April 18, 2024

 Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, was recently released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states as well as overseas.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107690/

Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft is the first, book-length study that addresses the topic of Lovecraft’s racism and white privilege.  The book will show for the first time the full extent of Lovecraft’s racism, which ranges from the early works—the hybrid, degenerative monsters tales, as I refer to them, to the later, mature works—the great tales, as they are sometimes called, where Lovecraft’s extra-terrestrial alien races—all of them cosmic slave masters—square off against their own manufactured slave races and, in certain cases, human slaves as well.

The book, in particular, studies how Lovecraft uses his racial hatred creatively by developing racist images and narratives to advocate for his xenophobic political beliefs: that western civilization is in decline due to unrestrained immigration, miscegenation and hybridism; and that slavery is not only endemic, but justifiable among superior civilizations, especially the white, Anglo-Saxon civilizations.

There is no writer in the English language, and certainly, no writer of comparable magnitude to Lovecraft, who even attempts to do such a thing.  It is, quite literally, an unprecedented phenomenon.

So, please check it out!

John L. Steadman

April 7, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has recently been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states and overseas.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

H. P. Lovecraft, in his early tales, makes use of his racist miscegenation narrative.  In his later fiction,  Lovecraft devises a second racist narrative—the slave master/slave narrative—which is drawn from Lovecraft’s knowledge of the Atlantic slave trade in colonial times. 

Lovecraft  uses this narrative to  promote the practice of slavery.  He holds up the alien astronaut civilizations, the Mi-Go, the Elder Things and the Great Race, all of whom enslaved weaker races, as ideal civilizations — the highest, most advanced civilizations in the cosmos, in fact.  Since these civilizations kept slaves, or so the argument goes, the Anglo Saxon race should feel no compunctions about doing likewise.  

 
Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses his slave master/slave narrative in his great, science fiction masterpieces: “The Whisperer in Darkness,” “The Shadow Out of Time,” and  At the Mountains of Madness!

JLS

 

March 27, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has recently been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states and overseas.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

H. P. Lovecraft, in his hybrid, degenerative monster tales, makes use of  the miscegenation narrative, which holds that sexual liaisons or intimate, non-sexual associations between members of different races, or species, pose a threat for Anglo Saxon whites. 

In Lovecraft’s view, miscegenation always debases the white partner — male or female — and it can lead to the production of mixed race children, which are, in effect, not only an abomination against natural law, but also a threat to the longevity of the white race and to the survival of western civilization in general.

As a further elaboration of the miscegenation narrative, there are two types of miscegenation narratives in Lovecraft’s fiction.  First, there is miscegenation by blood; in these cases, the relationship between the two parties is always sexual, and hybrids are produced.  Second, there is miscegenation by association; in these cases, no sexual contact occurs; the danger, thus, arises merely from the contact between the partners. 

 Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses his miscegenation narrative  in some of his most popular tales: “Herbert West—Reanimator,” “The Lurking Fear,” “The Rats in the Walls” and one of  his greatest tales: “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”!

JLS

 

March 18, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has recently been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states and overseas.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/ 

Lovecraft makes extensive use of racist images in both his early and later works.   These images are drawn from Lovecraft’s observations of members of the non-white race that he most despised and abhorred,  African Americans,  especially as he observed them in the slums of his hometown Providence, Rhode Island and at close quarters during his brief residence in the Red Hook district of New York.

Lovecraft focuses on the simian and ape-like characteristics that he insisted on seeing in the faces and forms of  the locals and then simply projects these onto his monsters.  He does this in a very conscious and deliberate manner in order to enhance the horror and the repugnance that these creatures inspire in the minds of his readers (or at least, so Lovecraft presumed). 

Check out my book for analysis of how Lovecraft uses these images in some of his most popular tales: "Arthur Jermyn," "Herbert West—Reanimator," and "The Rats in the Walls"!

