The man was a neurotic anxious mess who was scared of everything around him in his time and checked into the psych ward multiple times. I guess it shows in his writings
Both of his parents were extremely mentally ill from syphilis. That’s why the theme of generational curse is so prominent in his work.
As for how racist he was, You just need to know that he wrote a book where the big revelation and last sentence of the book was something along the lines of, “worst of all, she was an n-word”. The book’s name is Medusa’s coil
Yeah he was a homophobe and a racist for sure. But how much more than anyone else from his time. I love the themes he brings in but I think other people have done a good job of showing his ideas without the fear he had in him, Shape of water comes to mind and I think del Toro does a great job in showing those themes of the unknown and all.
There’s a video on his (HP) work by HBomberguy which I think is really good.
I didnt know about the reason for his generational curse… That’s pretty cool!
Personally I think Lovecraft having these issues makes him a more fascinating author to me. The fear of otherness is so prevalent in his work, it’s like looking directly into his soul
showing his ideas without the fear he had in him,
Shadow over Innsmouth, the fish people were his fear of interracial breeding. Once you start applying the lense to his work, it becomes hard to not break the 4th wall even when he’s not spouting the N-word.