
In all of the time horror literature has existed, no author has the modern pop culture recognition that Howard Philip Lovecraft commands. He has such dominance over modern horror pop culture due to the fact that, despite toiling and dying in pulp magazines, Lovecraft  influenced many horror writers, even slightly, to the point where Lovecraft's fingerprints can be seen over modern horror fiction. From literature to the silver screen, Lovecraft's influence casts a wide shadow. What is slightly less known about Lovecraft however, is that he is equally a master of horror as he is at being a master racist. Yes, Lovecraft is no stranger to racist remarks in his works and even racist themes are included in his writing. This of course has significantly tarnished Lovecraft's reputation in the eyes of the modern readership. Despite this tarnishing of reputations however, his racist reputation is not a strong enough force to deter modern horror writers and many continue to be inspired by Lovecraft. That, of course, remains problematic as Lovecraft's racism has not changed over time due to the fact that he died before he had a chance to change his views. It is the same today as it was in 1937 when Lovecraft died and is even more divisive today as our society is more aware of the effects of racism and less tolerant of racist viewpoints. The racist themes in Lovecraft can equally inspire his readers as much as the horror elements contained in his writings. That is why the modern readers of Lovecraft must become aware of and actively reject the racism in his works.

Lovecraft is widely regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the modern genre. Despite the ever increasing years whittling away the number of works that Lovecraft is known for, he still has an impressive influence on modern horror writing. Lovecraft was born to a wealthy family in New England in 1829; the family money was mismanaged and he became virtually penniless. In addition to experiencing poverty, Lovecraft lost his mother and father at a young age. As an adult, Lovecraft became a writer and a member of the United Amateur Press Association and became friends with many other writers of the time by either travel or correspondence with them. In his time as a writer Lovecraft ironically preferred not to publish his own works instead opting to ghostwrite throughout most of his career. The works that Lovecraft did publish however did not receive universal acclaim while he was alive. It was not until a long time after his death that his work garnered esteem and his style copied by other writers and creators.  

Over time, his popularity grew and Lovecraft became one of the most influential horror writers of the early 20th century. A large percentage of  modern horror writers are influenced by Lovecraft. The list of creators inspired by Lovecraft is diverse and includes writers such as Stephen King, directors like Guillermo Del Toro, and even the Welcome To Night Vale podcast creators Joseph Fink and Jeremey Cranor. One of the most popular modern writers of books that will make you sleep with the lights on is Stephen King.  When asked about the influences on his writing, King cited Lovecraft saying,  "There are so many! Lord of the Flies (Golding), The Collector (Fowles), The Postman Always Rings Twice (Cain), Blood Meridian (McCarthy), John D. MacDonald (everything), Watchers (Koontz), One on One (King), The Poet (Connelly), H.P. Lovecraft (everything), The Great God Pan (Machen)" (King, 2014).  As King included every work of Lovecraft, he was obviously heavily influenced by Lovecraft. 

Guilleromo del Toro, an Academy award winning Mexican film director, specifically is a huge fan of Lovecraft which is evident even in his non-horror movies. In "Pacific Rim" (written and directed by del Toro) for instance, del Toro has included extradimensional giant monsters evoking the "Old Ones" of the Lovecraft mythos. These monsters star as the main villains. Not only is Lovecraft's influence seen in Hollywood, his influence extends to trading card games. The originator of the modern TCG (trading card game) "Magic the Gathering" based one of their worlds, "Innistrad", on horror tropes. In 2016, specifically, Magic published "Shadows over Innistrad" which is heavily based on Lovecraftian horror tropes. 

Lovecraft's influence on Joseph Fink is obvious enough as there are numerous Lovecraftian elements in the Fink's podcast "Welcome to Night Vale". Some of these elements are: all of the wheat and wheat byproducts turning into snakes, a glowing sentient cloud possessing the town's people's minds, angelic figures who legally cannot be acknowledged to exist by anyone, the unimaginably terrifying station management and a massive corporation bent on subjugating the entire town to  their impossibly bright Smiling God. The station management in Night Vale is extremely Lovecraftian, they are described as: "station management stays inside their office at all times, only communicating with us through sealed envelopes that are spat out from under the door like a sunflower shell through teeth. Then, in order to respond, you just kind of shout at the closed door and hope that management hears. Sometimes you can see movements through the frosted glass, large shapes shifting around, strange tendrils whipping through the air."(Fink, Station Management). As there are so many aspects of the podcast that mimic Lovecraftian elements, it is clear that Fink was heavily influenced by Lovecraft's writing. 

Lovecraft was at his core a xenophobe who wrote very racist works. Even if you were taking into consideration the time period in which he was writing and allowing that people spoke differently in the past, his works contained more racist references than were normal or acceptable for the early part of the twentieth century. Defining racism can be difficult; however Lovecraft definitely can be labeled as racist. One of Lovecraft's most racist statements comes in his short story,"Herbert West Reanimator". When describing a black boxer, Lovecraft wrote "  ...  a loathsome, gorilla like thing, with abnormally long arms which I could not help calling fore legs, and a face that conjured up thoughts of unspeakable Congo secrets and tom-tom poundings under a eerie moon". (Lovecraft, 341) Another example of his overt racism is seen in a short story published by Lovecraft in 1924, "Rats in The Walls". In that story, the main protagonist had a pet cat who was named "Nigger-Man". (Lovecraft, 360). This name does not add anything to the story, in fact it is just thrown into the end of a sentence. 

