/lit/ - Literature

I heard good things about this show. How is Lovecraft related?

>>4579383

Lot of references to "the king in yellow"

which I have heard directly influenced H.P. Lovecraft

The story is about these 2 detectives that are investigation a "ritual/satanic murder"

The show is grounded in reality, but there is some subtle hints to the supernatural

>>4579383
Trough his use of The King in Yellow from which he borrowed on occasion from Robert W. Chambers original works. The weird fiction of the era was the main influence on Thomas Ligotti, from which the shows creator is influenced the most. Just look up cosmic horror to see what we're talking about.

The shadow over innsmouth is the best story, start there.

All you need to read to really get TD is The King in Yellow and Conspiracy Against the Human Race.

And you don't even reaaaally need to know Ligotti's work, just to be familiar with philosophical pessimism. But TKIY will help.

It's a fantastic show. Well on it's way to being the best season of TV ever.

>>4579383
It is a racist bigot show, just like Lovecraft.

>>4579412
How is it racist?

>>4579412
6/10

If you hadn't caught this one >>4579417 , then you would have only been awarded 3/10.

You can read literally everything Lovecraft has ever written for free.

http://hplovecraft.com/writings/

I've always felt Dagon is a good story to start on, after that I'd say The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Colour Out of Space, At the Mountains of Madness, and I guess The Call of Cthulhu (The weakest of the four but it is the only story where Cthulhu itself is in the foreground) are the most essential reads. After those just pick whatever you think interests you most. Lovecraft wrote short stories so it's easy to read a good deal of his work in a relatively short amount of time.

>>4579504
Forgot to mention, if you have a tablet computer like a Nexus then the site also has an app for reading his work in E-book form.

>>4579390
>The show is grounded in reality, but there is some subtle hints to the supernatural

Such as?

I wondered for a long time how to 'get into' Lovecraft, but then one day I just sat down with this collection of all of his works, and read his stories in chronological order, starting with one he made when he was 16 or something

Just read his stuff, there is no correct order to do so in

Pretty much everything mentioned so far gets the "key books" out in the open.

As far as where to start? Honestly, I'd say The Music of Erich Zann.

>>4579539
>starting with one he made when he was 16 or something

What was it like? I had no idea he had juvenilia.

>>4579515
All the ritual bullshit

Ledoux acting like someone out of a supernatural horror.

>>4579562
Adding to this that I feel like the show is gearing up towards a kind of supernatural horror revelation with regard to the cult.

All right, if /lit/ likes this show it MUST be good. What channel is it on? When does it come on?

>>4579565
The guys making said no go on supernatural

>>4579576
Ooh. I'm a bit happy about that to be honest. It would be a bit of a cop-out with all the supernatural themes already hinted at in the show.

>>4579568
Sundays on HBO at 9pm EST.

>>4579383
The show has a very cosmic horror vibe to it. It's really good even if /tv/ thinks it's fedoracore just because one of the main characters is an atheist.

>>4579614
>even if /tv/ thinks it's fedoracore
i thank that's just a joke. everyone watches td over there

>>4579631
Yeah. It's really obvious the only people who say that are trolling.

I think anyone who has read any philosophy will know the Rust Cohle character is far from a dilettante.

>>4579614
>The show has a very cosmic horror vibe to it

No, it seriously doesn't.

When did alluding to Satanic rituals suddenly imbue something as being "cosmic horror"-ish.

>>4579647
>alludes to cults and rituals
>heavy use of nihilistic worldview and horrific consequences of cosmic enlightenment
>dark foreboding atmosphere
>chock full of references to weird fiction and lovecraftian-related literature
certainly gives off a cosmic horror vibe to me, even if it hasn't (or won't) deal with supernatural stuff

The Dunwich Horror
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
At The Mountains of Madness
The Case of Charles Dexter ward
The Shadow out of Time
The Color out of Space

I believe those are some of his most lengthy tales.

Some shorter ones that are great are:
Dagon
The Outsider
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
The Music of Erich Zann
Dreams in the Witch-house
Call of Cthulhu (a bit difficult to read, might wanna read some of his other stuff before this)

Herbert West Re-animator is also good, though not too short, not too long. The Lurking Fear and The Alchemist are also cool tales that, Like Re-animator, aren't directly related to Cthulhu mythos/dream cycle.

If this happens in the show, it will be goat.

>>4579504
I really enjoyed the dunwich horror as well. Kind of different for the ending. I also love the people

>>4579380
I would recommend you start with some of his more accessible short stories to get into his writing style. My favorites are "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" and "Herbert West—Reanimator."

>>4579380
>peaked
Oh yeah, it's still 4chan.

>>4579508

whats the app called.

I do have a nexus 10. Perfect for reading

thomas ligotti
emil cioran
david benatar
schopenhauer
jack kevorkian(in some sense)

Best lovecraft works objectively in no particular order:

>Rats in the Walls
>The Alchemist
>Dunwich Horror
>Shadow out of Time
>Colour out of Space
>Dreams in the Witch House
>Under the Pyramids
>Through the Gates of the Silver Key
>The Shunned House
>At the Mountains of Madness
>Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

>>4580283
occult fascist is it you

So I just downloaded The King in Yellow. Is it really worth reading to better appreciate the show? Usually, I'd just dive in, but I'm currently reading a couple other things I'd rather finish first.

