Lovecraft said a lot of pretty nasty things when he was young, though, for the record, his attitudes weren’t much different from the prevailing views where he lived. If you look at his later correspondence, he seems have changed a lot of his opinions and expressed regret for things he had said while he was younger. Despite his comments, he married a Jewish woman and expressed distaste for the way black people were treated in the South. He died at the age of 47, so we don’t know where he would have ended up.
I know I would hate to be remembered only for what I said when I was a young loud-mouth. Just sayin’.
But, we have to judge according to ‘what is’, rather than ‘what if’. Though he married a Jewish woman, I notice in the quote that he specifies the ‘more Asiatic type of puffy rat-faced Jew’. So, I guess he’s saying that his wife was of a different variety and therefore acceptable. Isn’t it interesting the way people bend over backwards to justify their bigotry? Some people are saying there should be preference made to allowing in Syrian Christian refugees, instead of Muslims. Kurt Vonnegut summed it up: So it goes…
I’m uncomfortable erasing someone because of things they said and thought but did not act of them or was even forced to confront them in their life time.
There was a time growing up in the Midwest I held some fairly stupid views that were wiped away when I went to college and met people who did not fit with the propaganda I had been fed my whole life.
Lovecraft had some ignorant views in a time of vast ignorance but he never acted in malice and seems to have changed his views (somewhat) over time to adapt to a wider world view.
Taking a person’s name/likeness off the World Fantasy Award is in no wise the same as erasing that person. H.P. Lovecraft is probably more famous now than he was in his lifetime, and that will continue to be the case.
I agree with Jonathan. There may not be a Roald Dahl award because of his anti-Semitic views, but his children’s books are still good and deserve reading. Whose name is now on the World Fantasy Award, by the way?
The same things can be said of H. L. Mencken another great American author. The art must be separate from the artist. Otherwise if we have to vet authors by political correctness this would then result in a very thin American library.
Lovecraft said a lot of pretty nasty things when he was young, though, for the record, his attitudes weren’t much different from the prevailing views where he lived. If you look at his later correspondence, he seems have changed a lot of his opinions and expressed regret for things he had said while he was younger. Despite his comments, he married a Jewish woman and expressed distaste for the way black people were treated in the South. He died at the age of 47, so we don’t know where he would have ended up.
I know I would hate to be remembered only for what I said when I was a young loud-mouth. Just sayin’.
But, we have to judge according to ‘what is’, rather than ‘what if’. Though he married a Jewish woman, I notice in the quote that he specifies the ‘more Asiatic type of puffy rat-faced Jew’. So, I guess he’s saying that his wife was of a different variety and therefore acceptable. Isn’t it interesting the way people bend over backwards to justify their bigotry? Some people are saying there should be preference made to allowing in Syrian Christian refugees, instead of Muslims. Kurt Vonnegut summed it up: So it goes…
Paul Cooper, the argument is very simple: If World Fantasy Awards hope to be inclusive, they mustn’t be sculpted in the image of a genocidal racist.
Much of Lovecraft’s work is awesome, and has influenced writers the world over. Let’s celebrate that on its own merits.
I’m uncomfortable erasing someone because of things they said and thought but did not act of them or was even forced to confront them in their life time.
There was a time growing up in the Midwest I held some fairly stupid views that were wiped away when I went to college and met people who did not fit with the propaganda I had been fed my whole life.
Lovecraft had some ignorant views in a time of vast ignorance but he never acted in malice and seems to have changed his views (somewhat) over time to adapt to a wider world view.
Taking a person’s name/likeness off the World Fantasy Award is in no wise the same as erasing that person. H.P. Lovecraft is probably more famous now than he was in his lifetime, and that will continue to be the case.
I agree with Jonathan. There may not be a Roald Dahl award because of his anti-Semitic views, but his children’s books are still good and deserve reading. Whose name is now on the World Fantasy Award, by the way?
The same things can be said of H. L. Mencken another great American author. The art must be separate from the artist. Otherwise if we have to vet authors by political correctness this would then result in a very thin American library.