Comments on: Review of "H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life" by Michael Houellebecq http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html High-minded, fanatically malthusian perspectives Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:18:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html/comment-page-1#comment-16559 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html#comment-16559 <p>Lexington,<br /> <br /> Yes, I agree completely.<br /> <br /> One could see Lovecraft spinning the hobbits as Gaiman spun the dwarves in "Snow, Glass, Apples" [1], but Lovecraft would have found too much to love in the story. All of his beliefs -- aristocratic gentleness, pessimistic racism, idealistic English-ness, books and legends -- are all on display. Even the implied Christianity would not annoy him too much, I hope, as Lovecraft admired the Puritans without believing their beliefs.<br /> <br /> I do hope Lovecraft is in heaven. Three things remain, the Apostle tells us: faith, hope, and love. Lovecraft was without faith and, in a way that transcends mere depression -- without hope. But his gentleness implies that he had a loving heart, and love indeed is the greatest of those things.<br /> <br /> [1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow%2C_Glass%2C_Apples" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow%2C_Glass%2C_Apples</a></p> Lexington,

Yes, I agree completely.

One could see Lovecraft spinning the hobbits as Gaiman spun the dwarves in “Snow, Glass, Apples” [1], but Lovecraft would have found too much to love in the story. All of his beliefs — aristocratic gentleness, pessimistic racism, idealistic English-ness, books and legends — are all on display. Even the implied Christianity would not annoy him too much, I hope, as Lovecraft admired the Puritans without believing their beliefs.

I do hope Lovecraft is in heaven. Three things remain, the Apostle tells us: faith, hope, and love. Lovecraft was without faith and, in a way that transcends mere depression — without hope. But his gentleness implies that he had a loving heart, and love indeed is the greatest of those things.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow%2C_Glass%2C_Apples

]]> By: Dan tdaxp http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html/comment-page-1#comment-16557 Dan tdaxp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html#comment-16557 <p>A conservative nihlist -- yes, I think so. Perhaps a reactionary at heart, but a conservative if an improvement would not be possible.<br /> <br /> I wonder what HP would have made of the Shire?</p> A conservative nihlist — yes, I think so. Perhaps a reactionary at heart, but a conservative if an improvement would not be possible.

I wonder what HP would have made of the Shire?

]]> By: Lexington Green http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html/comment-page-1#comment-16556 Lexington Green Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html#comment-16556 <p>Dan, thanks for this. I have been thinking of reading this book for a while. It seems that Houllebecq has a good insight into Lovecraft, where most people do not. My period of HPL fanaticism is long over, but he is part of the permanent interior architecture. I read a long interview with Houllebecq and I came to think that he is something perhaps only a French person could get away with -- a conservative nihilist. His insight that access to sexual pleasure is now on a purely capitalist basis, with marriage being primiitive form of socialism, is cruelly close to the truth. I speak as a happily married person, incidentally, and my friends who are still in the snake pit get no envy from me. Have you read his fiction? <br /> <br /> What do you think of the fiction of Thomas Ligotti? I think he is Lovecraft's only real literary heir.</p> Dan, thanks for this. I have been thinking of reading this book for a while. It seems that Houllebecq has a good insight into Lovecraft, where most people do not. My period of HPL fanaticism is long over, but he is part of the permanent interior architecture. I read a long interview with Houllebecq and I came to think that he is something perhaps only a French person could get away with — a conservative nihilist. His insight that access to sexual pleasure is now on a purely capitalist basis, with marriage being primiitive form of socialism, is cruelly close to the truth. I speak as a happily married person, incidentally, and my friends who are still in the snake pit get no envy from me. Have you read his fiction?

What do you think of the fiction of Thomas Ligotti? I think he is Lovecraft's only real literary heir.

]]> By: Lexington Green http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html/comment-page-1#comment-16558 Lexington Green Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2007/04/28/review-of-hp-lovecraft-against-the-world-against-life-by-michael-houellebecq.html#comment-16558 <p>HPL was an Anglophile. He would have loved the Shire as a conservative ideal. He would have loved the whole trilogy as a "synthetic Aryan myth-cycle", as he described Dunsany's Gods of Pegana, and as he also like E.R. Eddision's The Worm Ouroboros (which really is good). This was, of course, before Hitler and the Nazis became the exclusive association of the word Aryan. He may have recoiled from the embedded Christianity, which he would have been astute enough to see saturates Tolkien's thinking and writing. Also, he would have respected the sheer scale and artistic integrity that went into creating something as vast as LOTR.<br /> <br /> A long walk in the country with HPL and Tolkien -- how great would that be? The setting would be the house at the end of Chesterton's Man Who Was Thursday -- a house I am sure (with no direct evidence) was the basis for Rivendell.<br /> <br /> We'll just have to imagine such a delightful prospect. Of course, I think I'll meet Tolkien when I get to Heaven, and maybe a very merciful God can have found a way to get HPL in there, too. What a delightful surprise that would be. I am going to pray a decade of the rosary for his soul tonight. Who knows?</p> HPL was an Anglophile. He would have loved the Shire as a conservative ideal. He would have loved the whole trilogy as a “synthetic Aryan myth-cycle”, as he described Dunsany's Gods of Pegana, and as he also like E.R. Eddision's The Worm Ouroboros (which really is good). This was, of course, before Hitler and the Nazis became the exclusive association of the word Aryan. He may have recoiled from the embedded Christianity, which he would have been astute enough to see saturates Tolkien's thinking and writing. Also, he would have respected the sheer scale and artistic integrity that went into creating something as vast as LOTR.

A long walk in the country with HPL and Tolkien — how great would that be? The setting would be the house at the end of Chesterton's Man Who Was Thursday — a house I am sure (with no direct evidence) was the basis for Rivendell.

We'll just have to imagine such a delightful prospect. Of course, I think I'll meet Tolkien when I get to Heaven, and maybe a very merciful God can have found a way to get HPL in there, too. What a delightful surprise that would be. I am going to pray a decade of the rosary for his soul tonight. Who knows?

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