Is he overrated?

only in the sense that he is overexposed by "nerd culture" people who never read him and slap Cthulhu on every piece of merchandise possible. Otherwise I think it's perfectly sensible that he's considered one of the most significant horror writers.

Not really, his short stories are amazing.

>>9658764
Yes, Robert E. Howard is literally better in every way.

>>9658807
>>9658806
I'm going to start reading some of his works. Which one would you guys reccomend for a starter? I bought Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, Shadow over Innsmouth, At The Mountains of Madness and Call of Cthullhu.

>>9658852
Color out of Space

He literally looks like the shit he wrote about. He was trying to tell us something

>>9658852
Pick whichever personally sounds interesting out of the last three. Save the Dream Quest for later.

>>9658852
You're in the right path.
if you're advanced enough, Necronomicon.

I don't think so. Most people seem willing to acknowledge his flaws.

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He triggers lefties and shitskins like no tomorrow just look at this bitter post >>9658886
He's underrated if anything

>>9658888
I founded dream quest of unknown kadath the most interesting one to be honest. But i am going to start with at the mountains of madness.

>>9658908
>tfw half shitskin but still loving his work
am i a cuck?

>>9658764
No, he's actually a very worthwhile read. He's only overrated by people whose only exposure to his work is through the media of video games, graphic novels, and board games.

>>9658764
Is any work of literature not overrated?

>>9658908
> tfw black and love Lovecraft's work

I don't even care about his nigger poetry, it was les controversial at the time and I understand Lovecraft was so introverted that he complained about most of the things published. Still has a great body of work, despite unflattering representations of black people. DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation doesn't lose its significance, influence or power despite its immensely racist perspective, why should Lovecraft's work be belittled just because he was a racist cunt? You can still appreciate the art without liking the artist.

>>9658924
nah just woke nigga

I'm a spic (cannot pass for white, no) and I love Lovecraft. People who don't actually read his work think he was average le wite supremacist suffering "racial jealousy" or some shit, but he was more about his New England culture than anything else. He hated Germans and Irish in particular. Many of his stories are full of inbred white people doing sick shit.

He did flat out hate niggers tho lmao, but unless you were trying hard to be an upstanding New Englander he would hate you.

>>9658945
I don't think his work should be belittled over it, but I also think it's somewhat difficult to separate the art from the artist in the case of Lovecraft. Miscegenation is a theme that runs through multiple stories of his, for example, and his experience in New York and disgust for foreigners served as a foundation for some of the greatest texts he wrote later in life. Racism and a disdain for modernity seem to be pretty integral themes to his work and I think it'd be hard to say that HPL was racist but that his work was entirely separate.

>>9658764

His writing is not that good, but his mythos outlive him, outgrow him and outdo him. If anything, people underrate how much his works have since left the fiction territory leading into hyperstition. Definitely worthy of a read

>>9658764
>racist
>fucking weird looking

every time

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>>9658764
The fact that the Library of America published him would suggest that he is not overrated.

>>9658764
Yes. His prose is rather clunky and doesn't really flow like someone else's from the time. I'm reading through Robert Howard's Conan stories right now and his prose is, in my opinion, far superior.
His protagonists all feel sort of samey - intellectual, inquisitive, and prone to fainting. Considering Lovecraft was scrawny as fuck, I imagine it was sort of a self-insert thing.

However, the imagination behind the stories and his take on horror was wildly different other horror fiction at the time, and his fantasy stories still feel new and fresh. Doom came to Sarnath is one of my favourites.
The thing is, if you ask people who like Lovecraftian horror what their favourite Lovecraft story was, most of them will tell you that they've never read one. Most movies and games that take inspiration from Lovecraft only use the groundwork he laid instead of the actual plots from his stories. It's his take on horror and the themes that he introduced that people like, not the writing itself.

>>9658851
yeah boi, conan ftw

>>9658764
I remember enjoying his stories an awful lot. I don't think he's anything but good at what he set out to do with his stories, any more or less than that is doing the work a disservice or blowing it out of proportion.

