Lovecraft pioneered COSMIC HORROR , no doubt about that . His later LETTERS show him to have evolved into a democratic socialist . He was a kind and sensitive soul . Sometimes I feel that the ONLY antidote to Lovecraft's vision of COSMIC HORROR is pre-Vatican II Catholicism. A number of " YEARS BEST HORROR " stories I read recently are quite alien to the Lovecraft style. What I found REALLY scary about these stories is that they seem the product of unbalanced minds deranged by visions of sadistic horror PORN . " You can get rich on this sick trash ? " I wondered. If you cannot get beyond nihilistic COSMIC HORROR , then you will surely end up in the minions of Satan . Did popular science writer Carl Sagan consider this when he wrote his excellent book " The Demon Haunted World " ? What I liked about Albert Camus -his long reflections on THE ABSURD - was his concern to rise above the nihilism of our times. None of the obnoxious New Atheists show Camus' respect for the religious instincts of humanity that protect it from " the dark night of the soul ".
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ReplyDeleteLovecraft pioneered COSMIC HORROR , no doubt about that . His later LETTERS show him to have evolved into a democratic socialist . He was a kind and sensitive soul . Sometimes I feel that the ONLY antidote to Lovecraft's vision of COSMIC HORROR is pre-Vatican II Catholicism.
A number of " YEARS BEST HORROR " stories I read recently are quite alien to the Lovecraft style. What I found REALLY scary about these stories is that they seem the product of unbalanced minds deranged by visions of sadistic horror PORN . " You can get rich on this sick trash ? " I wondered.
If you cannot get beyond nihilistic COSMIC HORROR , then you will surely end up in the minions of Satan . Did popular science writer Carl Sagan consider this when he wrote his excellent book " The Demon Haunted World " ?
What I liked about Albert Camus -his long reflections on THE ABSURD - was his concern to rise above the nihilism of our times. None of the obnoxious New Atheists show Camus' respect for the religious instincts of humanity that protect it from " the dark night of the soul ".