Summary
Title: The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft And Extraterrestrial Pop Culture
Author: Jason Colavito
Publisher: Prometheus
ISBN: 1591023521
Pro:
• Interesting dissection of pop cultural beliefs
• Strong argument for the place of H.P. Lovecraft in American literary culture
Con:
• Extreme detail could overwhelm those unfamiliar with Lovecraft & alternative archaeology
• Brief mentions of the belief that Western culture is on the decline - unsupported and irrelevant
Description:
• Argues that belief in ancient alien visitors can be traced to the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
• Detailed analysis of Lovecraft’s writings as well as those in his literary circle
• Detailed analysis of the development of belief in alien visitors over the past decades
Book Review
Belief in “alternative” archaeology and ancient alien visitors to Earth seemed to come almost out of nowhere in the mid-20th century and many think that it was perhaps just a natural outgrowth of humanity’s own forays into space. These stranger-than-fiction stories about ancient astronauts can, however, be traced back to actual fiction — the fictional stories written by H.P. Lovecraft.
One of the most interesting and influential horror writers of the 20th century, H.P. Lovecraft was an atheist, a materialist, a naturalist, and a firm believer in the value of science. His stories, however, appear to have spawned religious, theistic, pseudoscientific belief systems that he probably would have found appalling. He didn’t accept any such beliefs himself and he understood the difference between the reality around him and the fiction he wrote. Others couldn’t keep the lines as sharp, though.
Jason Colavito was himself a believer in alternative archaeology, but a decent education and skeptical thinking skills eventually relieved him of this burden. In his book The Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture, Colavito reveals in exceptional detail how Lovecraft’s ideas were transmitted from one author to another (Lovecraft encouraged others to make use of his themes), then eventually how they were incorporated into pseudoscientific beliefs masquerading as truth.
The line connecting H.P. Lovecraft’s short pulp fiction stories and the irresponsibly popular books by people like Erich von Daniken is neither short nor direct, which means that Colavito’s book is long both in pages and detail for good reason. Unfortunately, this length and detail may turn off many readers — only those with an already strong interest either in Lovecraft or in the topic of alien astronauts are likely to sit down and stick it out through the entire text.
This is unfortunate because there is a lot of interesting literary and cultural history scattered through this book. Even someone not currently involved with the title topics will find some points of interest, and this book should find a place on the shelves of those who enjoy reading about the development of American popular culture during the 20th century.
It’s disappointing that this popular culture would appropriate the ideas of a serious (if pulp) fiction writer and transform them into even pulpier pseudoscientific nonsense. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose, and perhaps fiction writers need to think about the possibility that their stories might actually be taken seriously by someone in the future.
I wonder if H.P. Lovecraft would have done anything differently if he had had an inkling of what would happen. Perhaps he would haver written a story about the purveyors of pop pseudoscience being eaten by Cthulhu in an especially unpleasant manner.
