Lovecraft's bigotry: the secret of his skill at capturing horror and revulsion?

[Jake W]

I've come back to this after mulling it over for a while.
It's been said that we should cut racists from HPL's era some slack as bigotry was rife at the time, but I've decided that this just doesn't cut it for me. There were plenty of people at the time opposing racism and you can see this with, for example, the controversy around Fu Manchu. A little earlier than HPL, Sax Rohmer received a lot of flack from his characterisation of the "Yellow Peril" villain. Enlightened tolerance wasn't invented in the 1960s after all. People of the 19th and 20th Centuries had the same facility to recognise injustice and poor scientific reasoning then as we do now. Assumptions could be spotted and refuted as inaccurate and unwelcome opinions posing as facts. HPL wasn't ignorant and he wasn't stupid.

So is it a big deal about HPL? I really don't think so. I think he used his dislike of just about everything to create something much larger than himself and his prejudices. He tapped into his artist’s soul and got to the root of his fears and his ignorance and he used it to create horrific tableaux which transcended his individual shortcomings. When he writes about “squint-eyed” people I drop out of the story and remember I’m holding a book that was written by some bloke a century ago. When he evokes inconceivable mysteries I’m transported along with whatever scholarly wimp is featuring as his protagonist that day 

[sickboy]

I think the fact that the non-white 'lesser' races have a closer link to these horrific truths is more a harsh criticism of the educated white upper class. With all the knowledge they have, all the education and opportunities the protagonists inevitably cannot cope with finding out what really makes the universe tick. The people that are looked down upon always seem to have not only a better understanding of what's going on, but don't seem to be so susceptible to insanity over it. There's kind of an element of "You can keep your geometry and your literature and your science- I'll keep my sanity and my understanding of an evil dark being that will one day wipe you and your clever friends from the face of the earth!"

I think what I'm saying is that from what I've read it seems HPL is using his fears and prejudices to enhance the demonstration of his point, that knowledge and study and academia are nothing when it comes to the universe.

[Chrizzie Frizzie]

I think horror in general HAS to rely in some sense on irrational fears. Whether it is fear of strangers, fear of sex, fear of failure, fear of betrayal, fear of ones own dark desires... Horror is so named because it evokes non rational responses. Think of something that is objectively terrible, such as the many civil wars that have been plaguing Africa and the Middle East, as well as Mexico. A purely objective, scientific view would loose the horror, as you would have to balance the writing with examples of humanity in the midst of chaos. You would have drama, suspense etc. But you would not have horror. Horror only emerges once you start to apply irrational views to it, for instance by inventing one character that is inhumanly evil, or once you start depicting humanity as fundamentally evil. At this point you start tapping into our deep seated fears and me move from objectively terrifying to profoundly horrifying.

This truth is probably why some people feel so passionate about criticizing Lovecraft, as they see in him the source of Xenophobia and bigotry that is still accepted today in horror movies. Lovecraft fans can be depicted as complicit in projecting Lovecraft's bigotry to new generations of readers.

I personally don't agree. As has been mentioned on this thread, the bigotry is used not for its own sake but to connect us with a more abstract horror. Ultimately what stays with us is a sense of dread at our own insignificance. I read Lovecraft as a teenager, and his stories stayed with me for ten years. I could only remember the big themes, and it was those themes that finally brought me back to re-reading him. I was surprised to discover now about his bigotry. And it is certainly there, and it is unforgivable even by the standards of his own time. Yet the bigotry is just a number of transient hooks for the reader to bring him into the REAL horror.

I say: Lovecraft was an awful, awful bigot, and I thank god for that.

[Jake W]

I think the fact that the non-white 'lesser' races have a closer link to these horrific truths is more a harsh criticism of the educated white upper class. With all the knowledge they have, all the education and opportunities the protagonists inevitably cannot cope with finding out what really makes the universe tick. The people that are looked down upon always seem to have not only a better understanding of what's going on, but don't seem to be so susceptible to insanity over it. There's kind of an element of "You can keep your geometry and your literature and your science- I'll keep my sanity and my understanding of an evil dark being that will one day wipe you and your clever friends from the face of the earth!"

I think what I'm saying is that from what I've read it seems HPL is using his fears and prejudices to enhance the demonstration of his point, that knowledge and study and academia are nothing when it comes to the universe.

That's a very good point. I don't know how consciously it was done by HPL, but it is definitely there as a subtext. Perhaps that's a root of his fears. A lot of the drive behind the 'yellow peril' fears could be interpreted as oriental people being essentially more robust and successful than their frail European counterparts. I suppose any tribal/racial fear is going to be based on the perceived threat of being wiped out by a tribe/race with superior survival skills. Ironic when you consider the ideology of white supremacists! 

[Jake W]

I think horror in general HAS to rely in some sense on irrational fears. Whether it is fear of strangers, fear of sex, fear of failure, fear of betrayal, fear of ones own dark desires... Horror is so named because it evokes non rational responses.
(snip)
Ultimately what stays with us is a sense of dread at our own insignificance.
(snip)
Yet the bigotry is just a number of transient hooks for the reader to bring him into the REAL horror.

I say: Lovecraft was an awful, awful bigot, and I thank god for that.

I won’t argue with that 
Using the darker side of our natures in creative ways is a lot better than ignoring them or naïvely attempting to overcome them without properly understanding them.

Incidentally, I love the etymology of the word ‘horror’ – from the Latin horrere, meaning to tremble, but coming into modern general use (apparently, but I forget the source of this info) via the word horripilation, meaning the feeling you get when something scares you in that special way that gives you goose bumps and makes your hair stand up. I always think the dawning realisation of Cthulhu Mythos horror, both for the protagonist and the reader, is a perfect definition of the word.