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Lovecraft's Book
El Libro de Lovecraft, de Richard
A. Lupoff, es un magnífico homenaje al más excéntrico
y venerado escritor de cuentos de terror de todos los tiempos, y constituye
a la vez una meticulosa recreación de una época -los años
20- y un capítulo escabroso (todavía no cerrado) de la historia
humana: el desarrollo y propagación por todo el globo terráqueo
de las ideas nazis, racistas y fascistas de toda índole.
H. P. Lovecraft es tentado repetidamente por el fanático George
Sylvester Viereck para que preste su pluma y su linaje anglosajón
a la causa fascista y escriba una especie de Mein Kampf americano;
a cambio, Viereck se encargará de la edición de un volumen
que reúna los cuentos de terror de Lovecraft, hasta entonces dispersos
en revistas «pulp» y prensa de aficionados. Aunque las aborrecibles
opiniones políticas del escritor son conocidas por todos, sus amigos
no creen que Howard conozca en realidad las ponzoñosas aguas en
las que está a punto de hundirse. Es entonces cuando Frank Belknap
Long, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, y, sobre todo, Hardeen «el misterioso», hermano
de Houdini (y escapista también), se ponen en movimiento para mantener
a Lovecraft lejos de las garras de las fuerzas oscuras...
A. Lupoff, es un magnífico homenaje al más excéntrico
y venerado escritor de cuentos de terror de todos los tiempos, y constituye
a la vez una meticulosa recreación de una época -los años
20- y un capítulo escabroso (todavía no cerrado) de la historia
humana: el desarrollo y propagación por todo el globo terráqueo
de las ideas nazis, racistas y fascistas de toda índole.
H. P. Lovecraft es tentado repetidamente por el fanático George
Sylvester Viereck para que preste su pluma y su linaje anglosajón
a la causa fascista y escriba una especie de Mein Kampf americano;
a cambio, Viereck se encargará de la edición de un volumen
que reúna los cuentos de terror de Lovecraft, hasta entonces dispersos
en revistas «pulp» y prensa de aficionados. Aunque las aborrecibles
opiniones políticas del escritor son conocidas por todos, sus amigos
no creen que Howard conozca en realidad las ponzoñosas aguas en
las que está a punto de hundirse. Es entonces cuando Frank Belknap
Long, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, y, sobre todo, Hardeen «el misterioso», hermano
de Houdini (y escapista también), se ponen en movimiento para mantener
a Lovecraft lejos de las garras de las fuerzas oscuras...
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Richard A. Lupoff
212 books36 followersRichard Allen "Dick" Lupoff (born February 21, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs and has an equally strong interest in H. P. Lovecraft. Before becoming a full-time writer in 1970 he worked in the computer industry.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 22, 2011
When Lovecraft first visited New York City, he was disgusted by the influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Despite his dislike of Jews, Lovecraft ended up marrying one. Lovecraft's wife Sonia Greene stated of her husband's (after they divorced) response to the inhabitants of the city, "Whenever we found ourselves in the racially mixed crowds which characterize New York, Howard would become livid with rage. He seemed almost to lose his mind." Adolf Hitler also responded in a similar manner when he first moved to Vienna, Austria and noticed the large Slavic and Jewish populations as recognized in Lovecraft's Book.
In Lovecraft's Book, Lovecraft is contracted by German-American propagandist George Sylvester Viereck (an underrated writer himself) to the write the American equivalent of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Knowing Lovecraft's Spenglerian worldview and sagely nature, I figure if the writer had really written an American racialist tome, it would have somewhat resembled Francis Parker Yockey's masterpiece Imperium. Lovecraft's worldview has also been compared to that of radical traditionalist Julius Evola. One scholar stated of the similarities (anti-modernism, racialism, etc) between Evola and Lovecraft: "Certainly "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" with its grandiose portrayal of the onyx city respires the cool and elegant spirit of Tradition, arraigned against which in several stories is the sink of decadence, Innsmouth, an inbred population made up of the offspring of lustful mariners and sea monsters, the negative force of counter-Tradition. The eternal struggle between the Uranian power of light and the telluric forces of chaos is reflected in Lovecraft's work"
Unfortunately, like a lot of great ideas, Lovecraft's Book is nowhere as interesting as it sounds. I can only recommend this book to Lovecraft fanatics and racialist types.
