Dr. Paprika: In his book on the Cthulhu Mythos, Lin Carter presents evidence that Lovecraft harbored prejudice against immigrants in New York City, including Jews and Eastern Europeans. However, that bias didn’t stop HPL from being good friends with the Jewish poet Samuel Loveman and marrying Sonia Greenberg, a Ukranian Jew. Carter also quotes August Derleth as saying that Lovecraft’s prejudice against immigrants was not racial in nature; rather he associated them with the destruction of beloved old buildings (according to Carter and L. Sprague de Camp, Lovecraft was an enthusiastic antiquarian).
According to quotes I’ve read, Lovecraft spouted nonsense about being an Aryan (apparently he was under the influence of good ol’ Robert E. Howard), but I think Carter or de Camp wrote that he was beginning to become more liberal and was moving toward supporting New Deal politics in the years before his death.
CzechMaster401k: Go to a library or bookstore and find some Lovecraft materials. Look up these stories: “The Hound,” “The Nameless City,” “The Festival,” “The Call of Cthulhu,” “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” The Colour out of Space," “The Dunwich Horror,” “The Whisperer in Darkness,” “At the Mountains of Madness,” “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” “Dreams in the Witch-House,” “The Thing on the Doorstep,” “The Haunter of the Dark,” and “The Shadow out of Time” (if you have any serious interest in science fiction, I highly recommend this tale). Do this and you will know more about Cthulhu than is safe to know.
I typed those titles purely from memory. I am such a geek.
Dang, wish I would have checked the boards earlier today. Anyways, i normally use the Kuh -thoo-loo pronouncitation, speaking from the back of my throat. Everyone else here pretty much covered everything about Cthulhu.
A well-known lady fantasy writer once told me she thought Lovecraft’s conception of Cthulhu was based on his abhorrance of seafood.
She also said that if Cthulhu came slithering up to her on the beach, her first thought would be to saute Him up in a little butter and garlic and serve Him with lemon wedges.
Saying that H.P. Lovecraft was a “bit of a Nazi” is a bit unfair considering in his age it was common practice to use many terms that are now considered offensive by modern people. It was more ignorance than active hate on par with the aforementioned political party. Why not say Lovecraft was a member of the KKK simply because he had a black cat who was given an unfortunate, in the modern mindset, name by the old man of Providence.
Also the plush Cthulhu sold by Pagan Publishing is superior to the one produced by Pegasus Publishing. You can get it in paisley or plaid too.
Lastly I highly suggest that people avoid the works of August Derleth especially the post-mortem collaborations. Mr. Derleth, not [color=“black”]Derleth, changed Lovecraft’s Yog-Sothothery into something about a war in heaven between the Great Old Ones (boo, hiss) and the Elders (yay) and how the Great Old Ones were banished to earth. The concept behind Lovecraft’s fiction is that the universe is an uncaring universe. Should the earth be destroyed it’s not because the universe hates us but because the universe sneezed. Humans are beneath the notice of the Great Old Ones who are simply elevated to the status of gods due to their power and at best we’re an infestation of ants to be removed from the summer cottage before they move back in for holiday. This is where the furnaces of Nug and Yeb come into play but I digress.[/color]
Funny, I always pronounce it “kthul-hu” Why insert another syllable? Afater all, we don’ut inaserat ekasatara syllabalels in betaween all conasonanatas, in all other worads, do we?
No, but it is common to insert either u’s or schwas in between consonants that are hard to pronounce. Most English speakers can’t say “kthul” without it coming out as “kuthul”.
I started reading Lovecraft stories about a year ago, and I’ve been a big (well… moderately big) fan ever since.
True, but I’ve always read that Lovecraft was particularly racist, even for his time, and generally misanthropic. His letters (which I haven’t read, and don’t intend to, since there are thousands upon thousands of them) certainly seem to indicate that.
So you are saying that mosut Enugulish supeakerus have to inuserut suchuwas in betuween conusonanutus? What makes “k” anud “th” harud to puronounuce? Inudeed, I hear Enugulish supeakerus puronounucinug “k” anud “th” every day.
Inudeed, it is no more “harud” to puronounuce than woulud be “k” followed by “s”, as in the worud “ax”.
Originally posted by rjk
HPL sketched Cthulhu himself. The good site seems to have disappeared, but there’s another copy way at the bottom of this page:
