Super video, Michael! In the Cthulhu stories the characters who encounter the Old Ones invariably go insane in Lovecraft's stories; in Robert E. Howard's stories, the heroes know when to escape while the going's good. 😱🙀🌠🌌
As you said, the Cthulhu Mythos was cobbled up by August Derleth as a story-generator, and boy did it work. Taking selective elements from Lovecraft's work and using them as chips in a fiction kaleidoscope to create a semi-coherent world to share among many writers functioned as a way to elevate HPL to prominence, as the source readers sought out once they'd caught Cthulhu fever. Inadvertent, perhaps, but it saved Lovecraft's work and it demonstrated its wide influence. From there on, academics frolic and readers rejoice. / Great overview and discussion, Michael. Bravo.
Great video, Michael. You're the reason why I've gotten back into reading Robert E. Howard this past year, and you've also (re)introduced me to Lovecraft and Burrows. There are a LOT of Lovecraft collections and I was never able to find a collection that had the stories I was interested in at an affordable price, but your Penguin recommendation is what I eventually went with. I'm currently reading "Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight", but I plan on getting to some classic literature soon. God bless, and happy reading.
I definitely welcome back another video about Lovecraft's mythos. You really have the gift of clarity and the ability to keep the viewer's attention alive. So, thank you very much. In my opinion, Joshi should have included The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and another collaboration which he doesn't like (but I do) that is The Diary of Alonzo Typer (very underestimated. True, it has a silly ending, maybe, but it's great in creating a brooding atmosphere).
About his later books being SF. "Shadow Out of Time" and "The Mountains of Madness" were actually published in Astounding Stories by John Campbell not Weird Tales. I think they were controversial in that magazine because of the horror element. I once wrote a Cthulhu Mythos story written in the mode of Donald Westlake writing as his Richard Stark pseudonym. It was about thieves stealing a statue of Cthulhu. I never got it published, though I liked it a lot. One editor said I got the Stark elements better than the Lovecraft elements which is probably true.
Imagine if Tolkien or Lewis or the myriad of other authors allowed authors to take their ideas and run wild with them. Well I don't think we'd have fan fiction sites or as many of them anyways ahaha. Love this channel dude
I’m reminded that, as a youth, I read L Sprague deCamp’s biography of HPL. Now, I’d be curious to read it again to see if he explored any of these details.
The thing is: Myths are never coined as "Myth" by their "creators". Which is to say: the "artificiality" of the C'thulu Mythos - the ordering of the canonical works by pious disciples, the adaptations and re-adaptations, the diffusion into stories who consciously are wholly unrelated to Lovecraft - is the highest evidence for the C'thulu corpus really being more than mere stories and thereby entering the realm of Myth.
one thing that is cool is that you never really find out everything about Chtulu . you get bits and pieces and manifestations. much different from most sci fi villains
THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS is interesting because it is about alien abduction - Lovecraft may have helped to create that meme. The editor of ASTOUNDING when AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS was published was Frederick Orlin Tremaine.
Hi, Michael. Shawn D. Standfast turned me on to your channel. Ive recently started reading this exact book. (Funny story about me finding/discovering it!) I look forward to learning through and with you. --Allen
Yesssssss. I see HP. Lovecraft....I put the breaks on , and watch.👍 Well put all of this.👍 Cthulhu Mythos is just a part of His writing , but it really all interconnects...because it was His style, or way of writing. Whereas alot of writers of this type of tale just focus on one part of His writing, or another. Great Video Michael 👍😁👍
I really like the interplay between different authors like when I read the Shambler trilogy of stories with Robert Bloch and Lovecraft or The Horror at Red Hook and the Ballad of Black Tom.
Since you have such a great collection, I was wondering if you had seen the lovely editions of The Call of Cthulhu and In The Mountains of Madness 1 and 2 (illustrated by Francois Baranger). I know a large part of the Cthulhu mythos is impossible to translate into movies, but these illustrations really enhance the stories.
ive started to get really ineterested in Lovecrafts work for no reason. I dont like horror, books or horror books but theres just something about Lovecraft thats different to me and I love reading the stories. Your videos are also very good. I have only read a few stories though and am planning to read the rest in physical, do you think i should get the book at 7:30 or 0:20? Im leaning quite a bit on the cthulhu mythos one since the "gods" really intrigue me but idk
I'm sure you've talked about this book before, so I went searching your archive and it's this one: Mythos Monday: The Call of Cthulhu March 30, 2021. I have watched all your videos so I am somewhat of an expert on this 🤣 You definitely show both books in that clip anyway.
I sometimes wonder what authors who have passed would think about all the breakdowns, frameworks, and constructs that people come up with about their work. Would they agree with them, or more amusingly, argue with people who think the authors don't "get" their own work.
That is a good question! I suspect Lovecraft would mostly be amused, but I also think he would be very happy that his work is so influential and highly regarded.
two works you may not be familiar with. S petersen's fuild guide to Cthulhu monsters and Creaturs of the Dreamlands. really great color pencil drawings by a very talented artist. and, the comic art of jim Woodring, who did Frank and Jim. Frank has odd, dreamlike elements in it that feel like they are from another dream realm connected to lovecraft. he is an insanely good comics artist.
Do you know some good anthologies of other writers contributions to this "Mythos", either in HPL's time out after it? I think Worms of the Earth qualifies.
There are a few stories that Lovecraft wrote with other authors that are not in the complete edition. The complete edition doesn’t contain any of his collaborations or revisions.
In my opinion Lovercraft writings have helped to create some very good films and inspired other writers, but on their own, as literature, his stories are just not very well written. I really think most people who know about HP Lovecraft and who espouse content inspired by his works, probably have never tried reading actual literature he produced. Its not very good.