Lovecraft was also an anti-semite. Despite hypocritically marrying a Jewish woman, he still spouted the Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that are still trotted out by modern day Neo-Nazis. Mainly that the Jews rule the banks despite all evidence to the contrary. His xenophobia is on plain display as he tended to be Anglo-Saxon centered in his writing which shows his disdain for people different from him. Lovecraft wrote fantasy and horror short stories which did not contain characters who practiced a religion as Lovecraft is known for being a touch militantly atheist. But, many of his stories have an undercurrent of negativity which divides the characters from each other and he also uses a negative tone when writing about whether different groups should be together as he was strongly in favor of segregation and spoke in favor of keeping racial groups to themselves while he lived in the mixed neighborhood of New York, Red Hook.

Even if Lovecraft is racist, why does that matter? After all he is dead so he can't do any more harm like he could if he were to endorse Donald Trump. While it is true that Lovecraft is dead and decomposing, his legacy still lives on and his racism still influences people to this very day. Someone who reads and loves his work could be influenced by what they read if they are not careful. This influence could encourage someone to hold and promote the racist and xenophobic views that Lovecraft espoused. On the other hand, a reader could be influenced by the style of writing and leave the negative portions of his writing alone. However when people are esteemed enough, their words and opinions are considered more important than others who are not as popular. Therefore, there remains a danger that some could look to Lovecraft as a role model and hold all that he wrote and try to model their writing style after his. While this can just include taking the style of how Lovecraft wrote; it can also include the racial overtones that Lovecraft is infamous for using.  It is difficult to determine how large of a danger this is though.  Most authors who claim to be influenced by Lovecraft do not adopt his bigoted viewpoints. 

Racism is a notion created between humans which divides us on the basis of heritage and physical appearance. What racism is though, depends mainly upon who you are speaking to. A member of a group such as a "Black Lives Matter" will definitely define racism differently than a Klansman would. According to Lawrence D. Bobo and Cybelle Fox racism is the "basis and mechanisms of hierarchical differentiation that shape the ordering of social relations as well as the allocation of life experiences and life chance". (Bobo, Fox) This means that racism, in simple terms, is bias and inherent social ordering based on skin tone and ethnicity. Lovecraft specifically viewed himself and other white Anglo-Saxons as better than blacks, Asians (he referred to them as Mongoloids), and of course the Jewish. He regarded each of these groups as sub-human and less evolved than white Europeans. Unsurprisingly, Lovecraft also hated miscegenation (interbreeding of two people of supposedly different races) so much that he based two stories off of it: "Rats in the Walls" and more famously "Shadows over Innsmouth".  It is absolutely necessary to have open and frank discussions about Lovecraft's viewpoints and point out how harmful the racist opinions are to a community and to individuals. 

The racism and xenophobia that is central in Lovecraft's works can influence others to harbor racist views. As with anything, racism can spread between people. One of the most impactful vectors for spreading racist views before the internet was invented was print. This is mainly due to print's ability to be spread very quickly after publication especially if the type of print was in tabloids as in the early 1900's pulps. Even in the modern age, Lovecraft can still influence others to hold racist views. Reading an author's works for long enough, the reader can grow to hold similar opinions if the reader is not careful. That is why it is important for the reader to know that an author is racist. Once the reader is aware of this point of view, the reader is then better able to recognize the insidious theme and leave it behind while taking the good parts of the story.

The racist views of Lovecraft must be combated (rejected and renounced) in the works inspired by Lovecraft and in real life so that people becoming more tolerant of others.  Given the ability for the works of Lovecraft to inspire others to act racist, it is important for those who appreciate his creative genius to overtly respond to the racist elements of his stories.  Many can read his works and brush off the racist and xenophobic comments and attitudes claiming that he was a product of his times. But, by failing to directly answer to these aspects of his stories, the readers can be seen by some as complicit in racism. 

 There are several responses that can be given to Lovecraft's racism that will reject the negative viewpoints of the author.  One could write using his horror tropes, but, like Welcome to Night Vale, create characters that are markedly different. Characters who get along despite their differences. Other creators such as King and Del Toro do not include Lovecraft's racism in their works but do not comment on them explicitly either. By not commenting directly on the racism, the authors leave it to the reader to understand that they do not hold the same racist viewpoints as Lovecraft. 

Within the horror genre there is perhaps no author who has influenced the modern horror genre more than H.P. Lovecraft. In almost all of modern horror a keen reader can find Lovecraft's influence on the genre, from the movies to books, plays, and even podcasts. People around the globe have been influenced by Lovecraft whether they know it or not. That influence however does not come without its problems as with most things. The biggest issue with Lovecraft's influence is his stupendous racism. It is important for modern audiences to be aware of the racist themes in Lovecraft's works so that these themes can be rejected altogether. Once the reader is aware of these elements, the reader can reject them and enjoy the creative and entertaining aspects of Lovecraft's writing. 

