Pseudobulbar Paraphroneogenesis: Uncontrollable Laughing at the Insanity of Existence.

Lovecraft is one of those writers who grows on you over extended gradual paced exposure.

imo, his forte is the strength of his ideas, they generate (or is that tap - Ed) a sense of "primordial truth" within the reader., it begins to feel as though he is surfacing a genetic-memory of our not-so-long-buried superstitious supernatural past and ..origins.

his verbiage conversely is

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n)

controversial?

and I think this really needs to be addressed before anyone reads HPL.

I'd frame HPL's voce' as a right of passage that you must be able to both accept and pass in order to enjoy Lovecraft.

I find "Lovecraft-verbiage-criticism" to be omnipresent in some literary circles, yet I also 'ave to say I find it inconsistent if not duplicitous - Shakespeare's verbiage is not smooth as an alabaster column either, it requires considerable pause and study, and people did NOT speak the way Shakespeare wrote  - though they now wish they had said his famous one-liners.

(and as Oscar Wilde retorted when his friend said to him, "I wish I'd said that": "oh you will, you will" - Ed)

nor is William Gibson's verbiage easy to digest, yet after some internal wrangling, the critics were able to overcome their initial reaction to the non-standard prose, because of the strength of what lay beneath.

Still, I would think that most people that _in particular_ like Stephen King's textual fluidity probably wouldn't like Lovecraft ..at first glance.

(though I love both and King loves Lovecraft, so I may be wrong, maybe you just need to be a fan of compelling horror)

Today there is also imo the added element of the reader often being a bit of a writer, and there may be a familiarity there in HPL's writing,

a sense of  "I'm fairly sure I could write this, and did"

And that familiarity may breed initial contempt.

that is, _until_ the reader forces him or herself on and begins to realize that although one could readily mimick HPL's 18th century genteel voice (or early 20th century docuscientist -Ed) they couldn't match HPL's elaborate content and instinctive ability to touch the reader's primordial essence, the way Lovecraft consistently can.

(..at least not without focussed insight and considerable effort - Ed)

At which point, any wincing at his verbiage is transcended and "respect" for H.P Lovecraft arises in the reader.

Nominally.

imo what Lovecraft does quite aside from telling a story, is cause the reader to come in contact with and examine their own buried often unexamined core, your inner fears and demons; things we rarely think about because we either haven't considered them as yet, or have decided not to consider them (any further - Ed).

I know Stephen King thinks Lovecraft's Cthulhu is all about the image that boys who have never seen one have of a perceived giant maternal pickled Vagina with tentacled dangly bits.

(which could almost stand in as a description for Cthulhu's head - Ed)

When I think of Lovecraft's Herbert West Re-Animator stories, I remember _seriously_ contemplating how far I would go to extend human life after death.

In short, I'd say simply that the prerequisite for Lovecraft (as with any author) is that the reader needs to "accept" the author's chosen voice, as a conduit, in order to move on to the meat.

I'd also stipulate that Lovecraft works better over prolonged exposure, because

a) you get used to his style 

b) he constructs his stories, so that as you move from the first of his stories to the last/from the beginning to end of his career, you wind yourself around his characters and his various mythos in an enticingly chronological/inter-connected manner.

(for example in his Herbert West stories each later one references the one before it)

c) his writing quality increases as he gets older.

Which is why I'd sugg if you want to delve into his Cthulhu mythos start at the beginning with Call of Cthulhu.

Not only is it a good start, but you have a nice long satisfying journey of increasing build and quality to sink your pods into.

It's the same sort of sugg I'd make with William Gibson, if you're the type who prefers to put his or her toes in the water then read the best short story collection available first, (Gibson's Burning Chrome -Ed) Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness.

if you prefer to jump into the water head first and dive down to the depths of the ocean, then Call of Cthulhu (Gibson's Neuromancer -Ed) first and continue in order of Cthulhuonological release.

--- michaelXmaelstrom.

Some links to get started:

(Read) Call of Cthulhu here:

The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

(Listen to) Call of Cthulhu audio-book 'ere:

» GPod Audio Books: H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu

(Read) At The Mountains of Madness 'ere:

At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft

and my #1 suggested way to get started with H.P Lovecraft circa 2007:

Play De-Animator (online flash game) optimally during The Witching Hour

and then from inside said game, click on "Story" followed by "read more"

to read 6 very short H.P Lovecraft stories.

Play De-Animator and Read Herbert West: Re-Animator (6 short stories) 'ere:

http://artscool.cfa.cmu.edu/~lee/deanimator.html