Did you know H.P. Lovecraft (20 Aug 1890-15 March 1937) wrote “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” after learning his great-grandmother was Welsh?
Why Didn’t Lovecraft Like the Welsh?
Lovecraft, though an American, was a royalist and Anglophile who in many ways longed to be English. He once remarked that his ‘ancestry was that of unmixed English gentry’.
Upon learning that his ancestry was largely made up of Welsh heritage as opposed to English, however, he was so horrified that he fell into a depression and allegedly wrote “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” during this state.
Lovecraft held many outdates views and had previously expressed his loathing for the Celts, writing in 1916 that they were:
“An inferior race… They could never maintain an orderly existence save under the domination of some branch of the Teutonic master race – if they could leave England, they would have to take Germany as a master; in fact, I am not sure but that they need a few Prussian methods to curb their ebullient & seditious emotions.”
It’s safe to say I don’t wish to claim Lovecraft as Welsh!
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Niklas is the founder, owner, manager, editor, writer, video creator, voice over artist, and so forth, of Welsh Histories. He is passionate about the preservation of Welsh culture; the rejuvenation of the Welsh language and the promotion of Welsh history. Niklas currently resides in Pune, Maharashtra, with his beloved wife.