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Yog Sothoth Neblod Zin!
That is not dead which can eternal lie And with strange aeons even death may die. – The Necronomicon
It is with great pleasure that we note that the 20th century’s most influential horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, is finally receiving the rightful place in the literary canon that has been so long denied him. The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher devoted to issuing the collected works of “serious” writers, has put together a handsome, 800 page hardcover tome which, for the first time, collects all of HPL’s best novellas and stories in one place.
We must admit that we were more than a little surprised to see a positive review of the Lovecraft collection, penned by a writer for the National Review, appearing in the Wall Street Journal. However, upon careful perusal of the HPL canon, certain unimistakable connections become perfectly clear. For instance:
That cult would never die till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to revive His subjects and resume His rule of earth. The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy.– The Call of Cthulhu
Now, if that isn’t a dead-on description of the worldviews of both the Wall Street Journal and the National Review, I don’t know what is. Why, the entire passage could’ve come directly from a Project for the New American Century whitepaper!
But I digress. The prose of Howard Philips Lovecraft has inspired much more than just the conquest dreams of bloodthirsty neoconservatives: the novels of Stephen King, the songs of Metallica, numerous film festivals, and even the presidential election, to name just a few examples. Truly, this magnificent author, ignored and relegated to pulp magazines during his lifetime, has since attained unprecedented acclaim and respectability. Such a shame that, being dead, he’s not around to enjoy any of it.
Or…...is he?
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
