Lovecraft lives longer?

HP Lovecraft (1890-1937), author of wierd tales, horror and science fiction. A big writer of letters to fans and other authors, but far worse in publishing his own stories – several were printed long after his death. Reclusive, fairly racist and definatly not a people person. Creator of the vast Cthulhu mythos and probably someone most people in this forum have read.

Listening to some podcasts I wonder: what if Lovecraft didn’t get cancer and died 1937 but lived until 1947 (let’s assume that he won’t die from any other reason too). Have anyone speculated how his literary output would have changed during this decade of further writing? Would he try to create an integrated world like Tolkien did with Middle Earth (connecting the Dreamworlds with the Cthulhu mytos, defining the different sets of Gods etc), write longer stories rather than shorter, write more sci-fi due to technological advances or maybe become adapted to radio/movies? How many more authors could he influence during these extra years?

And how would WW2 affect Lovecraft? Would he write “the Nazis try to summon Elder Beings”-stories? Would his racism and belief in racial degeneration be affected by the German rethoric, laws and Holocaust? How would Pearl Harbor, D-day, Dresden and Hiroshima impact on his writing?


I can’t see any big changes, but many potential smaller.


Yes, I am aware that this have been done before (https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=106033&highlight=lovecraft), but it was two years ago and continuing into the 50s.
 
I really can't comment on the man's personal beliefs, people seem to be up in the air about them and what would've happened to them had he lived longer.

Who knows what he would've done with his literary universe had he had more time. Every new book set in the Mythos seemed to (at times) reveal more and more about the creatures that inhabited that world, even if they weren't explicity in said story. Also hard to tell what he would've thought of the Nazis, (specially with his less than stellar outlook on other races) and if the War would've had any influence on later stories.
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
He was pouty because he was too sickly to serve in WWI, so he tended to take it out in his stories. Hence the awful anti-German stereotypes you can encounter in his work about cold, robot-like, bloody-minded Prussians who thought nothing of sacrificing the lives of subordinates - especially if they were from elsewhere in Germany. I seem to recall someone posting here about his work being discussed on Stormfront through an Anglo-Nordicist lens. I obviously wouldn't go that far, but the stereotypes in his work seem to indicate that he thought the only people capable of a trace of humanity were Anglo-Saxons.
 
I thought he mellowed out his racism in the later years of his life? How would Lovecraft support himself to live that long? If I recall, he suffered from not only cancer but malnutrition and depression and he died in poverty; Didn't his works really start to become popular after he died and other authors were fleshing out his Mythos?
 
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I think the only thing one can say is that Lovecraft would continue to eliminate the more fantastical/magical elements of the Mythos and give it more of a science-fiction tinge. The themes that the universe was unknowable and ultimately alien to human conception and hostile to its existence would remain. Lovecraft really wasn't inspired about technology, and his stories have nothing to do with them. It's just that instead of magical demons, his monsters were basically big space aliens.

Lovecraft was not really concerned about creating a coherent setting in his works, unlike Tolkien who concentrated on world building/language development. Lovecraft freely brought in elements from other writers, and allowed other writers to name drop stuff he created. That will likely continue.

Lovecraft never showed real interest in incorporating contemporary history into his stories. What did show up were only those elements he needed to tell his story, not because he wanted to make a comment about the present. So he's not going to be having Nazis conjure up Mythos beings or anything else. Although he might write some stories that had elements of WWII as a backdrop. Maybe an Ahnerbe expedition to Tibet going horribly wrong, or a downed US aviator in the Pacific washing up on an island he shouldn't.

Lovecraft would likely write more novellas of the length of the Shadow Out of Time and Mountains of Madness, but he clearly thought the short story was the best medium for the horror tale.

I have the feeling that Lovecraft would likely be attracted to the America First movement under Lindbergh and initially oppose American entry into WWII, although he would still want Britain to win. I also think he would do his patriotic duty after December 7, 1941.

I doubt any of these politics would show up in his work. A horror story is not exactly the place for a political or patriotic sermon. Although he might see the carnage of WWII as vindication of his beliefs of cultural and civilizational decline. There might be at least one very interesting story about nuclear energy after the atomic bombs are dropped. I actually don't see Lovecraft's stories being very popular during the war, and it might be hard for him to find work. I think some of the revelations at the end of the war might give him some fertile ground to work with, and his brief postwar period might see some interesting stories by him.

With his greater output and continuing his style as he later developed it, I think pastiche writers like Derleth would find it much harder to shoehorn their ideas into his work. However, I think the more fatalistic and nihilistic aspects might inspire some of the Beat writers in the 1950s. I can see someone like William Burroughs rifting with some Lovecraftian elements, at least for a brief while.
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
I think the only thing one can say is that Lovecraft would continue to eliminate the more fantastical/magical elements of the Mythos and give it more of a science-fiction tinge. The themes that the universe was unknowable and ultimately alien to human conception and hostile to its existence would remain. Lovecraft really wasn't inspired about technology, and his stories have nothing to do with them. It's just that instead of magical demons, his monsters were basically big space aliens.

Indeed, the most successful 'Lovecraftian' films have generally been science fiction ones with a bunch of putzes stuck on a spaceship and being picked off one by one by the horrors of space!
 
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