Lovecraft's racism was significantly more extreme than for his time. He constantly called New York "Jew York", even while married to a Jew. He was a complicated fellow, but explicitly wished not to be a product of his time, but an imagined better era (Specifically he calls out the time of Queen Anne in one of his letters0.
yummyfajitas|9 years ago
He strongly criticized Hitler, who he called a clown and who's policies he called barbaric. His main critique of the Jews was their cultural influence: "Aryans ought not to leave their guidance and interpretation to persons of an irreconcilable Semitic culture,...If the Jews had a nation of their own (and they would if they had our guts and self-respect) I’d be the first to insist that it be kept free of Aryan influences. As it is, I honestly regret the Aryan taint (any infusion is a taint if it’s where it doesn’t belong) in the noble and ancient culture of Japan."
(Quote from here: https://chuckhoffman.blogspot.in/2016/03/making-excuses-for-... )
Even today many folks hold similar views: think of SF nimbys and other left wing activists who are critical of the cultural influences of tech bros and gentrifiers.
He also thought blacks were fundamentally inferior; are you going to characterize this as somehow uncommon in the 1890-1937 era?
watwut|9 years ago