Profs and Pints Online presents: “Cthulhu and the Klan,” a look at H.P. Lovecraft’s race problem, with Peter Herman. lecturer of theology and religious studies at Marymount University and scholar of religious and social themes in science fiction.

H.P Lovecraft's “Cthulhu Mythos” stories have inspired generations of science fiction and horror writers and served as the basis of board games, movies, and role-playing games. More recently they have spawned a forthcoming HBO series from Jordan Peele and Misha Green called “Lovecraft Country.”  Based on a Lovecraft-inspired novel of the same name written by Matt Ruff, it looks at whether the bigger threat to humanity in the 1950s was the racism of that era or unspeakable horrors from the beyond.

Working in the early 20th century in the genre then known as "Weird Fiction", Lovecraft created a world that was both much like our own and threatened from the beyond. Throughout his work, his two main targets were religion and non-white people, which he linked abject terror, madness, and decay. Was he an equal-opportunity hater of all humanity, or driven by bigotry? Were his views only a product of his era, or were they something worse? What does it say about us that we are still fascinated by his work?

Come learn more about the role that race played in Lovecraft’s work within horror and science fiction, and the question of whether some of the ideas that he held might have made him a scary figure himself. We'll discuss Lovecraft's work and legacy within horror and science fiction and talk about writers who are using Lovecraft's own world to talk about racism in productive ways, including Matt Ruff, and N.K. Jemisin. Is it possible for newer writers to redeem Lovecraft's creations in spite of his own views?

Peter Herman previously published articles on Black Liberation Theology in Dune and religion and change in the science fiction of Octavia E. Butler. He has a chapter in the forthcoming book Theology and Batman. (This talk remains available in recorded form.)

Profs & Pints Online: Cthulhu and the Klan