JLS

March 10, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has recently been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states and overseas.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/horror-as-racism-in-h-p-lovecraft-9798765107706/

Lovecraft’s theory of evolution reveals a fear on his part that devolution is a stronger force than evolution.  In my previous posting, I argued that Lovecraft’s theory derives, in part, from  Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  Lovecraft was also influenced by  Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of  Dorian Gray (1891).

 The plot is fairly well-known: Dorian Gray, a beautiful young man, wishes that he could stay young and beautiful while his portrait ages.  He gets his wish; he looks exactly the same for twenty years; the painting, however, grows old and ugly.

 Dorian complicates the issue by living a terrible, evil life—he commits murder and he drives men as well as women to suicide.  The portrait reveals Dorian’s inner corruption and it ends up looking even worse than simply an ugly, old man; it looks like a  misshapen, degenerate monster—a half-human, half simian monster.

 At the end of the book, Dorian can no longer stand seeing himself like this and he stabs the portrait; then,  the painting  becomes beautiful again, but Dorian dies, and he leaves behind  the ugly, deformed body of his alter ego—much as Dr.  Jekyll in death left behind the hideous body of Mr. Hyde.

 The moral of Wilde’s story is the same as Stevenson’s: devolution is stronger than evolution!

 JLS

 

March 3, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has recently been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states as well as overseas.

https://www.amazon.com/Horror-Racism-H-Lovecraft-Fragility/dp/B0C5CPHCR2

Lovecraft’s theory of evolution reveals a fear on his part that degeneration is a stronger force than development; that human beings can more easily degenerate than they can regenerate.  Lovecraft’s theory derives, in part, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), a book that Lovecraft was very familiar with.

 Mr. Hyde is described by numerous characters in the novel who get a close look at him as “deformed” or “degenerate.”  When  Jekyll transforms into Hyde, this can be interpreted as a devolution from a higher form of life into a lower one.  Over the course of Jekyll’s transformations, Hyde begins to dominate Jekyll, such that Jekyll finds it increasingly difficult to make the transition back to his integrated self.

 Finally, in the climax of the novel, Jekyll cannot return to being Jekyll, and frustrated, he commits suicide and dies.  Interestingly, however, Jekyll still cannot break free; the dead body that remains is Hyde’s body.  The transformation is permanent, even in death.

 Here, Stevenson seems to be making the same argument that Lovecraft makes in his hybrid, degenerative monster tales: degeneration is a stronger force than regeneration. 

 Or, to put it more bluntly, devolution is stronger than evolution!

JLS

February 24, 2024

Greetings Everyone!

My new book, Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft: White Fragility in the Weird Tales, has just been released by Bloomsbury, the foremost academic publisher in the United States and in the United Kingdom!

I hope that all of you will pick up a copy; you can order it online from the publishers and, of course, from Amazon and other online booksellers around the world.  The book is also available in bookstores here in the states as well as overseas.

https://www.amazon.com/Horror-Racism-H-Lovecraft-Fragility/dp/B0C5CPHCR2

In my previous posting, I examined Lovecraft’s theory of evolution, where he argues that Anglo-Saxons and the other white races are descended from different, more advanced types of apes than the apes that Blacks are descended from; therefore, Blacks and whites are  separate species and Blacks should not be considered as human beings.

In his fictional works, especially in the early works—the tales that I refer to as the hybrid, degenerative monster tales—Lovecraft carries this argument even further.  He  suggests that when it comes to separate, but similar species such as Blacks and whites, there is a built-in genetic barrier that excludes members of the “lower” species from becoming members of the “higher” species.  However, the reverse is not true— members of the higher species can move between the barriers  and de-evolve if they so desire, but this will force them to leave their “humanity” behind.

You can read all about Lovecraft’s theory of evolution and how he uses it to justify his xenophobic political beliefs in Horror as Racism in H. P. Lovecraft!

In my next posting, I will examine one of Lovecraft’s main sources for his views about de-evolution—Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

JLS