H.P. Lovecraft thread

I've been rereading some of his work after quite a few years, and his writing tends to be a lot more exhausting than I remember. At the Mountains of Madness used to be a favorite of mine, but upon reading it again I just wanted him to get the fuck on with it and stop reminding me of the "aeon-dead" plateaus and quit with the infodump that takes up roughly 25% of the story. As far as prose goes, I'm definitely of the opinion that some of his predecessors and contemporaries like M.R. James, Blackwood, and Machen were far superior. HP really shines in the actual content of his stories and how utterly bizarre and "outside" the concepts are. It's at least rewarding in that respect if you can get through the dusty writing and I still think he deserves the important place he's been given in the development of horror fiction.

I really, really liked Rats In The Walls.
The way it progressed and the insanity of it is great

>As far as prose goes, I'm definitely of the opinion that some of his predecessors and contemporaries like M.R. James, Blackwood, and Machen were far superior. HP really shines in the actual content of his stories and how utterly bizarre and "outside" the concepts are.
I agree with you entirely. Lovecraft is one of those writers whose imagery and style is so unique and variegated that you can often forgive his flaws as storyteller (repetitive and stilted diction, irritating predilection for an epistolary format, "naively rational" characters ripped from M.R. James who all sound and think the same, excessive attention to miscellaneous detail) simply on the basis of his incredible images and descriptions. His plots are rarely anything more than a vehicle to bring you to a mood and situation, but when he's at his best that combination can trigger a sincere sense of horrified awe, which basically like pulling off a literary hole-in-one as far as I'm concerned. Mountains is a terribly executed story about a fascinating idea, but Colour Out of Space is kind of a minor masterpiece.

>>9266373
The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, At the Mountains of Madness. all great. Theres more but cant remember them, I read them through highschool and marijuana has destroyed my memory.

>>9266800
>unironically smoking the devil's lettuce

I really got a kick out of The Festival

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>>9266373
>mountains of madness
>boring
just don't even try

>>9266397
>>9266641
This is what I have always said. His writing is flawed and rightfuly criticised, but he makes up for it with the content of his stories. What fascinates me about Lovecraft is his creativity, not his prose (Which was a lot of times awful, meaning the subject of his tales had to be pretty fucking interesting to make up for it. And they were).

I just read in the mountains of madness and it was pretty sick and actually kinda creepy

Tekeli-li!!!!

>>9267130
>"oh thank Christ, even he's gotten bored of describing how the Elder Things decorated their bedrooms"
>*enter accursed antediluvian penguins of unutterable madness*
When it's not boring it's just dumb