Greetings Everyone!
My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft:
White Fragility in the Weird Tales, was recently published by Bloomsbury! I
hope that all of you will pick up a copy!
Lovecraft scholar Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, in his
essay “Tekeli-li: Poe, Lovecraft, and the Suspicion of Sameness” (2017) poses
these questions: “If the affective power of a text is derived from retrograde
sociopolitical points of view, to what extent is the reader who enjoys the
works implicated in approving of and disseminating those opinions? How, in short, should we read—and
teach—racist texts?”
After reading Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft,
the reader should be in a better position to answer these questions, and though
a few readers might find the answers easy, the majority, I think, will find
them even more difficult.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/
JLS
Dear Dr/Prof Steadman,
ReplyDeleteI am currently in the closing chapters of a Masters Degree in Script and Screenwriting and have chosen as my final major project to attempt to adapt The Dunwich Horror into a feature film. I have been fascinated by your book Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales and was wondering what your thoughts might be on creating a 'faithful' adaptation to the novella? I have cited my the following markers as a 'faithful' adaptation as follows:
Matching themes and issues
Characters/characterisations consistent with source material
75%+ scenes are drawn from the source material
I find that the tale is incompatible with modern audiences and for a palatable cinema-going experience the themes provided in his work should be avoided or inverted with protagonists of colour, race, and gender.
If you have a few minutes in your schedule, I would dearly love to hear your thoughts in a line or two and (if you'd permit me) to quote you in my essay.