In later life, Lovecraft married Sonia Greene, a Jewish woman his family disapproved of greatly. Despite his wife being Jewish and having an array of Jewish friends and colleagues around him, Lovecraft continued making xenophobic and anti-Semitic remarks throughout his career. One of his most common, recurring themes in his own works were that of miscegenation, or racial impurities. He considered these impurities “degenerate”, and wrote of them at length. However, to get his point across, rather than focus on interracial relationships, he attempted to horrify his readers with situations of inbreeding, cannibalism, and interbreeding with ghastly monsters.
Although the amount of racism and xenophobia decreased in his later works, as late as 1931 he wrote: “The black is vastly inferior. There can be no question of this among contemporary and unsentimental biologists — eminent Europeans for whom the prejudice-problem does not exist”. By contrast, Lovecraft’s Dreamland stories exalted dark skinned protagonists. He appeared to have an inclination towards those who were dark skinned and noble as opposed to those who were dark skinned and tribal. He held civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire with high esteem. This confusing mixture left a long lasting controversial side to such a revered writer.
It has been argued that Lovecraft’s views were not necessarily rooted in racism itself, but instead an example of his oft quoted belief that the unknown holds the center of our fears. Living in a time where class systems, language, and science were changing at such a rapid pace, the entire environment was uprooted with fearful unknowns. Despite these arguments from loyal fans, it is hard to dismiss such ignorant and explicit contempt for different races or cultures. These concerns, however, have not reduced his popularity and his vision for horror has surely been an influence for decades.
Again, Lovecraft is a prime example of real life meeting fantasy. The blurred lines between real life horror and that which is created. Which comes first and which is more horrific? Lovecraft’s own life and philosophies are tragic, complicated, and sometimes hateful beyond belief. Upon reflecting on his own life, it adds extra layers of fright to his creepy creature laden stories. Without a doubt, Lovecraft will continue his legacy of creation through other artists. Which leaves us with a final question: What unknown terrors are those artists dealing with?
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“H.P. Lovecraft Biography”. Biography.com editors. Biography.com. April 12, 2014.
“H.P. Lovecraft”. Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com.
“Sonia Greene”. Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com.
“Ten Things You Should Know About H.P. Lovecraft”. Sian Cain. The Guardian. August 20th, 2014.