Strange Bedfellows: Lovecraft and Chesterton

 

Yesterday (July 5) I got two books that arrived together in the post-holiday mail dump. As I unwrapped “The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Fiction” by H. P. Lovecraft (Annotated by S. T. Joshi, Second Edition 2012) and The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton Volume IV: Family, Society, Politics (Ignatius Press, 1987), I couldn’t help but ponder the fact that the two men lived much at the same time but held such diametrically opposed views. Lovecraft held that go far enough and not only our local human morality becomes meaningless but even the rules of time and space change. Chesterton believed “reason is always reasonable, even in the last limbo, in the lost borderland of things … people charge the Church with lowering reason, but it is just the other way. Alone on earth, the Church makes reason really supreme. Alone on earth, the Church affirms that God himself is bound by reason. Reason and justice grip the remotest and the loneliest star. … Well, you can imagine any mad botany or geology you please … But don't fancy that all that frantic astronomy would make the smallest difference to the reason and justice of conduct. On plains of opal, under cliffs cut out of pearl, you would still find a notice-board, `Thou shalt not steal.'" I wonder what a debate between them, could they be drawn together, would have been like.

"H. P. Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature," first published in 1927, is widely recognized as the finest historical survey of horror literature ever written. The product of both a keen critical analyst and a working practitioner in the field, the essay affords unique insights into the nature, development, and history of the weird tale. Beginning with instances of weirdness in ancient literature, Lovecraft proceeds to discuss horror writing in the Renaissance, the first Gothic novels of the late 18th century, the revolutionary importance of Edgar Allan Poe, the work of such leading figures as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, and William Hope Hodgson, and the four "modern masters"-Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood and M. R. James. In this annotated edition of Lovecraft's seminal work, acclaimed Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi has supplied detailed commentary on many points. In addition, Joshi has supplied a comprehensive bibliography of all the authors and works discussed in the essay, with references to modern editions and critical studies. For this new edition, Joshi has exhaustively revised and updated the bibliography and also revamped the notes to bring the book in line with the most up-to-date scholarship on Lovecraft and weird fiction. The entire volume has also been redesigned for ease of reading and reference. This latest edition will be invaluable both to devotees of Lovecraft and to enthusiasts of the weird tale." – Amazon.

“The first of two volumes devoted to Chesterton's political, sociological, and economical writings. Gilbert K. Chesterton staunchly opposed any assaults by the trendsetters on the common man.” – Ignatius Press summary. That is a very brief description. It includes five of his works: What’s Wrong with the World, The Superstition of Divorce, Eugenics and Other Evils, Divorce Versus Democracy, and Social Reform Versus Birth Control. One can easily observe that his subjects are all-too relevant at this very time. Whether one can agree with all his opinions – which are religious, but with a firm philosophical basis – is a matter of discussion.