April 15, 2015
With the exception of Bram Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm, this is the strangest book I've ever read. A fictional (although not completely?) account of horror/fantasy writer HP Lovecraft and his attempt to get a book of his stories published in return for writing a book of fascist propaganda for the Nazi movement in America.
The book is strange for many reasons. One being that the book really isn't about Lovecraft at all, but about the rise of the far right in the States between the wars. Lovecraft doesn't really appear much, to my mind, and when he does he doesn't come across well. His rather ridiculous and naïve views on race are well know, but if his letters are anything to go by he was also quite a strong, generous character, whereas the Lovecraft in this book is rather dull and smug, and the best bits of the book are the bits in which he doesn't appear.
Another strange thing is that the book is quite stilted, in terms of plot and language and can at times be a frustrating read. But despite this overall it's quite intriguing and paints an interesting portrait of the USA in the 1920s.
Three and a half stars, just for being so damned odd.
The book is strange for many reasons. One being that the book really isn't about Lovecraft at all, but about the rise of the far right in the States between the wars. Lovecraft doesn't really appear much, to my mind, and when he does he doesn't come across well. His rather ridiculous and naïve views on race are well know, but if his letters are anything to go by he was also quite a strong, generous character, whereas the Lovecraft in this book is rather dull and smug, and the best bits of the book are the bits in which he doesn't appear.
Another strange thing is that the book is quite stilted, in terms of plot and language and can at times be a frustrating read. But despite this overall it's quite intriguing and paints an interesting portrait of the USA in the 1920s.
Three and a half stars, just for being so damned odd.
May 18, 2008
I admit to being rather bamboozled when reading this, which must have been a long time ago - at first I thought it was all true. By the end of course, once the adventure really gets going, I realised that it wasn't, but that didn't detract from the fun of it. If after reading this you're in the mood for more fictional adventures of Lovecraft, you could try Robert Silverberg's To the Land of the Living, in which he plays a small but significant role.
May 22, 2015
Howard Philips Lovecraft, además de uno de los mayores nombres de la literatura de terror, era un xenofobo convencido. Esto es un hecho innegable: cualquiera que sepa algo de su vida puede constatarlo —el famoso episodio de su visita a Nueva York, donde la visión de inmigrantes de variadas nacionalidades le asqueó profundamente— e incluso resulta evidente en su obra, donde a menudo insiste en temas de raza y mestizaje.
Sigue leyendo...
Sigue leyendo...
December 3, 2022
Excellent read
September 2, 2021
“Marblehead” by Richard A. Lupoff was first published as a shortened version under the title of “Lovecraft’s Book”. I suppose that “Lovecraft’s Book” was more focused on politics, while “Marblehead” also includes a lot of stuff about Lovecraft’s life in 1927. And I do mean “a lot” - this is a very granular book, with a lot of descriptions of everyday actions. As a Lovecraft fan I enjoyed it, but I felt that the pacing was very slow and it suffered too much from “nothing is happening” syndrome often found in fanfiction, except also with less focus on feelings and inner lives. Indeed very little is happening throughout the book until the last chapter, which is jarringly action-y and where the things are resolved in a quick and not very satisfying manner. No less pedantic are the loads and loads of historical context which sometimes sound more like pages from a nonfiction book than from a fiction one. Not knowing much about the historical events of 1927, I found these parts enjoyable enough and thought they worked within the novel (there was too much information about the aeroplanes though), but someone who knows more about them would probably find them more boring.
That said, I like Lovecraft and I like reading fiction about Lovecraft. Almost all the novels I read so far where he’s the main character were worth reading, even the most bizarre ones, and this one is not an exception. His characterization is mostly alright - I’d say even good, considering that the book was written in the 80s, when people were making up as much bullshit about Lovecraft as now, but much less information about him was accessible. But Lupoff apparently was a member of the science fiction fandom, so maybe he came across early scholarship of higher quality that was prospering in the Lovecraft fandom back then. The only thing that stands out is, of course, Lovecraft’s frequent experiments with alcohol in the book. This choice looks even weirder because it’s obvious that the author knows he was a teetotaler. Did he want alcohol to symbolize Lovecraft’s subtle corruption by the far-right communities he finds himself in? Did he not know how to get out of situations when alcohol is offered? Did he not know how teetotalers function? Weird.
