This is...really nerdy. lol

I have loved the Cthulhu mythos since my early teens and as for me I didn't really notice any obvious racism in Lovecrafts books. I wasn't even aware that he was racist until much, much later, so I wasn't looking for any such thing when I first read the stories and just didn't read any such things into them. 

The main characters in his books are usually only caucatians (if indeed not exclusivly caucatians) and when anyone "of color" appears in his books they are usually just supporting characters and not fleshed out very much at all... If one reads the books looking for the racism one might very well find that the colored and jewish people he is describing might be quite sinister, but as for me I never thought of that as a statement about ALL such people, just the ones that happens to be in the story. To be fair, most of the caucatians he describes are a fairly unsavory lot as well, up to and including the protagonists. It is the Cthulhu mythos after all and unsavory characters is pretty much a staple of the franchise.

I could go on for quite a long time on this subject if I allowed mysef to do so, but the short of what I am trying to say I guess is this: No, you don't read Lovecraft to get your racist jollys on and as a fan of the stories I am acctually somewhat insulted by the suggestion. Just read the books before worrying about any goosstepping squid-fans out there, and do please try to keep the looking-for-racism goggles off while you are doing it.

what came to mind was my loathing for ea and my love of an old game called Dark Omen and Shadow of the Horned Rat.

I hate Tom Hanks when I see him in interviews, there was one in particular that he did shortly after Forrest Gump, and it left me with a bad impression of him as a person, but I do enjoy his work, lol.

We live in a different time. History is littered with incredible artists and prominent figures that did things which would be considered horrific or appaling by todays standards. From Da Vinci, to Ghandi, many historic figures held questionable beliefs or commited disturbing acts just as, if not more shocking than Lovecrafts.

It's not overly present in his stories, so it has no bearing on my enjoyment of them or my respect for him as a writer.

I'd read or heard somewhere that towards the end of his life, after his marriage to a liberal Jewish woman, Lovecraft essentially repented of his former views, and wound up voting for FDR!

At the Mountains of Madness is my personal Lovecraft favorite.  I have compilations, and reading one story after another... the formula begins to become predictable.  But Mountains has a great build-up, is well-paced, and definitely a good place to start.

Never read Lovecraft; does of the aforementioned racism come out in his writing? Some of the best artist are terrible (or very flawed) people. 

but yeah Raven Software were the people who made the game and they made an AWESOME game at that!! 

Anyways loved the game and that dev company!!!

I'ma huge fan of Jedi Knights 2 & 3 but I think they were both published by Activision.

That game is awesome, always got the best scores

Single Saber + Strong Stance jumping attack

-OR-

Force Pull with keybind backstab or jumping backstab

Tons of other tricks but don't have the time to post them all

Too bad it was from Activision who *cough* would pull something like corporate espionage and 'block' the public from that truth as much as possible.

As somebody who has read all of his works (save "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," which for some reason has escaped my attention) and many of his letters, I can assure you his works are far from racist. I would not worry about that.

I also feel I need to correct you a bit. He did not believe that other races were trash, but he did believe they were less evolved, which was a commonly held belief of the time, and an especially common belief of the 19th Century, which is where Lovecraft's sensibilities seem to have been stuck. The belief in lesser races leads him, as it lead many and is natural, to believe that evolutionary law requires us to leave the lesser races behind in order to advance, just as one would not carry a brick if you were running a marathon. He was not hateful, he just did not believe others were as advanced as his own race. It was, in fact, a very common belief, not just amongst authors, but of scientists, scholars, and academics. The entire purpose of Darwin's second book was to accentuate the idea that mankind's races are intermediate forms, and that text did not come out so long before Lovecraft began his career. The fact that he was outspoken on his opinion of it means little save that he had an opinion of how to best advance humanity as a whole.He was wrong, of course. I feel I should state that, in case you confuse a defense with an agreement. Lovecraft looked at the facts and the opinions of those above himself and reached a conclusion that mankind would be better off without having to drag around "lesser" races, much as his predecessors did. I think that if there existed "lesser" races, he would be correct. His opinion that we leave them off was only at fault because we now know and accept that we are all human, all equal, and all have something to contribute. 

Interesting blog! I am inclined to go with what SciFiCat Bravo said.  There should be no reason that you can't enjoy the works of someone that you personally find abhorrent.  I think if you are aware of a person's particular leaning and influences then you can read their work with an objective head.  

Also, it is worth reminding yourself that in the case of Lovecraft he was writing in a different time, when ideals were different to present day.  I think it becomes very problematic to start to censor works from a certain time because, political, social, economic, etc. beliefs and values differ from those of today. 

You show me greatness and enduring talent and ninety nine times out of a hundred I'll show you a dramatically "uneven" personality.

There is a pervasive liberality in America that inexorably condemns certain unsavory traits - particularly racism and sexism, lately - and while it's correct to educate against bigoted/antisocial ideas, I think that too much of our idealistic consciousness plays into the dark and private motivations of those who's works we admire.  The same broad stroke seems to be applied for those who might be relatively harmless ranting loons and those who are outright malevolent and destructive.

Whether someone dies alone and abandoned due to their societal transgressions or they live what they thought was a rich and full life, never truly having known freedom from their ignorant views, I believe the karmic punishment  tends to be proportional to the "crime" -- even if it's a hit to their legacy and reputation long after they're dead.

A less long-winded take:  You bring up a great point.  Enjoy the books, shrug and shake your head at the flawed persona and assume that anyone in the intellectual realm of Lovecraft fandom is as bright, open-minded and perplexed about the whole thing as you are.

Molyneaux :) haha

Lovecraft lived at a time when Western powers owned the rest of the world. Only after the disastrous World Wars did people begin to question the high tide of Western powers' time in the Sun. As for me, Poe and his cousin-marrying antic isn't the most endearing, but he did his job, right?

I learned long ago to separate the work of art form its creator.   No matter how disagreeably to the public are the beliefs of the author of the work, it is undeniable that these individuals have created elements that have become part of human heritage to a level that influences our lives and those of future generations for the better by enriching humanity's cultural legacy.  

The act of creation of works of art, be these literature, paintings, music, sculpture, movies, etc, that transcend beyond the life of its author is a achievement that cannot be under appreciated, regardless of how we might judge the author in retrospect.    

I've been reading through Lovecraft's books, and the racism is definitely in there. It's also more like Britishism. But, the stories more then make up for it, and well worth reading. Fair warning, they are very creepy and don't often have "happy" endings. Also, keep in mind the time period they were written in.

Other books I like that I disagree with the author's views are the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card and Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard, and the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among others. I don't have to like the author to like what they wrote. I avoid non-fiction by them, though.

Video game wise, there's none I can think of right now.

However, movie wise, I say Star Wars. I absolutely HATE George Lucas. Certainly a benefit for Star Wars Episode VII!

For authors, I really enjoyed the Ender's Game series, only to find out that Orson Scott Card had some rather...questionable opinions on certain communities throughout the world. I love the book so much, but upon hearing about the author's history, I began to feel discouraged in liking it.

For games, I love Gears of War, but Cliffy B always came off as an egotist who seemed to pride himself and his company on pushing games forward, despite other developers pushing it forward in different ways (like the indie community's method). He seemed like a "my way or the highway" guy. Despite my rather dislike of his character, I'm curious to see if he can quote-on-quote "fix" the Resident Evil series. Who knows? Maybe he can.