• ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    It’s interesting to compare Lovecraft to his friend Robert E. Howard (the creator of Conan the barbarian). My impression is that Howard believed in and was fascinated by the stereotype of Africans as savages which was common at that time, but he still had them on the side of the good guys in multiple stories. His writing is certainly not PC by modern standards, but he seems like he was an open-minded guy.

    • Maestro@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      2 months ago

      I’ve read his works. Some stories aged better than others. I sometimes had to remind myself that they were written almost a century ago.

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        If you liked Howard’s Conan stories, check out Robert Jordan’s. (Yes, the Wheel of Time guy.) IMO they’re really good and faithful to the spirit of the originals. The writing is very different from Wheel of Time. It does get quite dark in places.

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      His predecessor would’ve been H. Rider Haggard who, while generally considered an archracist because of how he developed the savage stereotype, had African heros as well and pretty deep respect for zulu culture. Haggard even wrote a book with a white villain and black protagonists. He generally was extremely misogynistic though.

      You can also see haggard’s influence on burrough’s Mars books.

    • hydroptic@sopuli.xyzOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      he seems like he was an open-minded guy.

      Well that’s certainly one of the takes of all time. He’s widely acknowledged to have been racist even for his time