Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A curious tale of Ancient Gods

Ok,

I've heard about the Cthulhu mythos and its author, H.P. Lovecraft, from many of my friends over the years, but I had never read any of his work. I, generally, don't like to read fiction. I'm more of a researcher and fiction leaves me wanting more. I want it to be real.

This past weekend, after a trip to Athens, I was allowed to borrow a book about H.P. "The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture" by Jason Colavito.

One of the descriptions of H.P. caught me a bit off guard.

In a description of Cthulhu's author, Colavito stated:

"While Lovecraft himself stood in awe of the Eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, and pure reason, his anachronistic love of the past was itself a manifestation of the Romantic spirit. Lovecraft would often fantasize about living in the colonial world and he adopted the mannerisms of an eighteenth-century Georgian gentleman. "

I'm reminded of how I like to write Franklin-style letters to my friends and I wonder...

Some people looked at the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and have adopted them into their own curious religious and magical practices.

Will the "Diciples of Tom" (aka D.o.T.s) turn into a quazi-religious movement? Will there be conspiracy theories about ancient gods that escaped Atlantis and founded Avalon? Will black and silver banners of Spiders unfurl over a new empire?

Hrm......


1 comment:

Emeleth said...

"Like building a house of wood and stone he arranges people to set the world to right, though it is not known which world he serves."
--Maltharian Gospel, excerpt

Abso-freakin'-lutely. ;)