How do you deal with the knowledge that one of your favorite artists, writers, musicians, or philosophers was anti-Semitic or racist? I am a longtime fan of Howard Philips Lovecraft. Little known in his day, but greatly respected soon after, he became the 20th century’s most powerful voice of weird fiction, the predecessor to many elements of modern day science-fiction and horror.
According to Joyce Carol Oates, Lovecraft – as with Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century – has exerted “an incalculable influence on succeeding generations of writers of horror fiction”. Stephen King called Lovecraft “the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale, and his influence today would take an entire encyclopedia article to fill.
As great as his literary talents were, he also was a racist and anti-Semitic, although mostly in private letter writing. When he met people of different races he was friendly – and in the end, he ended up marrying a Jewish woman. As he got older, he gradually lessened his racism towards many people, but not towards black people, who today are still – understandably – offended by his writings.
This issue has practical considerations: In 2016 was announced that the World Fantasy Award trophy would no longer feature the image of H. P. Lovecraft. There has been a subsequent controversy within the fantasy and science fiction community, black community, and Jewish community. Is this an appropriate, important, and morally necessary change given our modern awareness of these issues? Many say yes. Or is this change just virtue signaling – engaging in acts to make one’s self appear morally superior to others, while not actually doing anything that helps people.
If we stop honoring or admiring any art, science, literature, or architecture from people in the past who held such views, what would be the practical result? Throughout history, most people ever alive held views that today we would consider misogynistic, bigoted, anti-semitic, racist, homophobic, etc.
As a Jewish American, I feel ashamed when I read the racist and anti-Semitic statements in his correspondence. But I still feel awed by Lovecraft’s mastery of his art, especially given the unfortunate circumstance in which he was raised. Today most educators would recognize Lovecraft as a child living in extreme emotional neglect, and effectively indoctrinated by the books in his family’s library. He didn’t have much schooling or socialization with any people at all before he was 18 years old.
Miriam Harris-Botzum writes
From an academic perspective, I think it is legitimate to still introduce the art or writings of these people, but in discussing their legacy, bring up the problematic aspects of their racism. The fact that many of these people lived in times and societies where such views were commonplace somewhat mitigates their sins, in my view. It is very hard to overcome the prejudices baked into your society.
In studying Parshat Noach נֹחַ, I know that this is a frequent discussion, when he is described as being “upright (or righteous) in his generation.” נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו
Some rabbinic commentators suggest that means that Noach would not be viewed as righteous if he had lived at another time, in another society; that he was only relatively righteous in comparison to the wicked society in which he lived.
But other rabbinic commentators take the opposite view, pointing out that it takes an extraordinary person to overcome the wicked ways of their society and act righteously when those around them practice and promote evil. From this perspective, it is not necessarily a personal indictment that a person failed to rise above the prejudices of their society.
There is also the issue of separating the artist from their work. My personal stance is that I will not knowingly support an antisemite or other bigot who is still alive, and would benefit from my purchase of their work; but once they have passed away, unless their heirs also promote bigoted views, I am willing to purchase or view their work. Clearly, each of us needs to reach our own decision on what we are comfortable with.
Do you have any favorite artists, writers or philosophers who turned out to be anti-Semitic? How do you deal with this issue?
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A valuable resource on this topic is What Did They Think of the Jews? Allan Gould (Jason Aronson Inc) ISBN 10: 0876687516 / ISBN 13: 9780876687512
Throughout history, the Jewish people and their religious traditions have been viewed in different ways by their contemporaries. Reactions from their non-Jewish neighbors expose a broad spectrum of emotions: honest respect, genuine acceptance, begrudging tolerance, subtle dislike, and vicious hatred. In “What Did They Think of the Jews?” Allan Gould has gathered over two hundred documents, written by well-known men and women from ancient times through today, that reflect the writers’ personal views of the Jewish people and their societies’ general attitudes and beliefs.
This anthology includes the works of philosophers and poets, politicians and novelists, inventors and world leaders. The documents are by and about diverse personalities. Cicero, Saint Augustine, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Thomas Hobbes are among the writers whose works document the perception of Jews from Ancient Greece and Rome through the Renaissance. How Americans have viewed the Jews throughout United States history is portrayed in the writings of figures such as Benjamin Franklin, William Cullen Bryant, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Herman Melville, Theodore Roosevelt, John Steinbeck, and Charles Lindbergh. The works of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Charles Dickens, Emile Zola, Joseph Conrad, and others exemplify European and British viewpoints.
There are also reflections on the Holocaust and the State of Israel by personalities such as Carl Sandburg, Charles DeGaulle, and Frank Capra. And the virulent hatred of the Jewish people by Communist, Fascist, and Nazi ideologies is tragically demonstrated in the documents of those eras.
While some of the material in this volume bears witness to the slanders and slurs the Jewish people have encountered, What Did They Think of the Jews? also contains a large portion of powerfully moving and affirmative documents. Readers can take great pleasure in the inspiring essays, letters, quotations, and anecdotes of Henrik Ibsen, James Joyce, Harry Truman, and others whose visions allowed them to see past the walls of prejudice. What Did They Think of the Jews? is a truly unique and comprehensive resource. These documents present a balanced and insightful perspective on the Jewish experience.
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Resources
The Unlikely Reanimation of H.P. Lovecraft: 125 years after his birth, the author known for his eerie tales—and his racist beliefs—has had one of the biggest comebacks in Western literature. Philip Eil, The Atlantic, Aug 20, 2015
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/hp-lovecraft-125/401471/
The World Fantasy Awards, established in 1975, are presented annually at the World Fantasy Convention. The World Fantasy Award has been described as one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo (voted on by fans and professionals) and the Nebula Awards (voted on members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) …The award statue was formerly a caricature bust of H. P. Lovecraft … In 2015, the old award statue was retired because of protests over Lovecraft’s racism.
Merrimack Valley Havurah 
Lovecrafts anti Semitism is inseparable from his work. His vision was that we live in a tiny and vulnerable civilized bubble surrender by hostile aliens who are always on the verge of breaking through….next to Henry Adams he is my favorite antisemite.
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