Alan Davey Vision Quest Request

[Jonathan Smith]

Mary, Thanks for that insight into HPL. I didn't know that he outgrew
his racist views. Now I will have to re-read him and reconsider my views.
Apparently  his biographer, L. Sprague de Camp mention that he tempered his
views later on.

There are, however, some terrible examples in his writing which *may* have
been written to deliberately shock, eg:

For evolved man — the apex of organic progress on the Earth — what branch of
> reflection is more fitting than that which occupies only his higher and
> exclusively human faculties? The primal savage or ape merely looks about his
> native forest to find a mate; the exalted Aryan should lift his eyes to
> the worlds of space and consider his relation to infinity!!!!


 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

2010/1/11 Mary Sullivan <maryann.sullivan1 at verizon.net>

> John Majka wrote, "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...."
>
> Wrote, "A sign of an intelligent person is one who can grow beyond their
> earlier work, and admit they were in err.  I respect a person that's honest
> enough to do that.
>
> Mary
>
> P.S.  I'd read in  a collection of Lovecraft stories that he died from
> Rickets?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List [mailto:BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET]
> On
> Behalf Of Steve Swann
> Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 3:10 PM
> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
> Subject: Re: Alan Davey Vision Quest Request
>
>
> Also, as someone else mentioned, he was a thinking person who in later life
> appears (based on his voluminous body of correspondence) to have
> reconsidered and recanted his earlier racist views...
>
> Steve
>
> On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 10:23 AM, Carl Edlund Anderson <cea at carlaz.com>
> wrote:
> > On 08 Jan 2010, at 07:24 , Mary Sullivan wrote:
> >> I agree Lovecraft wrote some fantastic
> >> stories, I also understand he had his  prejudices.
> >
> >
> > I wouldn't say that I _ignore_ the prejudices evidenced in the works
> > of people like Lovecraft and Howard, but I try to remember that they
> > are products of their time and culture -- which, despite the closeness
> > to my own, _isn't_ the same!  After all, I am accustomed to reading
> > works by much older authors, some of whom came from cultures in which
> > slavery was normal and human sacrifice not unknown (and heaven knows
> > whatever other everyday things for them would seem shocking to us),
> > and I need to see their works as products of a particular time and
> > place as well.  (It's easier with them, since there's more distance,
> > but really it's the same issue.)
> >
> > Heck, I wouldn't necessarily condone all the thing some of my favorite
> > musicians have done over the years -- but I'm listening to their
> > music, not issuing a general approval of everything they did or said
> > as an individual! :)
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Carl
> >
> > --
> > Carl Edlund Anderson
> > http://www.carlaz.com/
> >
>