To clarify, he was absolutely racist with really reactionary views. He wasn’t a Nazi.
I’m not defending him, but I also think it’s worth being clear about who was and wasn’t a Nazi when discussing those alive during the Nazi Party.
For anyone curious, this letter (sorry for linking that site on lemmy, best source i could find) has him discussing Hitler in 1933. It’s far more positive than I’d ever defend, but it’s also pretty clear he’s not a Nazi. He saw Nazism as the lesser of two evils compared to Bolshevism. I think that’s a fucking bad take, but I don’t think someone who says
“Still—don’t get my wrong. I’m not saying that Schön[e] Adolf is anything more than a lesser evil… When the Germans can get another leader, & emerge from the present period of arbitrary fanaticism, his usefulness will be over.”
is a Nazi. He was just a good ol’ New England reactionary racist.
This video essay also has some really great insight into discussing the reactionary nature of Lovecraft from a leftist standpoint while still recognizing his literary contributions.
One eery thing though is that in one of his books he described police placing “fish people” into concentration camps, this being right before the Holocaust.
Obviously racists will come up with similar end goals, and it’s not like concentration camps didn’t exist before, but it’s still feels like a bizarre coincidence.
Yeah, there is definitely an eeriness. The tone taken for the Deep Ones / fish people in The Shadow Over Innsmouth is really genocidal. The story was penned in 1930-31 though, so inspired by prior concentration camps
Do you know H.P. Lovecraft was a nazi? I was kindof devistated when I found out.
To clarify, he was absolutely racist with really reactionary views. He wasn’t a Nazi.
I’m not defending him, but I also think it’s worth being clear about who was and wasn’t a Nazi when discussing those alive during the Nazi Party.
For anyone curious, this letter (sorry for linking that site on lemmy, best source i could find) has him discussing Hitler in 1933. It’s far more positive than I’d ever defend, but it’s also pretty clear he’s not a Nazi. He saw Nazism as the lesser of two evils compared to Bolshevism. I think that’s a fucking bad take, but I don’t think someone who says
is a Nazi. He was just a good ol’ New England reactionary racist.
This video essay also has some really great insight into discussing the reactionary nature of Lovecraft from a leftist standpoint while still recognizing his literary contributions.
One eery thing though is that in one of his books he described police placing “fish people” into concentration camps, this being right before the Holocaust.
Obviously racists will come up with similar end goals, and it’s not like concentration camps didn’t exist before, but it’s still feels like a bizarre coincidence.
Yeah, there is definitely an eeriness. The tone taken for the Deep Ones / fish people in The Shadow Over Innsmouth is really genocidal. The story was penned in 1930-31 though, so inspired by prior concentration camps