‘Political Correctness’ Won’t Ruin H.P. Lovecraft’s Legacy

The Atlantic ^ | 11/12/2015 | LENIKA CRUZ

[Borges]

Removing the author’s image from the World Fantasy Award trophy signals that the genre is able to be inclusive to writers of color.

At the very first World Fantasy Convention in 1975, the theme was “The Lovecraft Circle.” The guest of honor, toastmaster, chairman, and judges were esteemed members of the speculative-fiction community who all also happened to be white men. Judging by appearances, not much has changed on this front, but a decision announced at this year’s convention on Sunday suggests a shift is under way. Starting next year, the World Fantasy Award trophy will no longer be modeled after the massively influential horror-fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I first read Lovecraft’s THE RATS IN THE WALLS back in 1962. A girl in class laughed at me and I challenged her to read it.
She did.
She later gave me a piece of her mind and said she could not sleep for a week because of that story.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Probably why they hate him because of what he named the cat.

Oh, there's worse racism in some of his stories than that. And in real life he genuinely disliked blacks and Jews (notwithstanding briefly marrying a Jewish woman). None of which takes away from his stature as an author, of course, but the man was a bigot.

[MarkL]

Not enough Blacks writing Spec-Fi, Sci-Fi, & comics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqKv_laDbks

(NSFW language)

Mark

[MarkL]

Saw this on a bumper sticker years ago... “Vote Cthulu - Why settle for the lesser evil?”

Mark

BTW, did anyone see the multi-part (3 I think) Southpark, “Coon & Friends” a couple or years ago? The BP oil disaster unleashed Cthulu, and Cartman made friends with it.

[Cronos]

from the article

Not,b everyone agreed with this sentiment. In a letter to the co-chair of the WFC board, the Lovecraft biographer and author S.T. Joshi called the decision “a craven yielding to the worst sort of political correctness.” He argued that using the writer’s image on the award was simply an acknowledgment of the impact his work had on the genre—not an endorsement of his personal beliefs. He also noted that “social-justice warriors” haven’t aimed their ire equally at awards named after Bram Stoker or John W. Campbell Jr.

Sunand Trymbak Joshi from Indiana