>>4580235
>File: 1392679629932.jpg-(312 KB, 1140x641, true-detective-poster-16x9-1.jpg)
Cthulhoid

>>4580283
Fuck I'm a pleb, I totally forgot to mention Shadow Out of Time.

>>4579380
*piqued

>>4580283
Colour Out of Space is the only Lovecraft work I've read and I found it so fucking boring. Should I press on?

>>4580235
>backlit tab with refresh rate
>perfect for reading

Nope, sorry m8.

>>4581014
His other stories have more "going on" but ultimately all have kind of the same flavor. Maybe try a short cosmic one like From Beyond or Dreams in the Witch Housr?

>>4581014
I like Lovecraft and often hear people mentioning Colour Out of Space as one of his best. But it felt pretty mediocre compared to his other stuff so I'd say give him another chance.

I prefer these:
The Hound
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Unnamable
The Dunwich Horror
At the Mountains of Madness
The Shadow Over Innsmouth

>>4581170
I thought 'Cool Air' was pretty great, too.

>>4579557

Anon, if he reads the best one first how will he truly enjoy therest?

>>4579380
Begin with short stories

The Colour Out of Space
The Call of Cthulhu
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness

>>4581288
>Call of Cthulhu

Shit least, kill self

>>4579844
Brilliant.

It probably won't though. The writer director not sure which one already said it won't, I think it's a straightforward cult but I am digging the references to cosmic horror and it certainly has a creepy vibe to it, remember the owl in the burned down church at the end of episode 2?

>>4581853
That was a woman with antlers not an owl YOU STUPID MONKEY

>>4580288
I've started reading it.
So far I've gathered it's a bunch of short stories and each one mentions the King in Yellow.

>>4581868
This is clearly an owl.

>>4581877
Apologies

>>4581877
Its clearly a whale.

>>4579515

>>4582852
Nah m8. That's a wallaby.

I am a black man and interested in reading Lovecraft's work. Is this a recipe for disaster, or are any reasons to deter me from reading nonexistent? I've heard things.

>>4583133
Anybody?

Is it THAT bad?

>>4583133
Lovecraft's racism is mostly oblique, but noticeable. He's more frightened of otherness, honesty. He portrays all marginal people, people living in poverty, in isolation, as people likely exposed to forces outside understanding, which are almost always malign and threatening, rather than benevolent or benign.

His xenophobia is much worst.

>tfw you haven't watched one episode of true detective

is it like twin peaks

>>4583245
Okay, because his stuff seems right up my alley and it would have been a shame for me to have this constant notion of racism gnawing at the back of my head throughout the read.

I guess as long as it's subtle enough and the hate is passed around pretty widely, I can tolerate it. Just as long as I'm not getting hit with barrages of "nigger" and insults of that nature. I know, browsing 4chan should desensitize me, but there's something off-putting about knowing that the author would hate the fact that you're read his work. It's not necessarily a case of shame, but rather a case of "knowing when I'm not wanted".

>>4583133
for what it's worth, the premier lovecraft scholar in the world is an indian guy.

>>4583266
There's nothing violent and direct like that in most of his fiction. It's all crypto-racism, or calling people "savages" at worst.

>>4583266
Would it make you feel better to know that it's implied in Lovecraft's letters to other authors that he eventually got over the bulk of his racism and feels a little ashamed by it?

>>4583084
that's an acid flashback

>>4583284
>>4583282
>>4583274
Thanks guys, that's all actually pretty reassuring. I didn't plan on missing out on such work over such arguably trivial reasons, but I think I feel confident enough to bump his stuff up in my backlog now. Gonna go ahead and start with The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

>>4583133
I find Lovecraft's racism mostly funny because it's often so over-the-top, at least in the instances in which it's an intrusion upon the narrative ("So we were looking for corpses or reanimate and we found the body of a black guy [BLACK PEOPLE ARE SCARY] and took it back to the lab...").

>>4583304
That's actually the first time of heard of such a connotation in his work. That must be one of his more eyebrow-raising parts.

No, the most eyebrow-raising points is the protagonist of The Rats in the Walls having a cat named "Niggerman".

>>4583359
Wow, had to actually google that one.

I should definitely be good now, that's one way of ripping the bandaid off early.

>>4583359
He loved that cat!

>>4583304
AND THEN MY PARENT WAS AN AFRICAN

TD created a craving for the southern gothic, among other things.

>>4579380
>peaked
Don't come here colloquially illiterate, its "piqued".

>>4579412
>racist
Xenophobic nationalism, numbnuts.
>>4579504
Dis nigga knows his shit

>>4581877
Clearly a reference to Twin Peaks and will never be brought up again in the series.

>>4580283
>best work
>objective list

I call bullshit.

>>4583251
It's like Twin Peaks but without the comic relief and weird food scenes. Both pretty great shows, good thing about this only getting 8 episodes is that it cant really turn to shit like TP sadly did.