In January, Orbit Books announced that it had acquired three new novels from N. K. Jemisin, including a contemporary fantasy “dealing with themes of race and power in New York City.” In a recent interview with Playboy, Jemisin—who just won the Hugo Award for Best Novel for The Obelisk Gate—shared more about how the novel will grapple with “basically Cthulhu” and the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft.
The as-yet untitled novel, which Jemisin plans on being the first in a trilogy, is based on her Tor.com original short story “The City Born Great”: the story of New York City’s rebirth at the hands of a reluctant midwife into battle against ancient enemies. Jemisin discussed expanding the themes of the story:
What’s your next project? What are you working on now?
I’ve already broken ground on my next series, which I’m planning to be a trilogy, but we’ll see. It will be based on a short story I did through tor.com called “The City Born Great”. It’s going to be set in New York, so I need to do a lot more research on New York. To boil it down, it’s about a group of people who embody the spirit of the city of New York. And they raise the city up into a kind of metaphysical entity that will help to fight against basically Cthulhu.
So if you’re using Cthulhu, are you an H.P. Lovecraft fan?
Oh, hell no.
This is deliberately a chance for me to kind of mess with the Lovecraft legacy. He was a notorious racist and horrible human being. So this is a chance for me to have the “chattering” hordes—that’s what he called the horrifying brown people of New York that terrified him. This is a chance for me to basically have them kick the ass of his creation. So I’m looking forward to having some fun with that.
It sounds as if Jemisin’s novel will join an ongoing conversation re-examining Lovecraft’s works in the context of their creator, a conversation that currently includes Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom, Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country, Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide (as well as the Lovecraft Reread), and other recent works engaging with and challenging Lovecraft’s mythos.
A release window has not yet been set for the novels.
Bravo, bravo, bravo.
And this news item sent me to “The City Born Great,” which has sent me to find everything Jemisin ever wrote. Thank you!
Ooh, I can’t wait to read this.
Sounds…meh.
Not cool. Lovecraft was a racist, it’s true. But in those years, almost everyone was. It’s not right to judge him in terms of today
@5: Lovecraft was super racist even for his time.
The best thing Lovecraft did is inspire better writers.
I really like Lovecraft’s work and still find many of his stories terrifying, even after many, many re-reads. That being said, he absolutely WAS a major racist and xenophobe and could be a horrible human being. David Holden is correct to say that Lovecraft’s racism was more extreme than that of many other people of his time and place.
I quite dislike the “hand-waving” that some Lovecraft readers sometimes do to try to “explain away” the egregious racism that appears in his work (as well as general xenophobia and a hint of sexism). To me, that’s like saying, “But Lovecraft’s racism doesn’t really matter beause HISTORY!” It DOES matter, and it is upsetting and hurtful to many people who read his work. I personally can’t read a couple of his most racist tales anymore. (“The Horror at Red Hook” is number one on that list, BTW.)
I think that Lovecraft had his finger on the pulse of what scares us on a deep and profound level. I think, despite being a “pulp” genre writer, Lovecraft’s work is important to the general study of modernism. I also think that the racist and xenophobia content of much of his work is troubling, upsetting, and deeply problematic. It warrants analysis and discussion, not erasure. We don’t need to say EITHER “No one should ever read Lovecraft again because RACISM” OR “No one should ever be upset about Lovecraft’s racism because HISTORY.” Those of us who love Lovecraft are free to love him, but IMHO we also need to be aware of and engage withthe problematic aspects of his work.
I personally applaud Jemisin for using Lovecraft as the inspiration for her own more liberatory narrative and I look forwards to reading it.
Your allowed to say Lovecraft is a racist and still enjoy his work if horror is your cup of tea. That said fight Cthulhu forever.
yes yes, he was horribly racist and full of bigotry towards anything but his bizarre tastes – but we should also note that, as a person, Lovecraft was ridiculously fragile and ignorant about the “real” life, and this sad combination probably made him suffer well enough with anguish and depression; for me, most of his works will always have that “taint”, but through the reread by Ruth&Anne I learned to make fun
This should be a very interesting trilogy based upon her statements. While something like this is always preferred from someone who at least enjoys some of a previous creator’s – who they’re using the work of – works, it is also absolutely fascinating to see what someone who has a passionate distaste for the creator whose works they are utilizing can do with it.
Also, Jemisin is just a fantastic author so I’m really looking forward to this.
Jemisin is great, and I agree with her – Lovecraft was a repugnant racist – but being a lover of Lovecraft’s work and legacy, I’m uncomfortable with someone who dislikes Lovecraft’s work, “mess with the Lovecraft legacy.” It’s her right, and I get why she’d want to do it…I’m just not sure it’s the right motivation, and largely that could be because I do celebrate Lovecraft’s works.
That being said, the opening to her story, The City Born Great, is fantastic, and she’s a fantastic writer, so…I’ll buy it and read it.
HP Lovecraft was a year and a half older than JRR Tolkien, who seemed to have no problem refuting eugenics and Nazism. https://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/08/what-j-r-r-tolkien-said-to-the-nazis-when-they-asked-if-he-was-jewish/
(Yes, I know Tolkien has implicit racism and colonialism all over the place, but “a man in his time” didn’t have to embrace the ugliest aspects of his time.)