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FeralRobot
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29 Apr 2014, 5:05 pm

Was the author who defined the Cosmic Horror genre on the spectrum somewhere? I have seen and/or heard speculation to that effect about other authors with much more dubiously 'autistic' behaviour, such as Isaac Asimov, but never Lovecraft. Here's what his Wikipedia page has to say about him:

Quote:
Intellectually precocious but sensitive, Lovecraft had begun composing rudimentary horror tales and had begun to be overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety by the age of 8. He encountered problems with peers in school, and was kept at home by his highly strung and overbearing mother for illnesses that may have been psychosomatic. In high school Lovecraft found his contemporaries were accepting and he formed friendships. He also involved neighborhood children in elaborate make-believe projects, only regretfully ceasing the activity at 17 years old. Despite leaving school in 1908 without graduating—he found mathematics particularly difficult—Lovecraft's knowledge of subjects that interested him was formidable.

Quote:
Reclusion
The adult Lovecraft was gaunt with dark eyes set in a very pale face (he rarely went out before nightfall). For five years after leaving school he lived an isolated existence with his mother, without seeking employment or new social contacts, primarily writing poetry.

So what do you think?


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Kraichgauer
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30 Apr 2014, 12:04 am

Absolutely he was! On top of what has already been noted, Lovecraft had had an extreme sensitivity to sea food, to which his reaction was one of violent physical illness and vomiting, and he wrote how he couldn't stand music. Many Aspies of course react with sensory overload with certain stimuli. No wonder his monsters like Cthulhu, Dagon, and the Deep Ones are sea creatures, and his aversion to music explains his short story, The Music Of Erich Zahn.


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03 May 2014, 11:17 pm

I can't believe this thread hasn't gotten more interest!
Another aspect of Lovecraft's personality would be how like many other Aspies, he felt like a stranger in his own time, and believed he should have been born in Colonial times, or in 17th century England. Very similar to how contemporary Weird Tales author, father of American heroic fantasy, and probably Aspie, Robert E. Howard felt the same way, believing as if he should have been born in either Barbarian times, or the old west.


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04 May 2014, 3:18 am

I'd definitely say he sounds like an aspie, and an awesome one at that! I only wish I were as creative or talented as H.P. Lovecraft.



bLueTaEl0nENiGMA
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14 Nov 2014, 7:41 pm

The Curious Case of H. P. Lovecraft
Paul Roland | Plexus, 2014 | 240 pages | $19.95

The new HPL biography by Paul Roland looks
at his possible Asperger's Syndrome behavior
briefly but does not give sources. S.T Joshi's
biography is earlier and definative but it does
not consider this at all. HPL has high odds for this!

http://www.amazon.com/H-P-Lovecraft-S-T ... 0940884887



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14 Nov 2014, 7:58 pm

FeralRobot wrote:
Was H.P. Lovecraft an aspie?

It is impossible for anyone to know for certain.


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Kraichgauer
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14 Nov 2014, 8:45 pm

As I've stated before on this very thread, he was - -

One of us! One of us! Gooble! Gabble! One of us!


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Justinw728
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18 Nov 2014, 8:09 am

Definitely makes alot of sense to me



dregj
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21 Dec 2015, 1:28 am

im just waiting for some prick to start moaning about how pointless this discussion is
as we'll never know for sure
they seem to pop up every time anyone theorizes anyone having aspergers
it's not like were trying to get his medical records alter or anything
its just interesting to speculate based on available evidence



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21 Dec 2015, 2:19 am

Sure, Lovecraft had never been diagnosed in his lifetime (as that diagnosis didn't even exist at the time), but from what we know of the man, I think he fits the official description. Him and Robert E. Howard.


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21 Dec 2015, 2:45 am

I reckon he could be. The Outsider seems like something an autistic would write.

I'd love to see how he'd react to such a diagnosis. His writings don't seem too fond of anything too different from the norm - I mean things like non-white people and exotic religions. I could see him going all aspie-supremacist, or wallowing in self pity. Or even project his anxieties by supporting eugenics projects.

I wouldn't discount the possibilities of him having some co-morbidities. I don't think you can attribute his strange dreams to autism.

Two other authors that I think were autistic are Franz Kafka and Bruno Schulz. They were similarly intense and solitary writers who only became really famous after they died. All three writers are grouped together in my mind.



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21 Dec 2015, 2:53 am

SpaceAgeBushRanger wrote:
I reckon he could be. The Outsider seems like something an autistic would write.

I'd love to see how he'd react to such a diagnosis. His writings don't seem too fond of anything too different from the norm - I mean things like non-white people and exotic religions. I could see him going all aspie-supremacist, or wallowing in self pity. Or even project his anxieties by supporting eugenics projects.

I wouldn't discount the possibilities of him having some co-morbidities. I don't think you can attribute his strange dreams to autism.

Two other authors that I think were autistic are Franz Kafka and Bruno Schulz. They were similarly intense and solitary writers who only became really famous after they died. All three writers are grouped together in my mind.


I admit I don't know a thing about Schulz, but I agree 100% on Kafka.


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21 Dec 2015, 3:08 am

Schulz is like a Polish, more happier version of Kafka. I think he did a translation of Metamorphosis. You can read translations of his stuff here, although the site is very strangely formatted. From the top of my head I can't remember any of his writings seeming noticeably autistic, although his father comes across as a very eccentric character given to bizarre monologues.



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21 Dec 2015, 5:04 pm

SpaceAgeBushRanger wrote:
Schulz is like a Polish, more happier version of Kafka. I think he did a translation of Metamorphosis. You can read translations of his stuff here, although the site is very strangely formatted. From the top of my head I can't remember any of his writings seeming noticeably autistic, although his father comes across as a very eccentric character given to bizarre monologues.



Was Schulz of German or Jewish origin, despite his Polish nationality? I'm just asking from the sound of his name.


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21 Dec 2015, 8:22 pm

Quick Googling says Schulz is a German name.

Wikipedia describes his culture and nationality by saying: "Schulz developed his extraordinary imagination in a swarm of identities and nationalities: he was a Jew who thought and wrote in Polish, was fluent in German, immersed in Jewish culture, yet unfamiliar with the Yiddish language."



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21 Dec 2015, 9:20 pm

SpaceAgeBushRanger wrote:
Quick Googling says Schulz is a German name.

Wikipedia describes his culture and nationality by saying: "Schulz developed his extraordinary imagination in a swarm of identities and nationalities: he was a Jew who thought and wrote in Polish, was fluent in German, immersed in Jewish culture, yet unfamiliar with the Yiddish language."


Same with Kafka. He was a Czech Jew in Prague, yet only Spoke German. He described other Jews as alien to him; but then again, so was everyone else to him, in true Aspie fashion.


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