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Originally Posted by loboMuerto
Lovecraft is such a huge influence for today's horror narrative (which in my opinion is just another flavor of fantasy), so maybe you can't perceive how original he was in his time.
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LoboMuerto nails it - Lovecraft redefined much of what we think of as 'gothic horror' and along with Machen was the most original writer in the fantasy genre - but for modern readers he can seem a little archaic, especially given some of the writing styles of the time like third person omniscient POV and the epistolary style of presenting letters and diaries.
The idea of creating an overarching mythology of prehistoric dark gods and concentrating on building mood and atmosphere is key to Lovecraft's stories and is arguably unique. Many of his tales do work better in the short story format. The novels - well, they grow on you, even if they are slow by modern standards.
You can chart a similar evolution in movies. Before the onset of digital editing in the 1980's, movies were generally a lot slower with fewer rapid fire edits. Go back to the 1950's and even the camera barely moved . By modern standards most 1950's movies look more like a play than what we see today as a film. Books have evolved in a similar fashion.
Personally I'm a huge fan of HPL and his works. I've even visited his grave in Providence.
Morph