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It's interesting to compare Lovecraft to his friend Robert E. Howard (the creator of Conan the barbarian). My impression is that Howard believed in and was fascinated by the stereotype of Africans as savages which was common at that time, but he still had them on the side of the good guys in multiple stories. His writing is certainly not PC by modern standards, but he seems like he was an open-minded guy.
I've read his works. Some stories aged better than others. I sometimes had to remind myself that they were written almost a century ago.
If you liked Howard's Conan stories, check out Robert Jordan's. (Yes, the Wheel of Time guy.) IMO they're really good and faithful to the spirit of the originals. The writing is very different from Wheel of Time. It does get quite dark in places.
Thanks, I'll check them out!
His predecessor would've been H. Rider Haggard who, while generally considered an archracist because of how he developed the savage stereotype, had African heros as well and pretty deep respect for zulu culture. Haggard even wrote a book with a white villain and black protagonists. He generally was extremely misogynistic though.
You can also see haggard's influence on burrough's Mars books.
he seems like he was an open-minded guy.
Well that's certainly one of the takes of all time. He's widely acknowledged to have been racist even for his time
Who? Howard or Lovecraft?
Ah, I am in fact an idiot who can't read good or do other things good
Hah, you're good.
Being a normal racist is for normie writers who don't write bestsellers, obviously have to have quirks and odds about you so you're just as interesting as the books you write!
/S