The Shadow over Innsmouth

I haven't read a lot of H. P. Lovecraft's work, but The Shadow over Innsmouth is a good read. I am far from being an aficionado of the genre of cosmic horror, yet I really enjoyed this particular novella.

As with many other historical figures and accomplished and famous people from previous generations, Lovecraft is castigated today for his racist, xenophobic views that are decidedly out of touch with our modern sensibilities. Fair criticism, I suppose, yet I am amused that so many people today seem to have no doubt that they would have been so much more benevolent, enlightened, and fair-minded had they lived in an earlier place and time. I would suggest that if these individuals were white, male Southerners living on plantations in the Deep South of the early nineteenth century, odds are that they too would have held some views that wouldn't exactly be acceptable in a twenty-first century United States. Not that H. P. Lovecraft was a white, male Southerner living on a plantation in the Deep South of the early nineteenth century. He was born later in the century and he spent much of his life in New England.

In any case, his work is respected and recognized. And it is entertaining. So check out The Shadow Over Innsmouth (see link below). As for myself, I hope to read more of his fiction going forward.

https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/soi.aspx