tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post5466404272979159223..comments2024-03-26T17:54:54.592+01:00Comments on Speculiction...: Review of "At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror" by H.P. LovecraftUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-76856514361349354702022-09-03T20:26:35.486+02:002022-09-03T20:26:35.486+02:00Something I have yet to put my finger on is: why d...Something I have yet to put my finger on is: why do so many fans of Lovecraft and Robert Howard take negative reviews of those writers' works so personally? Maybe you can help?Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796098208589965362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-65645437674588838312022-08-24T07:52:59.690+02:002022-08-24T07:52:59.690+02:00Shit reviewShit reviewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-34333556795441426552015-12-04T17:18:39.645+01:002015-12-04T17:18:39.645+01:00Eee, gads! Another angry Lovecraft fan taking my ...Eee, gads! Another angry Lovecraft fan taking my criticism personally! <i>He's misunderstood... He's a quiet genius... He was way ahead of his time... It requires superior intellect to understand Lovecraft....</i> Sigh...<br /><br />We go one by one:<br /><br /><i>Lovecraft's work is "cosmic" and therefore does not require dialogue...</i> If we take your intent to its logical conclusion, then nothing is required save vast quantities of vacuum and silence - no plot, no character, no dialogue, nothing, just pure, eerie strangeness - like a theremin playing quietly in the dark. <br /><br /><i>Lovecraft's writing is convincing in the more scientific pieces...</i> And which scientific piece would that be in the collection?<br /><br /><i>Showing vs telling</i> Those are the basic two options in fiction. If I rephrase your question "Where's the unknown if you tell everything?" then I think you see that showing is a more powerful tool to illicit the theremin in the spine feeling Lovecraft was aiming at (but didn't hit). His cold writing did not evoke any sense of cosmic mysteriousness in me. It evoked a sense of college textbook. Good writers - good stylists - are able to evoke the underlying intent of their fiction by subtly showing. See Jeff VanderMeer, J.G. Ballard, Jeffrey Ford, M. John Harrison, and many others for examples how to use showing to draw from the reader sub-conscious responses.<br /><br />The one thing I will give you is my statement about the novella length limit. You're right. It is possible to capture larger ideas in short fiction. I think my exasperation at Lovecraft's lack of writerly talent pushed me to make an extreme statement - just as your exasperation of my cutting remarks about a writer you love pushed you to strong words.<br /><br />Sorry, but the last sentence <i>"Everybody can take a single book..."</i> requires an explanation. Perhaps you mean anybody can write a book of nonsense? But I don't see how that fits in with your above arguments.<br /> <br />And lastly, unless you want me to consider you one more rabid Lovecraft fan who considers love of his fiction before the execution of said fiction, do respond intelligently. You want Lovecraft's fiction to be taken seriously, so respond seriously.Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796098208589965362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7670543499274741427.post-84512612527282758572015-12-02T22:40:12.883+01:002015-12-02T22:40:12.883+01:00Lovecraft's work is not human-centred but &quo...Lovecraft's work is not human-centred but "cosmic", that's not a place to give the regular load of dialogue. Lovecraft's writing is not sterile, it's convincing in the more scientific pieces.<br /><br />"Guilty of telling rather than showing"<br />Lovecraft is about fear of the unknown, where's the unknown when you show everything?<br /><br />"In the end, because Lovecraft was never able to form his ideas into anything longer than a novella (like King, no?), it’s difficult to see his work as more than entertainment."<br />And what the hell are you talking about?! Oh I stop here.<br /><br />Everybody can take a single book and write nonsense without research, patience, understanding.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11657367745654617764noreply@blogger.com