H.P. Lovecraft and Racism at The Mountains of Madness

H.P. Lovecraft, the OG grandpappy of American horror fiction, created Cosmic Horror. A new take on the horror genre introduced in the early 1900’s, it terrified readers because otherworldly settings where unfathomable creatures existed as a threat to Earth and the dominance of mankind, were unheard of at that time.

Cosmic in Nature, Cosmic in Size

Cosmic Horror’s profound dread stemmed from an unexplainable alien menace capable of subverting our laws of nature. It offers a horrifyingly innovative bestiary, unlike the creatures used in existing horror stories. Until Lovecraft began inventing monsters, horror antagonists were familiar to readers because they were plucked from European folklore. They were recognizable, and understood by literary audiences, making them somewhat safe because they already had rules and definitions. Azazoth, Cthulhu, Dagon, Shoggoth, and Nyarlathotep were gargantuan in size, titanic in presence, completely unrecognizable, and so beyond human comprehension that they required a user’s guide (the Necronomicon) to be marginally understood.

And…they had tentacles, frickin’ tentacles! Up until Cthulhu started flailing its slimy appendages about, very few evil monsters in mythology or literature came equipped with tentacles. Claws, fangs, wings, fur, fire, sure; but, the implementation of the tentacle was a game changer. No one knew what in Hell to do with them, let alone how to fight and defeat the greasy, phallic bastards. Tentacles elevated Lovecraftian antagonists to a brand new plane of terror. And, readers loved it.

Fans of Lovecraftian Horror, now had to accept that humans were no longer the dominant species on Earth. Although they might be lucky enough to score minor victories over the gods of Eldritch Horror, they were minor setbacks at best in the grand scheme of the Cthulhu Mythos. Meaning that the only way these measly humans could escape the otherworldly clutches of the titanic forces bent on the decimation of humanity was through suicide, madness, or murder. A bleak recognition that readers flocked to and continue to be enthralled by today.

Cosmic Horror has been causing readers to sleep with their lights on and seek out therapy to heal their existential dread for over a century now (if you consider 1919’s “Dagon” to be his first published story). Lovecraft has developed a universe so expansive and dangerous that it could chew up and swallow the collected buffet of Marvel, DC, Game of Thrones, and Hogwarts.

Lovecraft, the man, is complicated… in  the worst way

But… H.P. Lovecraft, the man, comes with baggage that cannot be ignored nor denied. He was an unapologetic sexist, racist, anti-Semite, and xenophobe, all clearly exemplified in his personal essays, philosophies, and storytelling.

These character flaws cannot be forgiven, but they should not affect the opinion of his contributions to the horror genre. As rational adults and fans of Cosmic Horror, we must separate the dastardly beliefs of a flawed individual from the fiction he generated. Celebrate the writing, not the writer. H.P. Lovecraft was a terrible human being, but he possessed an amazing talent for fiction.

Many Black authors, better writers than Lovecraft, have flipped the script on his negativity and created modern Cosmic Horror confronting his sexism and challenging his bigotry. They create Lovecraftian Horror where African Americans are the featured characters in predominately Black settings, where racism and racist attitudes get soundly defeated while bigots and xenophobes are portrayed as despicable antagonists. A modern version of Cosmic Horror, (referred to as Afro-Cosmicism by some) readers could celebrate. Created by authors with praise worthy worldviews.

Tolerating the Intolerable

I treasure Victor LaValle’s opinion on this topic. In the Afterword to his novella “The Ballad of Black Tom,” he comments on his acceptance of Lovecraft’s racism by stating,

“I compare it to growing up with a loving grandparent, one who treated you well, but talking to them again when you’re in high school or college and realizing Grandma or Grandpa has some fucked-up beliefs. I don’t stop loving them, but if I’m going to call myself an adult, I just can’t pretend those prejudices don’t exist. I have to find a way to allow both to be true: they’re someone I love and they’re someone with flaws.

LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom is based on one of Lovecraft’s most racist and xenophobic tales, “The Horror at Red Hook.” LaValle’s plot and characters focus on the terrible consequences of racial hatred in America of the 1920s. The main character, Tommy Tester, is hired to steal the ZigZagZig, a magical book, for Ma Att. He holds back the final page of the book to keep her from using all of its magic.

