu in which he was writing.  These were stories
: published here and there (mainly in Weird Tales) over a period of
: years, and
: were never originally intended (or expected) to be read consecutively,
: so
: each story will tend to almost have a synopsis-like quality about it.
: If
: you notice his habitual mentioning of the gambrel-rooved New England
: homes,
: this would certainly be one characteristic, as he tries to set the
: atmosphere anew in each tale.  If he had lived long enough to collate
: his
: stories into a book, or even write a sequence of stories with the
: intention
: of putting them in book form, I suspect he would have done some editing
: and
: adjustment so there would be little or no restatement of ideas between
: them.
: It's remarkable how much Lovecraft has been ripped off without
: acknowledgement over the decades, such that his writing has simply
: become
: part of the cultural knowledge base.  There are instances like the
: hijacking
: of the word "Arkham" by the Batman people and so forth.
: John Majka
: 
: 
: 
: >John,
: I didn't mean to come off as negative about Lovecraft yesterday,
: especially
: since I'll read anything of his I can find.  When I stated Lovecraft
: became
: a parody of himself, what I meant was he could blatantly copy his own
: style
: in "The Unnamable."  I'm nearly positive that's the right story, it's
: when a
: skeptic and a character who's into the occult (Lovecraft, I think), are
: waiting for something to happen, and it does.  I'm glad his attitude
: evolved
: with respect to racism, and I believe if he'd lived longer he may have
: perceived the role of women in horror with a more enlightened
: perspective.
: It comes down to the Spirit Of The Age. You really help put things into
: perspective.
: 
: Cheers,
: 
: Mary
: 
: -----Original Message-----
: From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List [mailto:BOC-
: L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET] On
: Behalf Of John Majka
: Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 9:30 AM
: To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
: Subject: Re: Alan Davey Vision Quest Request
: 
: 
: Lovecraft is definitely a favorite of mine.  The course of his life
: shows
: the progress of a true humanitarian and scholar.  It is true that
: earlier
: on, Lovecraft could have been considered (along with 99% of Americans)
: to be
: 
: racist, but he dropped these views in later years and there are many
: letters
: 
: showing his regret that he could have ever been so callow or could have
: thought in such a way.  It's heartening that he evaluated himself and
: his
: views and remade himself.  Even the quality of the stories exists on an
: incline, getting ever better and more sophisticated.  It's a shame that
: cancer killed him at such a young age and that none of his writing was
: published in book form before his death.  He would surely have gone on
: to
: even greater achievements.  One can only speculate about the greatness
: of a
: Lovecraft novel....
: John Majka
: 
: > Re: Lord Dunsany. He was much lass dark and more literary than
: > Lovecraft, not to mention less openly zenophobic. Lovecraft wrote
: some
: > amazing stories however. Love the Cthuhlu Mythos idea. He was
: > extremely influential to the fanatasy/ horror genre.
: >
: > I have never managed to relate to the band...
: >
: > 2010/1/7 Mary Sullivan <maryann.sullivan1 at verizon.net>
: >
: >> I haven't heard a lot from the band, but found I liked what I heard.
: >> I remember a song "The Mountains Of Madness."  It took forever for
: me
: >> to get a
: >> copy of that story, I expected more.  The stories are well told,
: after a
: >> while Lovecraft became a parody of himself.  I liked the influence
: of
: >> Lord
: >> Dunsany.  I haven't read anything by him, but I can tell which
: stories
: >> were
: >> influenced by him, they're a totally different style, more dreamy.
: >>
: >> Mary
: >>
: >> -----Original Message-----
: >> From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List
: >> [mailto:BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET]
: >> On
: >> Behalf Of Paul Mather
: >> Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 9:43 AM
: >> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
: >> Subject: Re: Alan Davey Vision Quest Request
: >>
: >>
: >> On Jan 7, 2010, at 9:01 AM, Chris Allen wrote:
: >>
: >> > Mind you, I've a wee soft spot for HP Lovecraft the band, too.
: >> > Maybe I shouldn't admit that openly...
: >>
: >> Why not?  Their 1968 live album is really good.  There, I said it.
: >>
: >> Cheers,
: >>
: >> Paul.
: >>
: >