----- Original Message ----- From: "Matthew Hunter" <matthew at infodancer.org> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 23:44 Subject: Re: A question re: Begining Fantacy for Youth > On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 11:09:30PM -0700, Merlin Graves <merlin at quickfinger.com> wrote: > > > > > You gave him LOVECRAFT and you are complaining that he's too > > > > > young for CS Lewis and Vlad??!?!?!?!!! > > Lovecraft's not bad for that age group- I went on a Lovecraft binge when I > > was about that age and read everything the man ever published (everything > > I could find, anywho) No sex, not too terribly graphic (compared to a lot > > of the horror out these days), little if any foul language. Good kid fodder, > > if my somewhat fragile memory is holding up. Only danger I see if the kid > > might do what I did- chase down and try to read the Necronomicon <sp?> > > I think this is a truly classic example of the modern parenting > fallacy -- that is, that sex, foul language, and gore are the > arbiters of childworthiness. > > I concede that Lovecraft did not write much that was focused on > those problematic topics. Yet, he DID write about horrifying, > supernatural beasts and terrible, scary consequences of man's > dealings with those beasts. He wrote about powers gained from > pacts with the inhuman, the hopelessness of humanity before an > unstoppable force far greater than they could even comprehend. > He wrote about the gruesome (if not gorey) consequences of > scientific experimentation, and the darkness of the human soul > to which we are all occasional victims. > > Is he a great writer? Hell yes. > > Is he suitable, or even comprehensible, to an 11 year old? Maybe > some, but certainly not most. > > -- > Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) > Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp > Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt >