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Call of cthulhu quotes12/26/2023 “a dark cult totally unknown to them, and infinitely more diabolic than even the blackest of the African voodoo circles…”. “The region now entered by the police was one of traditionally evil repute, substantially unknown and untraversed by white men…”.Thurston, summarising Angell’s account of a story by Inspector Legrasse: Unless otherwise specified, all quotes below are in the voice of the story’s narrator, one Francis Wayland Thurston of Boston. I expect that somewhere in the voluminous analysis and discussion of Lovecraft’s work, another writer has done something similar, and I would be delighted to compare my reading with theirs, so links are most welcome! Note: all that follows is based on my own reading of the story I am not referring to any secondary source. Then I’ll consider whether the cult could be reimagined to preserve the fiction while rejecting the racist implications. In this post I’m going to review what the story actually says about the cult of Cthulhu, and the provenance (within the narrative) of this information. As someone who is interested in building a new creation from the world in this story, I am forced to ask a question: can the racist elements of “The Call of Cthulhu” be challenged and reimagined without doing great violence to the text? Can we build on the exciting idea of a sleeping god and its weird cult, without also tacitly accepting the racist elements that surround that idea? Essentially: can “The Call of Cthulhu” be redeemed? While there is some argument about just how much the charge of racism can be applied to him at different times in his life, the words on the page in this story do not much help his defenders.ĭespite its racist content, “The Call of Cthulhu” is an important and influential work of fiction giving rise to many derivations. Lovecraft was also guilty of embedding racism in his stories. Lovecraft’s strange bestiary of deities and creatures, and his vision of humanity’s tissue-thin ignorance of our own insignificance, have inspired countless elaborations and homages and secondary creations. A whole creative industry has spawned from the horrific mythos Lovecraft engendered, with this story at its apex. Lovecraft’s most famous story, showcasing his most famous creation, the dreaming octopus-headed god-thing Cthulhu. Illustration by Michael Komarck thanks Evie for finding this!
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