On Lovecraft and Racism

Written by Niels

Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Introduction

"The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."

Perhaps not only was Lovecraft speaking of anything metaphysical but also the reasons why a person tends to accept a certain belief. This statement could likewise be utilized when speaking of Lovecraft himself, we don’t really know why he had such a strong tendency towards anti-Semitism. Some of us believe he had a deeper understanding of the darker aspects of life and metaphysics e.g. Sumerian beliefs. His racism might be founded on such incomprehensible convictions as he gave an individual named Abdul Alhazred high credit based on a book called 1001 Arabian nights, on the other hand this person was nevertheless the Mad Arab. What is it that made Lovecraft accept the idea of certain cultures being lesser than his own. Something which will be discussed within this short treatise on Lovecraft’s perceptions of other cultures and such. I have attempted to be as neutral as possible which was easy since my position towards Lovecraft is likewise neutral. I hope some aspects might be clarified by writing this article, if not, leastwise it should give a sufficient representation of Lovecraft and his conceptions of racism.

1. On the theory of Social Darwinism and racism in the 19th and the 20th century

It is difficult to believe someone as gifted and intelligent as the fantasy, horror and science fiction writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft (08/20/1988 – 03/15/1937) would submit himself to racist tendencies as his writings signify. To truly understand Lovecraft’s idea of other races and social evolution is to view the aspects of racism in the 19th century. It is therefore of importance I shall first represent a concise description of the concept of racism and racism in the 19th century.

Racism is the idea of a dissimilarity in hierarchy between a variety of races. Throughout history people who have appeared to be “different” towards certain others and have apparent lacking capacities or less technology often have been considered inferior on the social ladder. The conviction of the idea of this inadequacy is what we call racism. It is rather difficult to state if such a philosophy is ethical for there are indeed people who have lacking capacities as it have been proven that some human races are genuinely less intelligent. Also we should regard physical and psychical handicaps. In accordance to the theory of racism which since the 20th century has been generally known as Social Darwinism these lacking individuals should be eliminated to sustain a superior race. Unfortunately by destroying such individuals we would only (which is my personal opinion) degrade ourselves to a lower level and make ourselves less worthy to be called human. Flawed states of a human body often would be compensated by a great mind. Let us not forget people as e.g. Stephen Hawking who have delivered a tremendous contribution towards science. Therefore we could conclude that Social Darwinism was merely a fragile excuse for whatever unethical procedure is desired to be carried out by higher placed individuals as delivering the proper assistance towards these individuals would lead to a great society then destroying them.

Hitler’s Anti-Semitism was perhaps created by a psychological hatred towards the Jewish race. Because of his hatred for people of lesser intelligence or for those who did not have the adequate abilities to do sufficient research these theories could be very convincing. This brings us to the subject which is here to be discussed; Lovecraft’s Racism. The question is not whether Lovecraft was a racist. But if this racism is conducted out of a logical conclusion founded on the perceptions of higher placed individuals (government) in the 19th century or individual hatred as we know racism in 21th century.

It is important to know that the American scientist Franz Boas also called “Father of American Anthropology” developed a critique on Social Evolution. He came up with the substantial theory (similar to what I stated earlier) that specific ideas and interpretations should be examined in a cultural context which varies from location to location as the cultural context changes trough history. By examining each particular culture one could detect certain flaws within each culture towards the other. Therefore and by the former arguments the theory of Social Evolution can easily be refuted even in the 19th century.

2. Proof that Lovecraft was a racist by the given definition

As I stated earlier it is evident that Lovecraft genuinely had leastwise racist tendencies. At any rate to support this statement it is necessary to give a required amount of arguments.

First we have one of his rather famous stories: ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ which threats a short paragraph on the description of black individuals.

“…the prisoners all proved to be men of a very low, mixed-blooded, and mentally aberrant type. Most were seamen, and a sprinkling of negroes and mulattos, largely West Indians or Brava Portuguese from the Cape Verde Islands, gave a colouring of voodooism to the heterogeneous cult. But before many questions were asked it became manifest that something far deeper and older than negro fetishism was involved. Degraded and ignorant as they were, the creatures held with suprising consistency to the central idea of their loathsome faith.”

This particular paragraph does not have any direct evidence of Lovecraft’s hatred towards such races as these specific men could be coincidently West Indian. Except for when we look at a statement demoting to the political turmoil for independence from Great Britain: "The more one thinks about India, the more one wants to vomit!" The objection for this argument could be that even this could be merely an accident. Hence we will view other of his writings which definitely signify racism which proves this isn’t a coincidence. The most apparent evidence of racial discrimination is his poem called, ‘On the Creation of Niggers’

When, long ago, the gods created Earth; In Jove's fair image Man was shaped at birth. The beasts for lesser parts were designed; Yet were too remote from humankind. To fill the gap, and join the rest of Man, Th'Olympian host conceiv'd a clever plan. A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure, Filled it with vice, and called the thing a Nigger.

