N. K. Jemisin on H. P. Lovecraft

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2020

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most celebrated authors in science fiction’s history; the novels of her “Broken Earth” trilogy won the Hugo Award for three consecutive years, a unique achievement. Yet her work has also engendered an ugly backlash from a faction of readers who feel that the recognition of women and authors of color within the industry has been undeserving. Racism in science fiction and fantasy goes back to the origins of the genre, Jemisin explains to Raffi Khatchadourian. Her new novel, “The City We Became,” explicitly addresses the legacy of H. P. Lovecraft, an early and influential writer who helped to invent the genre. Lovecraft was also a virulent, impassioned racist, even by the standards of the early twentieth century. It’s not possible, Jemisin says, to separate Lovecraft’s ideology from his greatness as a fantasy writer: his view of non-white peoples as monstrous informed the way he wrote about monsters. Rather than try to ignore or cancel Lovecraft, Jemisin says, she felt compelled to engage with him.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:16.0	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Brown. When was the last time you walked on the Williamsburg Bridge?
0:23.0	Not much. I don't live here anymore, and I never really need to go over to Delancey anymore.
0:28.9	Every so often I do it just for like old times' sake, but it's not the same bridge anymore, you know?
0:33.7	You know, it no longer has holes in it. You know, back in the day when they had basically let most of New York's infrastructure just kind of rot,
0:43.3	literally it had holes in it, like foot wide and so forth through the pedestrian path.
0:50.5	N.K. Jemison is one of the most decorated authors in science fiction today.
0:55.1	Jemison won a Hugo Award for each of the novels in her Broken Earth trilogy,
0:59.4	which is sort of like winning the Oscar for Best Picture three years in a row.
1:04.8	Jemison has a new book coming out in March,
1:07.0	and she met up recently with Rafi Hachdorian, a staff writer for the New Yorker.
1:11.5	A few weeks ago, we met on the Williamsburg Bridge
1:14.0	because her newest novel, The City We Became, as an important scene here.
1:20.5	So Nora, in the opening of your forthcoming book,
1:24.8	you have set upon this bridge a giant tentacled bioluminescent interdimensional
1:30.3	creature to tear it apart. Basically, yeah. Well, I mean, no one can see it except for a few
1:40.9	select individuals for reasons that will become clear in the book.
1:46.0	But, you know, it just sort of is a giant tentacle that smashes out of nowhere,
1:50.5	shatters half the bridge, causes massive destruction and damage all over the East River.
1:57.7	And no one really knows why except for a few people.
2:00.2	But what it means is that half
2:02.6	this beautiful old bridge gets torn apart and smashed into the water. And I laughed while I did it.
	...

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