H.P. Lovecraft vs. Critical Race Theory

H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) enjoys a posthumous fame with few parallels in literary history. To read about the spinner of weird tales and longtime Providence, R.I., resident is to wonder whether he entered into a Faustian bargain. Something like this, perhaps:

The latest bout of academic attention comes from John L. Steadman’s new study Horror as Racism in H.P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales. It comes just months after David J. Goodwin’s Midnight Rambles: H.P. Lovecraft in Gotham. The long-overdue latter work provides an account of the two years that Lovecraft spent in New York City, with the love of his life, Sonia H. Greene, who resided in Flatbush, and at his apartment at 169 Clinton Street. Goodwin shows how Lovecraft’s antiquarian interests and passion for the history and architecture of New York, Greenwich Village in particular, inform his tales, and how his experiences in the polyglot city helped spawn what the academic discourse on Lovecraft increasingly dwells on: his racism.

About the Author

Michael Washburn

Michael Washburn is a New York-based novelist and short story writer. His most recent book is Infinite Desert.

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H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) enjoys a posthumous fame with few parallels in literary history. To read about the spinner of weird tales and longtime Providence, R.I., resident is to wonder whether he entered into a Faustian bargain. Something like this, perhaps:

The latest bout of academic attention comes from John L. Steadman’s new study Horror as Racism in H.P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales. It comes just months after David J. Goodwin’s Midnight Rambles: H.P. Lovecraft in Gotham. The long-overdue latter work provides an account of the two years that Lovecraft spent in New York City, with the love of his life, Sonia H. Greene, who resided in Flatbush, and at his apartment at 169 Clinton Street. Goodwin shows how Lovecraft’s antiquarian interests and passion for the history and architecture of New York, Greenwich Village in particular, inform his tales, and how his experiences in the polyglot city helped spawn what the academic discourse on Lovecraft increasingly dwells on: his racism.