It is highly evident that Lovecraft considered dark-skinned people to be less significant on the social hierarchy judging by his “graceful” ways of expressing it by calling such people beasts and semi-human. The evidence that this expression of disrespect is truly intended as an insult is by his use of the word ‘nigger’ which is pejorative term generally used by anti-Semites who do not necessarily support the theory of Social Evolution but have a certain disrepute for such people based on solely hatred. The only antithesis for this argument is the idea Lovecraft believed this word could also be used to signify the a black individual with lacking capabilities as exhibited by Social Darwinism. However this is doubtful. Lovecraft was highly literate and it appears to me he would never use such a word within any form of literature even though as S. T. Joshi stated that the word ‘nigger’ at that time was not regarded to be offensive. Nevertheless it would be an eccentric twist in Lovecraft’s vocabulary. It can likewise be refuted looking at one of his letters written in 1915 “the only non-Saxons were niggers... who consequently know their place... so have I hated the presence of a Jew... the Oriental mind is but ill adapted to mingle with the Aryan mind... the one supreme race is the Teuton... The Welsh, who have no Teutonic blood, are of little account.”

Additionally, more of Lovecraft’s obvious racism and hostility towards Dark-coloured people and Jews can be found in the following documents which the above given arguments could be utilized:New England FallenThe Rats in the Walls.Cool AirThe Horror at Red HookThe Case of Charles Dexter WardThe Shadow Over InnsmouthPlenty other stories, quite some of his letters and statements have evident racism in them.

3. Conclusion on Lovecraft being a genuine racist founded on certain principles

One could only question how far Lovecraft’s racism goes. Even though he makes such statements we should keep in mind he still married Sonia Greene, who was of Ukrainian Jewish ancestry. Racist remarks do not necessarily signify practical racism. As Lovecraft might have a certain form of disrespect towards certain cultures, within the 19th and 20th century racism remains a conventional idea which was perhaps accepted by Lovecraft because of A. inadequate research in the area of racial affairs or B. obstinate ignorance.

The thought that Lovecraft’s ideas where mainly founded upon hatred rather than logical conclusions while having certain knowledge of e.g. anthropology and such affairs would make him as a person hypocritical to a certain extent as he believed that “no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about.” Bearing in mind this statement was indeed genuine we could recognize that he indeed had a good reason for his hostility towards other races which perhaps was supported by the idea that he regarded culture as a result of inheritance. At the end of his life Lovecraft partially deserted his ideas of racism though he remained with the belief that different cultures should remain separated to avoid the amalgamation of cultural identities.

To answer the following question, was Howard Philips Lovecraft a racist I would taking the given argument into deliberation answer: yes! Was his idea of superiority towards other races justified remains the true question and appears to be impossible to answer which would be biased by our individual interpretations on Lovecraft. We could state that in accordance to his believes, concerning that other cultures perhaps had actually limited capacities, they were genuinely defensible. However his believes were wrong as one requirement would without doubt be compensated by the more advanced development of another aptitude. Finally we can declare, if Lovecraft wasn’t a hypocrite it would be wrong to say his racism was completely unethical and unjustifiable but merely based on erroneous conclusions.

At any rate, I leave most of the questions for the reader to answer by himself by the arguments I have specified. We can not ask Lovecraft what he truly meant by what he said, we can only accept or deny what has been given to us.

Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit
There has not been any great talent without an element of madness.
-Seneca

Discuss (1 posts)

jlv61560

On Lovecraft and Racism
Mar 11 2010 05:29:56

This thread discusses the Content article: On Lovecraft and Racism

It seems that the author's premise was that HPL was a racist in his own right. I believe that HPL's racism was more a function of his acculturation in 1920's white, Anglo-Saxon protestantism; a cultural "norm," if you will, for his time and place, and not necessarily a personally held item of philosophy.

Then too, HPL was attempting to write and publish in "pulp" magazine system that was one of the organs perpetuating those racial (and sexual) stereotypes of the time. Even had he held significantly different personal beliefs, he probably would have had to write things like the quotes selected by the author, simply in order to be published at the time.

While I don't disagree that HPL was a "racist" by our current definition of the word; by the norms of his time, he was merely expressing the cultural values of his society. To pillory him for that seems a trifle unfair given his inability to defend himself from what is, after all, a somewhat gratuitous critique.

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