Should H.P. Lovecraft's books get altered?

So I was looking around online when I came across something interesting. There are a group of people hoping to take the works of H.P. Lovecraft and alter it to the point of it no longer looking like his works. They want to change the characters, the entire plots, basically everything that makes Lovecraft Lovecraft. They also want to keep his name on it. One of them said, and I quote, "I'm glad that he's tumbling in his grave". Wanted to know what other people think.

I'm a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft's works. Yes, he was racist, but the books were written in the 20's. He's been dead for close to 90 years. I'm mad that this genius and genre defining author is getting his works trampled over by a bunch of sensitive twats. I don't mind if they take the n word out of the books (I think the versions I was reading removed the word) but I do what there to be both versions available for people who want to read the original printing. I love classic literature and while, as I said, I don't mind reading the edited, easier to read, printings, I do what there to be a choice for both versions. Anyway I think what these people want to do to his works is a load of shit.

 

I think we'll always have access to the original works of Lovecraft. It's highly unlikely that they would ever be taken out of print or even altered to the point that their original intent and narrative is affected in any way. Even if it were, we live in the age of information. Those works will always be available in some format, somewhere.

I don't know what group you're referring to, but it seems unlikely that anyone would succeed in altering all to-be-printed versions of any book.

It's important to note that the works of Lovecraft are not children's stories. They're clearly meant for adults. And adults require no hand-holding. Regardless of the opinions of the man that wrote the stories, regardless of the portrayal of racism or any other form of bigotry in his works, and regardless of any objectionable language contained in said works, his stories have a right to exist in their original form and we, the audience, have the right to draw our own opinions of the author and his writing based upon the content of those works.

So, to answer your question, no I don't believe the original works of Lovecraft should be taken out of print. But I'm perfectly fine with printing altered or censored versions for those who would prefer that.

 

Yeah, I don't mind if it gets censored (as in the language and whatnot I mean come on there is a cat in one of the books named n-----man for christssake) and I didn't mean to sound like I said the printings would go out of print. My problem mainly was this small group of people wanting to re-write his works and make money off of it with Lovecraft's name still on it. They even said they hoped he was rolling in his grave, just because they didn't like a few things he said in his books in the 20's. Ah well I guess.

 

Sure go right ahead, doesn't Japan do that all the time with anime? More material the better, even if it's completely flipped upside down.

Whoa...no. Just no. Is that even legal? You can't go around passing off someone's work and pretend it's the original.
I got a theory...
what if this "outrage" is just a way to get attention and elevate their so called project to relevance?

Or maybe it's a clever tactic to get people reading Lovecraft...

 

I'm generally opposed to changing anything purely for censorship reasons, but if they're changing the plot because they think it would make for a more interesting story, I'm generally open to seeing other interpretations so long as the original is still preserved.

 

Since the unabridged, unadulterated, raw form of Lovecraft's stories will exist, it does not bother me much.
Except the spiteful comments by that group.
As for them changing the plot, characters, etc.... have you ever read the Great Illustrated Classics version of Gulliver's Travels? That book was so abridged, I think only a fifth of the content (quite possibly less) was in that book.
Anyway, so this group wants to make an abridged version of these books, safer for kids and sensitive people. Oh well. Good luck on abridging a book whose original author they seem to hate,