>people still insult his prose without understanding it is essential to the weird atmosphere for which he is famous
Why do people do this?

>>9660538
because other people endlessly parrot it.

>>9659836

>It's his take on horror and the themes that he introduced that people like.

But you would agree that those are the only things that mattered

>>9658764
No. Those who follow him have failed to innovate to its full potential the genre which he developed. Modern horror is terrible and fails at what it tries to do. He achieved much greater things than have his progeny.

>>9658764
I suggest you go kill yourself, if this is a question that's really of concern to you.

>>9660759
You're an idiot, mate. Or you're a teenager, in which case you would still be an idiot.

>>9658764
>Is he overrated?
i don't know

>>9660853
Then why reply? Did you think that would be a funny thing to say?

>>9660790
If the question of whether or not this or that author 'is overrated' (while also keeping this question unspecified as to where and in what aspect he would be 'overrated' and by whom) is really what you feel neccessary to share with this board, then you are the dumb faggot and probably the kid.
So go and kindly fuck off, dipshit.

>>9660858
>Then why reply? Did you think that would be a funny thing to say?
>>9660853

>>9660858
Did you think that retarded question deserves more than a reply like that, asshole?

>>9658764

His ideas aren't. His actual writing is.

>>9660790
Humor me. Why would it concern you then? I'm listening.

>>9660876
Was that a flexing of your intellectual muscles?

>>9660880
Even if the question was retarded, it wasn't quite as retarded as your response

>>9660933
Answer this question >>9660886 or shut the fuck up.

At a certain stage Lovecrafts prose becomes comedy. Fun stories though.

>>9660964
I was responding to a different post, but now I see that was you too. Has this interaction so affected you that you need to post multiple comments that only demonstrate to everyone how upset you are?

>>9659090

protip: don't buy the LoA Lovecraft. It's about 800 pages and it would probably require only 200 more to include all his stories and have a nice complete volume (They could have at least added in The Dream-Quest!), but for some reason they didn't want to hit the 1000 page benchmark for Lovecraft like they have with many other writers in their catalogue.

>>9659836
>His protagonists all feel sort of samey - intellectual, inquisitive, and prone to fainting. Considering Lovecraft was scrawny as fuck, I imagine it was sort of a self-insert thing.

You're not wrong about the protagonists being samey, but it's not just a self-insert thing. His work is about people confronting the unknown and his protagonists being cool-headed intellectuals who have their conceptions turned upside down is just a way to explore those themes.

>>9660977
You dumb fag. This >>9660886 isn't me. Answer the question though now, asshole.

>>9661001
You need to learn that you aren't so smart. You need to learn to treat people with respect in order to be respected. And you need to learn to be less aggressive, because it makes you look weak and insecure. But these are all things that your father should have taught you.

Interesting question OP.

He's incredibly well known, arguably the most famous horror writer. And yet his work is solid, has stood the test of time, and can said to be very influential. I think "Cthulhu lol!!" and meming has made their work seemed a little dumbed down but at it's heart it stays strong.

Any other authors like this?

>>9658852
The wisperer in the darkness. The end is fucked up.

>>9661011
Tolkien

>>9661006
You need to stop generalizing and learn not to be unprecise if you want people to take you seriously, you sad shit. You also need to learn the difference between anonymous conversations online and what counts here and what dipshit strategies you use in real life.

If you can't tell me why the question in the OP is of concern to you, then you can go fuck off, because you're a human waste of space.

>>9661019
I know that you are continuing this conversation because you actually appreciate the way I am talking to you. I know you are refreshing the page waiting for my reply. I guess you didn't have a father to talk to you like a man. But I'm not your father. This is the end of our conversation.

>>9661037
Great projection there, you clown. And thanks for making it clear that you are not worth the space you occupy, you little dip.

You can kindly go fuck yourself, you illiterate.

Sincerely, anon

>>9658764
is the blue of the sky overated?
is the bloom of a flower overated?
is the flake of a snow overated?
he was just another of gods creations expressing in a magical way