Tommy agrees to play his guitar at a party hosted by Mr. Suydam where people of color will be exploited and victimized. Suydam intends on sacrificing them to the Sleeping King when he is called forth to destroy all of mankind. Despite Suydam’s racist opinions, Tommy teams up with him because he also wants to awaken the Sleeping King. Tommy wants to bring this otherworldly entity to Earth to destroy all racism and inequality. He becomes the evil Black Tom during the process.

The Suydam character is meant to represent Lovecraft’s shallow beliefs and hateful attitudes. The ZigZagZig can be viewed as LaValle’s re-imagining of the Necronomicon since it allows Black Tom to bring the Sleeping King to Earth. An infinitely powerful creature from an otherworldly place unfathomable to human minds. Tommy Tester will admit that he became the monster Black Tom because white people all around him treated him as if he was already a monster, an outcast, an other because of his skin color.

Subverting Cosmic Slavery

Another story penned by LaValle, titled “Up From Slavery” continues to challenge Lovecraft’s racist beliefs by constructing inclusive and equitable tales in the Cosmic Horror tradition. Simon, an African American copy editor brought up in the foster care system, meets a strange man while on a train. The stranger claims to have known his father and identifies himself as the god Shoggoth (Shoggoth was featured in Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” and “Fungi from Yuggoth.”). He freezes time around them to prove his immense power.

Shoggoth expects Simon to submit to it. It has many slaves already performing its evil deeds and murderous bidding. Shoggoth views humans as things, “only good for burying.” Using magic, Simon defeats this otherworldly being, but not before derailing the passenger train they are on and killing everyone aboard. Simon vows to travel to Shoggoth’s lair, located in Antarctica (anyone surprised??) to free all of the slaves trapped there. A modern day Booker T. about to open a whole new passage of the Underground Railroad. No coincidence that the climax of this story occurs on a passenger train.

Tananarive Due, Chesya Burke and P. Djeli Clark

Another immense talent in the horror genre is Tananarive Due (The Reformatory, The Good House, Ghost in Summer). She has a Lovecraftian short story titled “The Rider” featured in Jordan Peele’s anthology Out There Screaming. It directly challenges racism in America when a supernatural entity of unfathomable power steps in to protect an innocent African American woman from being victimized by a group of angry white bigots.

This same desire to embrace Cosmic Horror while exposing its social shortcomings is utilized by Chesya Burke in her short story “An American Fable” also featured in Out There Screaming. This piece focuses on an African American man named Noble Washington fleeing racial violence in Cincinnati. It is 1918, and he is on a train to Chicago with other African Americans when it is stopped by a racist mob intent on doing violence. Noble and the others are protected by an otherworldly force from Yoruba legend known as the Mother of Water. Noble, in turn, vows to serve her in the future. Another example of a story that takes place on a train transporting Black people to safety. This particular train is crossing the Ohio River at the time, a significant landmark for escaping slaves in America which still has significant symbolism today.

One final novella that cannot be ignored in this discussion about the African American community’s desire to expose and combat Lovecraft’s bigoted beliefs while maintaining the vibrancy of his genre, is P. Djeli Clark’s Ring Shout. This story takes place in an alternate dystopian version of 1920’s America where the Ku Klux Klan’s racial hatred is fueled by demons called Ku Kluxes. Clark has rooted racist ideology and bigotry into a cosmic, otherworldly evil in an effort to justify its inhumanity. Resistance fighters stand against the Ku Kluxes to protect their existence against such an overwhelming supernatural terror (also check out his short story “Hide and Seek”).

Laying Claim to a Troublesome Genre

These Black writers, and many others like them (N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Brandon O’Brien, Craig Laurence Gidney, Maurice Broaddus), have successfully transported the positive elements of Lovecraftian Horror into the 21^st century. They maintain the terror of its original cosmic mythos and sift away all of the narrow-minded hatred and white elitism Lovecraft originally intended. These African American contributions to a genre traditionally rife with racial underpinnings help to subvert the negativity and reclaim pride and equality for all. The best of all, for everyone. Otherwise the demise of decency hinted at by Ezra Claytan Daniels in his story “Pressure,” when he wrote,

“…when the modern civilized world ends, it will most likely be in a final catastrophic flash of white and not a simple fade to black,” would be disgracefully true.