From: dmpowell@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Darin M. Powell)
Subject: Lovecraft Philosophy (was _Necronomicon_) 
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 11:44:48 EDT

     Naty Hoffman writes:

>> Re Lovecraft - does anyone know if/where it is possible to find the "notes by
>> Lovecraft" on which Derleth claims he based his horrible pastiches?

     T. Kurt Bond writes:

>I've seen refences to HPL's notebooks in other sources than Derleth; I don't
>remember seeing any references to a published version.  Some of the stories
>that Derleth listed Lovecraft as a co-author on seemed to be completely written
>by Derleth inspired by a sentence or two of HPL's.
	

	Ramsey Campbell, in is introduction to "Cold Print", mentions
	Lovecraft's "commonplace book" or notebook, which he used to
	draw inspiration for his mythos tales. But I've never seen it --
	I don't know if its published (like the letters) or not.

	The Derleth/Lovecraft "posthumous collaborations" (and Derleth
	pastiches) are particularly troubling for serious weird fiction
	readers and those who take Lovecraft seriously.  Most of the
	Derleth-Lovecraft stories are mostly Derleth.  Derleth would
	use one line from Lovecraft's notebook and justify that as a
	"collaboration."


	The biggest problem with this is Derleth's distortion and
	bastardization of Lovecraft's underlying philosopy. As
	disscussed by both Donald Burleson and S.T. Joshi, Lovecrafts
	mature works were based on a philosophy of cosmicism, where
	human beings were mere flyspecks in the great ointment of time.
	Lovecraft's "outer gods" were not really gods...just creatures
	from another time, and the actual true inhabitants of the earth.
	They were not out to destory humans, or eat them, or scare them.
	To Cthulhu and Yog-Soggoth, humans were no more than ants.
	"They do not care," Lovecraft wrote, "and that explains the
	universe."

	But Derleth changed all that, dividing up the outer gods into
	good guys and bad guys, battling for control of the earth, with
	humans actually fighting back and (sometimes) winning. In essence,
	it became a space-opera. Lovecraft, in one of his letters, remarked
	that Derleth was not a deep thinker..."Little earth-gazing
	Augie Derleth" he wrote. (I'm paraphrasing from memory here)
	Derleth just didn't get it.

	Lovecraft also left details in his story purpously vague. He
	did not sit down and plot out all the connections between the
	"outer gods", throwing in just enough references to tip off
	the reader and imply the connection (the repeated names and
	_The Necronomicon_ being the main device for this). Derleth
	(and other later writers, like Brian Lumley) filled in all
	the little details, transforming it into a galatic soap opera.

	Derleth had nothing but good intentions; and his efforts on
	behalf of Lovecraft, founding Arkham House, etc. are one of
	the main reasons Lovecraft is still around. But it terms of
	his own written contributions, he helped to build a distorted
	image of Lovecraft's work and altered the philosophical
	grounding of HPL's writing.

	Darin Powell
	Syracuse University

	"I think its time to have a talk with my kids
	 I'll just tell 'em what my daddy told me:
	 You'll never amount to nothing."

	 -- Faith No More


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