Lovecraft friends are all well-written enough too, though Lupoff continues this tendency of shoving the ones that were famous into the narrative even if they don’t have much justification to be there, while ignoring some that were important for Lovecraft at that time. For example, both Robert Howard and Clark Ashton Smith make an appearance, and once more a lot is made of Lovecraft’s friendship with Houdini - his younger brother this time, because Harry Houdini was dead when the story is set. Meanwhile, even though in the novel Lovecraft spends the whole year in New York, Samuel Loveman never appears in person (and he is in New York too in the novel) - even worse than that, in one scene that seems almost designed to frustrate Loveman’s fans, HPL finally decides to meet him but then is thwarted by the plot! I think it’s a missed opportunity, he would make an interesting character and would probably add to the themes of the book. Frank Long is here, but he’s a bit dull and basically spends all the novel just smoking his pipe and being phlegmatic and sometimes even a bit slow. Nevertheless, I enjoyed some scenes related to Lovecraft’s relationship with him and his family. Some of the strongest parts of the novel are ones that include Sonia. Aside from the works that are specifically about their relationship (they tend to be plays or audio plays for some reason), Lupoff’s book presents probably the most detailed portrayal of it, which is both realistic enough and sometimes is realistically touching.
Speaking about the political aspect of the book, I don’t really have many complaints about it except that the whole premise doesn’t seem that plausible. I just don’t see why Lovecraft, who was nobody outside of amateur journalism and early SFF fandom and didn’t actively participate in politics, would be approached with the offer to write something as important as basically the American version of “Mein Kampf”. Once you can suspend your disbelief, though, the rest is readable enough. It is interesting to imagine how Lovecraft would have acted if he indeed became involved in politics, but, I regret to say, the author doesn’t use this premise to the full potential, and it just ends up drowning in the sea of mundanity. I did, however, like how he approached Lovecraft’s politics, with necessary nuance and without heavy-handed condemnation, while still letting the readers see how facepalm-inducing they were. We don’t get to read excerpts from Lovecraft's book until almost the very end, and when we do, they are predictably not pretty. At the end of the novel, while he does get to see these right-wing political figures for what they are, he doesn’t seem to have learned much, and this, too, is sadly realistic.
That said, I like Lovecraft and I like reading fiction about Lovecraft. Almost all the novels I read so far where he’s the main character were worth reading, even the most bizarre ones, and this one is not an exception. His characterization is mostly alright - I’d say even good, considering that the book was written in the 80s, when people were making up as much bullshit about Lovecraft as now, but much less information about him was accessible. But Lupoff apparently was a member of the science fiction fandom, so maybe he came across early scholarship of higher quality that was prospering in the Lovecraft fandom back then. The only thing that stands out is, of course, Lovecraft’s frequent experiments with alcohol in the book. This choice looks even weirder because it’s obvious that the author knows he was a teetotaler. Did he want alcohol to symbolize Lovecraft’s subtle corruption by the far-right communities he finds himself in? Did he not know how to get out of situations when alcohol is offered? Did he not know how teetotalers function? Weird.
Lovecraft friends are all well-written enough too, though Lupoff continues this tendency of shoving the ones that were famous into the narrative even if they don’t have much justification to be there, while ignoring some that were important for Lovecraft at that time. For example, both Robert Howard and Clark Ashton Smith make an appearance, and once more a lot is made of Lovecraft’s friendship with Houdini - his younger brother this time, because Harry Houdini was dead when the story is set. Meanwhile, even though in the novel Lovecraft spends the whole year in New York, Samuel Loveman never appears in person (and he is in New York too in the novel) - even worse than that, in one scene that seems almost designed to frustrate Loveman’s fans, HPL finally decides to meet him but then is thwarted by the plot! I think it’s a missed opportunity, he would make an interesting character and would probably add to the themes of the book. Frank Long is here, but he’s a bit dull and basically spends all the novel just smoking his pipe and being phlegmatic and sometimes even a bit slow. Nevertheless, I enjoyed some scenes related to Lovecraft’s relationship with him and his family. Some of the strongest parts of the novel are ones that include Sonia. Aside from the works that are specifically about their relationship (they tend to be plays or audio plays for some reason), Lupoff’s book presents probably the most detailed portrayal of it, which is both realistic enough and sometimes is realistically touching.
Speaking about the political aspect of the book, I don’t really have many complaints about it except that the whole premise doesn’t seem that plausible. I just don’t see why Lovecraft, who was nobody outside of amateur journalism and early SFF fandom and didn’t actively participate in politics, would be approached with the offer to write something as important as basically the American version of “Mein Kampf”. Once you can suspend your disbelief, though, the rest is readable enough. It is interesting to imagine how Lovecraft would have acted if he indeed became involved in politics, but, I regret to say, the author doesn’t use this premise to the full potential, and it just ends up drowning in the sea of mundanity. I did, however, like how he approached Lovecraft’s politics, with necessary nuance and without heavy-handed condemnation, while still letting the readers see how facepalm-inducing they were. We don’t get to read excerpts from Lovecraft's book until almost the very end, and when we do, they are predictably not pretty. At the end of the novel, while he does get to see these right-wing political figures for what they are, he doesn’t seem to have learned much, and this, too, is sadly realistic.
June 5, 2022
My favourite kind of alt history even though I though the head nazi was a bit Indiana Jones but maybe that was the point.
Lovecraft's racism is funny af. The shock he gets when he realises Italian's have culture. I think portraying him as a naif was the right choice for this kind of book.
Lovecraft's racism is funny af. The shock he gets when he realises Italian's have culture. I think portraying him as a naif was the right choice for this kind of book.
September 18, 2023
Teniendo en cuenta en todo momento que es una novela: me ha gustado y la recomiendo.
Se nota que el escritor hizo una investigación a conciencia, y tanto la parte histórica como el personaje de Lovecraft está muy bien documentado, sin llegar a ser aburrido.
Se nota que el escritor hizo una investigación a conciencia, y tanto la parte histórica como el personaje de Lovecraft está muy bien documentado, sin llegar a ser aburrido.
April 9, 2018
Lovecraft's Book is a book about H.P. Lovecraft's life, his friends & family and about political events in the early 1930s - both real and fictional. Readers hoping to catch Cthulhu or one of his companions will 'only' find references to HPL's work for 'Weird Tales' (stronlgy assuming the anecdotes and events described by Lupoff are accurate, however, these are really quite interesting) and bit-parts for the likes of Robert E. Howard and Frank Belknap Long.
There are some very strong passages. Just take Lupoff's excellent analysis of what was wrong with the Nazi ideology based on Hitler's own background (ca. @ 53%): ‘You’ve put your finger on it exactly, now! You see – the Jews were not the guests in Vienna! Hitler was! He was from where – Braunau, Linz. He was the bumpkin visiting the metropolis, unable to cope with the variety of types and the diversity of styles which he encountered! And rather than recognizing a shortcoming in himself, he laid all the blame on those around him! And rather than correct his own short-comings, he would banish those whose presence made him conscious of his own failings!’ and a quote Lupoff attributes to Lovecraft (ca. @ 18%): ‘I think it [the aëroplane] is a most admirable vehicle for the cultural ennoblement of the gentry. I only fear its vulgarization into a tool of mass commerce.’
A couple of things worth pointing out:
SF Gateway (= Gollancz) offers 'Lovecraft's Book' and 'Marblehead' as parts of a series or at least as a sequel but they are neither.
I've had a chance to check with the author re. this 'Book 1 and 2' issue. Here's what he wrote in an email this month (abbreviated for length and privacy reasons):
In 1976 I wrote a very long novel about Howard Lovecraft. I had a contract for the book with G. P. Putnam. My editor there returned the manuscript, saying that I would have to cut the length by 50% and tighten up the plot.
It took me several attempts to do this, during which time my editor left the company and another editor was assigned the book. I had finally gone back to my outline and written the whole book over again, at half the length. Only a few pages of the original manuscript survived by this time. The new editor told my agent that the most recent version of the manuscript had totally fulfilled Putnam's demands but they now wanted a book of a very different sort of book. Would I write it once more.
That was the end of my relationship with G. P. Putnam. But some time later the editor at Arkham House, Jim Turner, bought the book and published it under the title LOVECRAFT'S BOOK.
