{"id":20,"date":"2020-08-28T14:37:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T18:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/?page_id=20"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:46:31","slug":"traditionalism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/traditionalism\/","title":{"rendered":"1. \u201cA Celt or Two in the Loftier Branches Doesn\u2019t Poison a Whole Family Tree!\u201d: Traditionalism and Genealogical Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Figs. 1a & 1b (series):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Fig.
Fig. 1a. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Donald Wandrei, April 1, 1927. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1bi. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, June 10, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1bii. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, June 10, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1biii. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, June 10, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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Writing to Donald Wandrei in 1927 (fig. 1a), Lovecraft admits to \u201cbelieving the cosmos to be a purposeless and meaningless affair [. . .] a thing without beginning, permanent direction, or ending.\u201d Lovecraft sees \u201cno such qualities as Good or Evil, beauty or ugliness, in the ultimate structure of the universe.\u201d This serves as the fulcrum for his staunch traditionalism: Given that this is the \u201cultimate structure of the universe,\u201d Lovecraft continues, \u201cI insist on the artificial & traditional values of each particular cultural stream proximate values which grew out [. . .] of the race in question.\u201d For Lovecraft, the practice of \u201cextreme conservatism\u201d is \u201cthe only means of averting ennui, despair, & confusion of a guideless & standardless struggle with unveiled chaos.\u201d Discussing the topic with Elizabeth Toldridge in 1929 (fig. 1bi\u2013iii), he concludes that the \u201cpotent emotional legacy\u201d that he calls \u201ctradition\u201d is \u201cbequeathed to us by the massed experience of our ancestors, individual or national, biological or cultural.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to Lovecraft\u2019s brand of traditionalism is his concept of \u201ccultural stream\u201d: a strange amalgamation of race realism (i.e., the belief in discrete \u201chuman races\u201d) and cultural traditions, which becomes the sole basis for human meaning. Lovecraft conceives cultural streams as being incompatible with each other: \u201cwhat gives one person or race [. . .] relative painlessness & contentment often disagrees sharply on the psychological side from what gives these same bases to another person or race\u201d (fig. 1biii). Thus, for these \u201ccultural streams\u201d to provide meaning, they need to remain essentially unchanged and entirely separate. The \u201cweakening of any racial culture by political division,\u201d he writes in another letter to Toldridge (fig. 1ci), \u201cis to be regarded as an unqualified evil.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figs. 1c, 1e, & 1f (series):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Fig.
Fig. 1ci. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, February 26, 1932. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1cii. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, February 26, 1932. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1ei. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Maurice W. Moe, September 1, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Fig.
Fig. 1eii. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Maurice W. Moe, September 1, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Fig.
Fig. 1eiii. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Maurice W. Moe, September 1, 1929. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
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\"Fig.
Fig. 1f. Letter from H. P. Lovecraft to Wilfred B. Talman, December 28, 1927. Brown University Library, Special Collections.
VIEW IN COLLECTION (BROWN DIGITAL REPOSITORY)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let us consider how Lovecraft\u2019s \u201cextreme conservatism\u201d based on this concept of \u201ccultural streams\u201d can lead to a xenophobic and racist political program. In the same letter to Elizabeth Toldridge (figs. 1ci\u2013ii), Lovecraft laments that the independence of the United States from \u201cits rightful sovereign\u201d permitted \u201cvast quantities\u201d of foreigners to immigrate and that \u201cthe policy of inciting \u2018oppressed\u2019 races is fatal to the national welfare since these elements are almost always biologically inferior & therefore unfit to uphold the institutions established by elements of greater stamina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Lovecraft\u2019s personal life, this traditionalism took shape in his keen interest in his family’s genealogy. In a 1929 letter to Maurice W. Moe (figs. 1ei\u2013iii), Lovecraft describes at length one of his \u201cancestral pilgrimages,\u201d trips he took to the New England countryside to learn more about his ancestry. After sharing with Moe sketches of tombstones and family shields, Lovecraft writes about his perspective on life there:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Here, indeed, was a small & glorious world of the past completely<\/em> sever\u2019d from the sullying tides of time; a world exactly<\/em> the same as before the revolution, with absolutely nothing<\/em> changed in the way of visual details currents of folk-feeling, identity of families, or social & economic order. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As will be demonstrated in section 4, this genealogical obsession combined with an intense attachment to \u201ccultural streams\u201d can be the source of horror. In a letter to Wilfred B. Talman in 1927 (fig. 1f), Lovecraft discusses having Celtic ancestry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

As for my attitude towards ancestral Celts \u2014 well, I fancy it\u2019s still a bit ambiguous. I like \u2019em when they\u2019re kings, yet after all mere Druid-hounds can\u2019t compare in solidity & majesty with golden-bearded Vikings and conquerors. I\u2019m for the Teuton in the last analysis \u2014 although of course a Celt or two on the loftier branches doesn\u2019t poison a whole family tree!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Figs. 1a & 1b (series): Writing to Donald Wandrei in 1927 (fig. 1a), Lovecraft admits to \u201cbelieving the cosmos to be a purposeless and meaningless affair [. . .] a thing without beginning, permanent direction, or ending.\u201d Lovecraft sees \u201cno such qualities as Good or Evil, beauty or ugliness, in the ultimate structure of the … 1. \u201cA Celt or Two in the Loftier Branches Doesn\u2019t Poison a Whole Family Tree!\u201d: Traditionalism and Genealogical Obsession<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20\/revisions\/569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/lovecraftracialimaginaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}