Several decades Ramble House asked to see the original (long) manuscript and published the book as MARBLEHEAD: A NOVEL OF H.P. LOVECRAFT. It's 160,000 words long, double the length of the Arkham House version.
Makes you wonder why an experienced publisher like Gollancz would make such a mistake.
Also - Chapter 16 of the SF Gateway-edition has text missing - how much I don't know; it might be single sentences or whole pages. Two examples: (...) as I seldom have occasion to visit residences on Lüdecke raised one blond eyebrow toward Viereck. sir?’ Even through the man’s (...) and (...)behind him in the room. you wish. All have the same story. About the S-4.’ He He snapped a gesture toward a far corner of the room. ‘And here is (...)
Despite these annoying errors, a novel well worth reading!
There are some very strong passages. Just take Lupoff's excellent analysis of what was wrong with the Nazi ideology based on Hitler's own background (ca. @ 53%): ‘You’ve put your finger on it exactly, now! You see – the Jews were not the guests in Vienna! Hitler was! He was from where – Braunau, Linz. He was the bumpkin visiting the metropolis, unable to cope with the variety of types and the diversity of styles which he encountered! And rather than recognizing a shortcoming in himself, he laid all the blame on those around him! And rather than correct his own short-comings, he would banish those whose presence made him conscious of his own failings!’ and a quote Lupoff attributes to Lovecraft (ca. @ 18%): ‘I think it [the aëroplane] is a most admirable vehicle for the cultural ennoblement of the gentry. I only fear its vulgarization into a tool of mass commerce.’
A couple of things worth pointing out:
SF Gateway (= Gollancz) offers 'Lovecraft's Book' and 'Marblehead' as parts of a series or at least as a sequel but they are neither.
I've had a chance to check with the author re. this 'Book 1 and 2' issue. Here's what he wrote in an email this month (abbreviated for length and privacy reasons):
In 1976 I wrote a very long novel about Howard Lovecraft. I had a contract for the book with G. P. Putnam. My editor there returned the manuscript, saying that I would have to cut the length by 50% and tighten up the plot.
It took me several attempts to do this, during which time my editor left the company and another editor was assigned the book. I had finally gone back to my outline and written the whole book over again, at half the length. Only a few pages of the original manuscript survived by this time. The new editor told my agent that the most recent version of the manuscript had totally fulfilled Putnam's demands but they now wanted a book of a very different sort of book. Would I write it once more.
That was the end of my relationship with G. P. Putnam. But some time later the editor at Arkham House, Jim Turner, bought the book and published it under the title LOVECRAFT'S BOOK.
Several decades Ramble House asked to see the original (long) manuscript and published the book as MARBLEHEAD: A NOVEL OF H.P. LOVECRAFT. It's 160,000 words long, double the length of the Arkham House version.
Makes you wonder why an experienced publisher like Gollancz would make such a mistake.
Also - Chapter 16 of the SF Gateway-edition has text missing - how much I don't know; it might be single sentences or whole pages. Two examples: (...) as I seldom have occasion to visit residences on Lüdecke raised one blond eyebrow toward Viereck. sir?’ Even through the man’s (...) and (...)behind him in the room. you wish. All have the same story. About the S-4.’ He He snapped a gesture toward a far corner of the room. ‘And here is (...)
Despite these annoying errors, a novel well worth reading!
April 19, 2012
Sometimes it's better not to know what happens behind the curtain. Do you really want to know that the Great and Glorious Oz frequently passed out in their own vomit after a weekend bender? Same reason not to like this book. Most H.P. Lovecraft fans know that he had issues with women, and is to put it kindly more than a little racist. However trying to read a book that glories in his faults was a tedious exercise.
This book tends to focus on the warts of the man rather than the mind of the author, and so a fairly worthless exercise, unless you need an itemized catalog of Lovecraft's faults.
This book tends to focus on the warts of the man rather than the mind of the author, and so a fairly worthless exercise, unless you need an itemized catalog of Lovecraft's faults.
March 17, 2021
A fascinating fictional adventure featuring some real characters. Some of the racist opinions are a bit jarring but emblematic of the time.
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January 24, 2016La traducción al español da vergüenza.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews