LURKER ON THE BOOKSHELF: H. P. LOVECRAFT

Precis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:27:00 +0000

Everything I loved had been dead for two centuries -- or, as in the case of Graeco-Roman classicism, for two millenniums, I am never a part of anything around me -- in everything, I am an outsider...

--H. P. Lovecraft,
October 1916

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a professional writer for twenty years: yet he remains obscure to most of the reading public, ignored by the reviewers and dismissed by the critics. This literary pariahship is not die to any lack of skill, but on Lovecraft's choice of subject matter. Lovecraft wrote horror stories and in the small world of Gothic fantasy holds the position of master. To many followers of the horrible and terrible, Lovecraft is the heir apparent to Poe.

Although critics have generally dismissed Lovecraft as a hack and predicted that he would fade away, he persists to appear in print. His work is imitated by other writers. This persistence raises some questions concerning Lovecraft, but first it is necessary to examine the place of horror in American Literature and the criteria for writing horror.

If horror has a significant place in the development of American Literature, then Lovecraft deserves renewed consideration. A study of his work is in order.

As to my personal opinion about Lovecraft, I wish to state them briefly here. Originally I approached Lovecraft in a straightforward manner. My first draft detailed Lovecraft's life, told the history of the Gothic, compared Poe's life and work to Lovecraft's and examined the body of Lovecraft's writing. It became apparent that such a treatment was overly long for my present need. Therefore I decided to cut my original paper from an overall view of Lovecraft to one concerned mainly with his work. Even so, it remains rather long, for which I apologize.

As I prepared to write my final draft, I began to notice a subtle theme in both Lovecraft's work and in his personal correspondence. This has led me to believe that Lovecraft might have been an existentialist writer. Unfortunately I fell upon this idea too late to pursue it in my paper. However, I would like to state that this feeling should be considered as an undercurrent to my paper. I would like to quote from William Hubben's book, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Kafka.*

"These four writers...occupy...the position of outsiders in the society that had produced them...they were both the end products of a dying civilization and the clairvoyant prophets of coming chaos."

I wish to have this statement kept in mind during the reading of my paper on Lovecraft. What is said above could be said of H. P. Lovecraft as well.

* William Hubben, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Kafka (New York: Collier, 1952), p. 159.

I: Books Are Feeble Things

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

"Words are made of syllables and syllables, child, are made of air -- and air is so thin..." warned Carl Sandburg, "...be careful, be careful, be careful, be what you wish to be." 3

At the beginning of this century lived a child who wished to be a scholar. But careful or careless, circumstances prevented him from being what he wished, except in the solitude of his own abode.

"All life is hollow and futile -- it means nothing, and I want nothing of it but passive dream and simple childhood memory till the greater boon of oblivion comes," 4 he asked later, as he saw his childhood hopes sink in the marshes of ill-health. His name was Howard Phillips Lovecraft, and he dealt with the thin air of words.

But because the words he dealt with described dark worlds of horror, he has remained outside the consideration of literary critics. Horror is ignored as a feeble theme and Lovecraft's books are dismissed as feeble efforts. Even when his work surfaced for general view he received less than full credit.

During a surge of horror films in the mid-1960's, American-International presented a series based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. One title in this series was The Hunted Palace. 5 The title was indeed Poe's own, but Poe's original work was a poem. 6 The screenplay by Charles Beaumont (pictured right) overcame the handicap of no story by adapting The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, a novel by H. P. Lovecraft. 7 Edgar Allan Poe received the public credit, but H. P. Lovecraft supplied the plot.

In the foreword to Best American Short Stories 1967, the editors noted a trend for the horror story to appear in literary quarterlies and other critically examined magazines. 8 If such a trend should continue, it is quite possible that horror may find an accepted place in literary criticism. In light of such a possibility there is value in re-examinging the life and work of H. P. Lovecraft, who remains at present, a lurker on the bookshelf.

Footnotes:

2. H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I; 1911-1924 (Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965), p. 315.

3. Carl sandburg, "Little Girl be Careful What You Say", Complete Poems (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1950), p. 656.

4. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 316.

5. Carlos Clarens, An Illustrated History of the Horror Film (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1967), p. 200.

6. Edgar Allan Poe, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: John Hovendon, N. D.), Volume X, pp. 62-63.

"The Haunted Palace" begins, "In the greenest of our valleys/ By good angels tenanted,/ Once a fair and stately palace--/ Radiant palace -- reared its head." It first appeared in 1838. (Works, X, p. 63.) It reappeared in the middle of The Fall of the House of Usher the following year. (Works, III, pp. 166-167.) James Russell Lowell considered the poem highly musical and suggested using the fourth verse as part of Poe's epitaph. (Works, I, p. i.) Considering Poe's influence upon the writers of short stores, it was an appropriate choice.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair place door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling forever,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king. (Works, X, p. 63.)

Wit or wisdom or not, there is no story line to the poem for use as structure for a movie.

7. Clarens, The Horror Film, pp. 148-149.

8. Martha Foley and David Burnett, "Foreword to The Best American Short Stories 1968" (New York, Ballantine Books, 1967), pp. 1-2.

II: What is Horror?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:44:00 +0000

"It has always existed, and always will exist." -- H. P. Lovecraft 9

To understand any field of work there must be definitions of its boundaries. Lovecraft worked within the boundaries of the horror story. What then is horror and how can it be considered critically?

Strictly speaking, horror is "an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying or revolting; a shuddering fear." 10 In modern literature, the horror story is generally classified as Gothic Romance, "a style of fiction, especially in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, characterized by historical and picturesque settings, an atmosphere of mystery, gloom and terror, supernatural or psychological plot elements, and violent and macabre events." 11 There are certain traits, which distinguish Gothic Romance as a definite style. 12 The use of these traits was so universal in the 19th Century that the lack of any one meant the work was not truly Gothic, However, the term has come to be applied to any literary work that tends toward bizarre themes. 13 The true Gothic Novel reached its greatest popularity at the end of the 18th Century, but has since fallen from fashion, although it can still be found on any drugstore bookstall. As a form the Gothic was "probably disparaged beyond justification," 14 but though generally disregarded on any listing of worthwhile reading, its influence on the development of American writing cannot be ignored.

"From tomahawk to modern terrors," 15 was how Leslie A. Fiedler put this influence, for from the beginning of American literature there has been horror.

"From Edgar Poe to Truman Capote,

from Brockden Brown through George

Lippand to Paul Bowles and Carson

McCullers, from The Monster of

Stephen Crane to The Cannibal of

John Hawkes, the image of alienation,

flight, and abysmal fear possess our

fiction, until the Gothic novel had

been discovered, the serious American

novel could not begin, and as long as

that novel lasts the Gothic cannot die." 16

The Gothic owes its birth to English writer, Horace Walpole (pictured right), who in 1764 wrote The Castle of Otranto. The novel's action occurred within the mouldering walls of a Gothic Castle; thus was gained the name of a whole literature. Walpole's formula became the standard, 17 despite its crudeness. During the 19th Century it was put to extensive use by many writers, some of whom moved away from the more melodramatic features of the Gothic novel. 18

An offspring of the Gothic was the modern horror story. The birthdate was December 1839 when Edgar Allan Poe's two volume Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque was published in Philadelphia. 19

The horror story is difficult to write. It deals with the intangible and a delicate balance is needed to prevent the story from becoming merely ludicrous. 20 Three basic criteria can be used in maintaining this balance: mood, motivation and believability. 21 The author must create imaginatively, realistically, and most important, with consistency. He may invent whatever atmosphere he wishes, but he must take it seriously or the reader's belief will be destroyed and the story will be lost. 22 There must be a reason why the action unfolds other than the say-so of the author. Why does the story happen at this place, to this person, in the way it does? A common fault of older stories was a lack of logical motivation. 23

But even with the proper balance of mode, motivation and realism, can the horror story be accepted? It can be for it deals with fiction, not science. If it remains consistently true throughout it can be accepted by the reader. A skilled writer can suspend the reader's disbelief, 24 particularly in the short story. This is more difficult over novel length and few have attempted. For this reason the writings of Poe, Lovecraft, et al are generally short stories. 25 In these short works the proper mode van be sustained, especially when the story's events deal with the border line of insanity, for here is a shadowy and horrible world that does exist. 26

There are monsters lurking in the subconscious. During the waking hours the monsters are locked out of sight, like a mad uncle locked in the attic, but in dreams they break their bonds and escae; they become part of the emotions of man. They become fair game for the writer, for the artist attempts to examine all emotion. 27 Horror is win tin. It is emotionally rooted in the imagination. Rarely faced in the bright corners of real life, it is faced full force in dreams, where the mind loses the ability to declare, "This cannot be." Asleep the horrible must be faced or the dreamer must flee. Often he flees into wakefulness. 28

The sane forget their dreams upon awaking. But the insane person remains haunted all day. Society imprisons the insane. Psychologists study the mind and uncover terrible demons; yet for all their modern knowledge, they have been unable to exorcise the ancient terrors lurking within every mind. 29

Night, the cold, dampness, earth are associated with death. Life can end in these elements. But what lies beyond death? Science cannot say. man has gathered mountains of knowledge, but no overturned stone has given science an answer to death. 30

Horror hovers on the edge of these doubts, It is near the empty dark void where reason totters. Horror is very powerful and cannot be tolerated long by the mind. One of the earliest discoveries of the Gothic writers was the force driving the mind to know what it faced. Horror is strongest when it is not clearly seen; therefore, the writers learned to hide, to use weird phenomena and broken sentences to heighten suspense. They found suggestion stronger than pure action. 31

H. P. Lovecraft's personal criteria followed closely those already mentioned. He felt there was nothing as terrifying to the human spirit than a dislocation in space and time. Horror should be original and reflect a single powerful mood, emotion or life situation. As an emotion, horror could be part of art, but it was to remain a minor part because it was minor in life. 32

Unfortunately for Lovecraft and his fellow horror writers the only market traditionally open to their work was the pulp magazines. The critics have not cared to examine the pulps for any sign of art, large or small, and horror was dismissed as just "Pulp Fiction". 33 It has been the callousness of the critics as much as any factor that has prevented Lovecraft from being better known to the reading public. But as an interesting figure and a writer of a very American art form, minor or not, he deserves some consideration.

Footnotes:

9. H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature", Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965), p. 349.

10. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language,T(New York: Random House, 1968), p. 639.

11. Ibid., p. 570.

12. H. R. Steeves, Collier's Encyclopedia, 1963, under "Gothic Romance". Vol. 17, pp. 252-253.

13. Ibid., p. 253.

14. Ibid., p. 253.

15. Ibid., p. 252.

16. Leslie A. Fiedler, Love and Death in the American Novel, 2nd ed. (New York: Dell Publishing, 1966), p. 489.

17. Ibid., p. 130.

18. Herbert Wise and Phyllis Fraser, "Introduction to Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural" (New York: Random House, 1944), pp. xiii-xix.

19. Steeves, p. 253.

20. Philip Van Doren Stern, "Introduction to Great Ghost Stories" (New york: Washington Square Press, 1962), p. xvi.

21. Wise and Fraser, p. xiv.

22. Stern, pp. xxii-xxiii.

23. Larry Eugene Meredith, "How to Write the Horror Story" (Philadelphia: Temple University, 1970), p. 2.

24. Wise and Fraser, p. xvi.

25. Meredith, "Horror Story", p. 2.

26. Robert A. W. Lowndes, Letter to Larry Eugene Meredith, January 31, 1969.

27. Wise and Fraser, p. xvi.

28. Drake Douglas, Horror! (New York: Collier-Macmillan Company, 1966), pp. 4-5.

29. Stern, p. xxiii.

30. Ibid., p. xii.

31. Ibid., p. xii.

32. Ibid., p. ix.

33. Ibid., p.xi.

There were some footnotes between the end of this chapter and those of the next that apparently refer to material that was lost or deleted. Although I no longer, after thirty-plus years, know what was contained in the missing paragraphs, I include the footnotes just to explain the gap between numbers.

34. Stern, pp. x-xi.

35. Ibid., p. xxi.

36. Ibid., pp. xiv-xv.

37. Meredith, "Horror Story", p.3. The mood is set and maintained from the opening words of the story: "True! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but will you say that I am mad? the disease has sharpened my senses -- not destroyed, not dulled them." the narrator's madness is felt by the reader. It becomes easy to understand the murder in light of the narrator's ultra-sensitivity. And it can be accepted as true because of knowledge about the effect of guilt upon the mind.

38. August Derleth, "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", The Dunwich Horror and Others by H. P. Lovecraft (New York: Lancer Books, 1963), p. 14.

39. Charles Beaumont, Remember? Remember? (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1963), pp. 120-121. Beaumont's actual reference was not directed at love craft, but to the work of August Derleth, but it applies to any writer in the horror field who has been known mainly to Pulp readers.

40. Shirley Jackson, "Biography of a Story -- The Lottery", Come Along With Me, ed. by Stanley Edgar Hyman (New York: Popular Library, 1968), pp. 221-244. Miss Jackson discusses the terrifying reaction to her story after it appeared in The New Yorker. She was amazed at the depth of fear and anger it aroused in the reading public.

III: Life of Lovecraft - Childhood

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:03:00 +0000

"[Howard's childhood] was very peculiar and sensitive, always preferring the society of grown persons to that of other children." 41

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in 1890. 42 On June 12, 1889, Winfield Scott Lovecraft married Sarah Susan Phillips. A year later, on August 20, they had their only child. He was born in the Phillips family home, number 454 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island. 43 There is irony in the site of his birth for he was to deal more often with demons than with angels. Even his family seemed under an ancient New England curse. His paternal grandfather was forced into retirement by a breakdown, his maternal grandfather died of shock, his father died in a sanitarium and his mother perished during a nervous breakdown. 44 Howard was plagued from childhood by nervous tension, frequent severe headaches, insomnia and vivid nightmares. 45

After his birth the Lovecrafts moved to a small home in Auburndale, Massachusetts, 46 but his stay here was cut short in 1893 when his father, a traveling salesman, collapsed and had to be committed to a guardian. 47 This disaster forced the sale of the Auburndale home and a move back to the Phillips home on Angell Street where Howard was to spend his childhood. This was not unpleasant for the boy because the property contained walks and trees reminding Howard of a park. 48

His father was eventually placed in a sanatarium and died there of paresis when Howard was eight. 49 The boy did not know the actual cause of his father's death, but believed it had been a paralytic stroke. 50 The decline and death of Winfield left Howard in the overprotective hands of his mother, who in her own private moments of self-pity convinced her son that he was "ugly-looking". 51

The combination of his mother's neurosis and his own ill-health made him a lonely,solitary child. 52 Invalided, unable to join in rowdiness, he lost himself in scholarship, which he pursued for life. 53 A precocious child, he had a phenomenal memory and total recall, even for the details of dreams. 54 He knew the alphabet at two and was reading incessantly by five. With vivid imagination, he began writing his adventures at seven. 55 Because he was unpopular with other children, he took refuge in the family library where he read old volumes belonging to his grandmother. Many of these books were written with English long S's. Included in his reading was Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hawthorne's Tanklewood Tales and Wonder Book, Bulfinch's Age of Fable and Garth's Ovid. He was early impressed by the essays of Dryden and Addison. 56 His own interests developed in the following order: sciences, Astronomy, Greek and Roman History, Arabian Nights, 18th Century England and the Gothic. 57

A highly intelligent child, he indulged in the common habit of adopting special affectations. In his later years he could view these affectations with humor, even dropping some as useless. 58 One of these self-inflicted peculiarities was his identification with the 18th Century. There were moments he expressed the wish that the American Revolution had never taken place, 59 and he seriously tried to eliminate all modern words from his vocabulary. At Ten he took to signing himself as "H. Lovecraft, Gent., 16--". This was the beginning of a life-long habit of dating letters two centuries back. 60 At this same time in his childhood he attempted to write a comic opera. 61 He also took a great interest in chemistry 62 and as he entered adolescence began writing poetry. 63 At twelve he was specializing in the study of geography and astronomy. His ideal in fiction was Jules Verne (pictured right). 64 Writing stories in imitation of Verne, he later claimed his prose and poetry style were set by age twelve. 65

In 1903 he had a brief social experience with his peers when other boys joined his club, "Providence Detective Agency." 66 And in 1904 his life took several important turns. His grandfather Phillips died and with his mother, Howard moved to the home that was to become his most permanent address, 598 Angell Street. 67 His new neighbors were The Reverend James Pike and the minister's mother, both poets. They befriended the boy and influenced his writing of verse. 68 Soon he began publishing his own weekly magazine, The Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy, which he continued to produce throughout his teens. 69 This same year he joined the United Amateur Press Association. 70 The United and National Amateur Press Associations generated the little literary magazines of the day. The organizations were made up of aspiring authors, poets, journalists, printers and publishers. 71 His membership in the United opened the door to his future career and expanded his view of the world. It was at this point that his fiction began indicating Gothic leanings. An early effort entitled, "The Beast in the Cave," dealt with the effect of solitude, darkness and silence on the human psyche. 72 Perhaps the story actually reflected his own unconscious fears, for his poor health had brought him solitude and forced him into his own cave. He was unable to attend school regularly and much of his learning was by tutor. His grammar school had been on Slanted Street, followed by Hope Street High School. His host subjects were Latin, Ancient History, Physics and Chemistry. 73

His first printed work appeared on June 30, 1906 in the Providence Sun-Journal. It was an attack on astrology. 74 This event led directly to a regular column on astronomy for the Providence Tribune, 75 developing further his interest in stars that was to appear often in his later work. 76

Through his teens, Howard continued his intellectual development. He studied violin for two years, but gave it up under the monotony of practice, although he loved music. His knowledge of language expanded to include Latin, Greek, French and Spanish. He attempted German, but found the language repelled him. Mathematics were also repelling; yet he received top grades in algebra and geometry. 77 It seemed natural that he would ho to Brown University, but once again ill health interfered and he never went. Briefly he studied chemistry by correspondence, but eventually dropped the project. 78

The year of 1908, when he should have started college, was to be instead a year of decision and philosophizing. He ceased writing fiction after the Tribune articles began, and in 1908, burned his remaining stories, saving two as being decent representatives of his childhood writing. 79 He was disappointed in the standard of writing generally, feeling English had declined after the closing of the formal school of composition. 80

Religiously he turned Atheist, wavering between Roman Pantheism and Rationalism. He read the Bible from sheer curiosity. 81 Personally he believed man simply returned to basic molecules and fused with the universe upon death. He also rejected the concept of Free Will. Man was unable to control the forces of nature or man was himself a "force of nature". 82

Footnotes:

41. August Derleth, "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", The Dunwich Horror and Others by H. P. Lovecraft (New York: Lancer Books, 1963), p.14.

42. Douglas, Horror!, p. 237.

43. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I. p. 6.

44. Ibid., p. 122.

45. August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, "Preface to Selected Letters I" (Sauk City, Wisc.; Arkham House, 1965), p. xxiv.

46. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 6.

47. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 7.

48.   Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 6.

49. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 7.

50. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxiv.

51. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 7.

52. Douglas, Horror!, p. 237.

53. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxiv.

54. Ibid., xxiv.

55. Ibid., xxiv.

56. Ibid., xxiv.

57. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 8.

58.   Robert A. W. Lowndes, "The Editor's Page", Magazine of Horror, 4, 6 (November 1968) p. 124.

59. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 10.

60.   Ibid., p. 8.

61. Ibid., p. 76.

62. Ibid., p. 8.

63. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 8.

64.   Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 19.

65. Ibid., p. 9.

66. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 8.

67. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 8.

68. Ibid., p. 9.

69. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 7-8.

70.   Ibid., p. 8.

71. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxv.

72. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

73. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 9.

74. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxiv-xxv.

75.   Ibid., pp. xxiv-xxv.

76. Douglas, Horror!, p. 237.

77. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 9.

78. Ibid., p. 9.

79. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxv.

80. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 11.

81. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 11.

82. Ibid., pp. 10-11.

IV: Life of Lovecraft -- Struggles and Success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:29:00 +0000

"The mere fact of being grown up is at times incredible to me." 83

If Lovecraft found no channel for Free Will to exist, he did find an existing channel for his creativity in the United Amateur Press. After his story "The Alchemist" appeared in The United Amateur 84 he had confined most of his writing to verse, but in 1917 he met printer-author, W. Paul Cook, who convinced him to resume fiction. The immediate result of Cook's urgings were two short stories, "The Tomb" and "Dagon". 85 The latter story was significant, for it would be the first of his stories that would appear in Weird Tales (1923). 86

It was also through the United Amateur Press that Lovecraft began the revision work that would supplement his income the rest of his life. Those he worked for often became lifelong correspondents as well. The first of these was a high school English teacher named Maurice W. Moe. Others included Ira A. Cole, a Kansas rather; Reinhardt Kleiner, a poet; Frank Belknap Long (pictured with Lovecraft), poet-author; James F. Morton, a Rhodes Scholar and curator of the Paterson Museum; and Samuel Loveman, poet-bibliophile. 87

Entering his mid-twenties, Lovecraft returned to writing fiction. he considered "The Alchemist" his credential as an author and he looked to Edgar Allan Poe as a model. 88 In January of 1917, Lovecraft had won twenty-five dollars for the best essay on the movie The Image-Maker of Thebes. Personally he thought the movie was dreadful; "rough-hewn amateurish...pitifully feeble & hackneyed manner." On this basis he submitted an essay with no hope of winning, calling his piece, "a roast." It amazed him when he won. 89

If 1917 promised young Lovecraft hope of a literary future, it also provided him with a share of disappointment. He had wanted to join the Army, but was rejected. Over his mother's protests, he badgered the recruiting offices. It was no use. 90 As he realized there was no chance of acceptance he began to brood about the futility of his life.

Life had passed him by. He was a valueless failure, while those he had known as a youth had succeeded. What use had the world for a "sickly recluse". He found it especially ironic and bitter that a person he had once tutored in composition was writing features in The New York Times. His own ambition had been to be a college professor at Brown, but that career had never gotten started when his ill health kept him from attending the University. 91 What was more upsetting was his false appearance, which belied his ill health. He was five feet eleven inches tall, weighing between one hundred fifty and one hundred seventy five pounds. He complained to friends that he appeared robust to strangers and his feelings were badly hurt when one such stranger wrote that he was, "a husky, pampered hypochondriac." But in actuality, he suffered violent headaches, dizzy spells and periods of poor concentration. 92 His personal habits were hardly conducive to improving his health. He often worked or walked all night and he only ate two meals a day, a full meal and a lunch of crackers and milk. 93

In 1920, the walls of poverty closed around him. he began wondering if he could possibly accept a teaching position at an evening school. he felt he could doit if regular absences could be excused, but deep-down he feared the strain would bring about a general breakdown. 94

1921 took an upward turn. Lovecraft wrote the biographical and critical preface for a book by jonathan Boag, a fellow member of the United. he found it extremely pleasing to see his name on the title page of a volume. 95 And then in October another United acquaintance, George Julian Houtain began a magazine called Home Brew. Houtain asked Lovecraft to write a series built around one central character. Lovecraft reluctantly agreed, but it was his belief that and writing done to order could not be true art. 96 Nevertheless, he agreed and wrote a six-part series under the collective title of "Herbert West; Reanimator." 97 he was paid five dollars per part. 98 Despite his need for money, Lovecraft was glad when the assignment was finished. The writing had been difficult and could not be considered art. On top of his complaint that the work was forced, all of the pay due him did not arrive. He decided not to take on any more work for the magazine, though he later reminded. Meanwhile Home Brew published early tales Lovecraft had written for the United Amateur Press, 99 for free.

It appeared that every time Lovecraft's pendulum swung upward it would swing down again. In 1921, his mother died of a mental breakdown after two years in the Butler Hospital of Providence. Howard now lived with his aunts, Mrs. Franklin C. Clark and Mrs. Edward F. Gamwell. (Mrs. Gamwell was to survive him by four years.) 100 After his mother died Lovecraft went into a period when he was unable to write. He felt there was no reason to write because he had no one to appreciate it. He found bereavement increased "one's listlessness and killing one's ambition." 101

Along with the drop in his spirits there was a drop in the family fortunes and Lovecraft had to find some way to make the financial ends meet. he took up ghostwriting, criticism, revision work of poetry and prose. but he asked such low payments that he barely eked out a subsistence income. the only positive result of this draining work was the new friends he acquired, especially Mrs. Sonia Greene of Brooklyn, new York. 102

He began to leave his shell with the release of his mother's grip. Those who knew him during this period swear that he enjoyed company. His letters displayed wide interests. he could talk for hours, and though he enjoyed lonely walks at night, he also took walks with friends. 103 he began making short trips to examine old towns, many of which formed the locales of his later stories under names such as Arkham, Dunwich and Innsmouth. He made his first long trip in 1922 to visit Samuel Loveman in Cleveland. Loveman showed him some poems and drawings done by California writer, Clark Ashton Smith (pictured right). Lovecraft was so impressed by Smith's work he wrote the writer and this letter began another lifelong correspondence. 104

Recinding his earlier decision, Lovecraft agreed to do another story for Home Brew. This was "The Lurking Fear" and he asked Clark Ashton Smith to illustrate it for the magazine. 105 This new project for Home Brew was no more satisfying than "Herbert West" had been and for much the same reason. Editor Houtain's request that the story be written in even sections of 2,000 words each with every section possessing "an horrific & suspenseful climax" made for a "frightfully wooden & mechanical" story. 106

The other work he had taken on during this period made him just as unhappy. he was doing request writing for trade magazines, one an article on local Providence stores for Supply Dealer and another for a beauty-culture magazine. he found it dull work. 107

And then a specialized market opened for his horror stories. In 1923, Weird Tales began publication. In May, Weird Tales accepted "Dagon", which appeared in the July issue. More importantly, he was asked for more. 108

But it was not long before he began questioning the value of his profession. In July he resolved that writing for publication was vulgar. 109 It was not a gentlemanly profession to write for a magazine for a "plebeian rabble to stare at." If a man must write, he should restrict it to letters. 110 He was complaining more specifically about Weird Tales' policy of changing titles, feeling their choices were flat. They wanted to change his "Arthury (sic) Jermyn" to "the White Ape". 111

However further requests for stories soon stimulated him to write further. In fact, he felt confident enough, on his sales to Weird Tales, to move to Brooklyn and marry widow Sonia Greene in 1924. 112

Footnotes:

83. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxvi.

84. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

85. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxv.

86. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

87. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxvi.

88. Lovecraft, Selected Lettters I, p. 19.

89. Ibid., pp. 42-43.

90. Ibid., p. 48.

91. Ibid., p. 77.

92. Ibid., p. 121.

93. Ibid., p. 151.

94. Ibid., p. 106.

95. Ibid., p. 131.

96. Ibid., p. 154.

97. Ibid., p. 154.

98. Ibid., p. 158.

99. Ibid., p. 188-189.

100. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 8.

101. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 141. He did find time to ponder the world situation though. On December 10, 1921, Lovecraft wrote that war was inevitable and pacifism was silly. there was an "innate weakness within man". The next war, he felt, would be between England, France and the United States against Germany, Japan and Russia. "Germany was finding ways to keep strong, Russia was a most terrible army of human wolves, Japan will break faith in every way." pp. 159-160.

102. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

103. Lowndes, "Editor's Page", (Nov. 1968), pp. 3 & 124.

104. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxvi. [Clark Ashton Smith and I seem to have become eternally linked in parts of cyberspace in such search descriptions as: "The Return of the Sorcerer by Clark Ashton Smith; The Three from the Tomb by ... The Editor's Page - On Nero Wolfe; Conjured by Larry Eugene Meredith" and "Larry Eugene Meredith - The Writings Of Elwin Adams Clark Ashton Smith - The Colossus Of Ylourgue James Blish - There Shall Be No ..." because stories of ours shared some issues of The Magazine of Horror and Startling Mystery Stories.]

105. Lovecraft, Selected Lettters I, p. 201

106. Ibid., p. 201.

107. Ibid., p. 272.

108. Ibid., pp. 231 & 233.

109. Ibid., p. 238.

110. Ibid., p. 243.

111. Ibid., p. 272.

112. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxvi.

V: Life of Lovecraft -- Marriage and Death

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Sonia Greene and Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

They had been writing each other and he had been doing revision work for her. He found her very feminine and challenging and attractive, despite being his senior by a decade. 113 They took up residence at 259 Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. 114 His time in Brooklyn was the only home he ever had outside of Providence, except for a brief period in his infancy. It was to be one of the most social he would know. he spend a good deal of his time with friends, whom he referred to as the "Kalem Club", took long walks about New York with George Kirk, Samuel Loveman and Hart Crane, visits with Weird Tales publisher J. C. henneberger and all night talk sessions with other friends. 115 He seemed ready to settle down and find happiness, but then Sonia's millinery shop failed and Weird Tales almost went bankrupt.

By August of 1924 the Lovecrafts were badly off financially. He could find no work. He listed long advertisements in city newspapers and even wrong a long letter, which he circulated to possible employers. It was of no avail. 116 Circumstances forced them to sell their household goods.Sonia became ill and had to be hospitalized. In November, Lovecraft wrote his aunt, Mrs. Clark, that his marriage was dissolving in rough financial seas. 117

The marriage lasted less than two years. They separated and three years later divorced. 118

Lovecraft claimed his marriage ended in "financial difficulties, plus increasing divergences in aspirations and environmental needs". 119 Realistically, they simply were not compatible. Howard could not adjust to the responsibility of marriage or to Brooklyn life. (they lived ay 169 Clinton Street when the marriage ended.) 120

Lovecraft returned to his familiar Providence and there remained, except for brief visits to historical sites in St. Augustine, New Orleans, Charleston, Natchez, Quebec, Boston and Philadelphia. 121 In 1932 he moved to his final address, still in Providence, 66 College Street.

He became one of the cities unique characters, outside the normal activities. Suffering chronic insomnia, he would walk the night streets of Providence, dreaming fondly of past eras, 123 with his face pale in its permanent pallor and his extreme leanness giving him a graveyard appearance. 124 Heavily dressed against the cold, he walked the New England nights alone. 125 Night was his kin, lonely, solitary, hidden. He preferred writing at dark, even drawing the shades during the day and working by artificial light. 126 Te study where he worked was always overheated for he could not stand the cold, although he never considered leaving New England for warmer climes, 127 even in his later years when the effect of cold air grew worse. He had long been abnormally effected by any temperature below 20 degrees F., but in his last years any temperature beneath 30 degrees made him ill. His letters in these years were filled with his growing disabilities. 128 His body and nervous system had myriad defects. Some may have been in his mind, but most were actual and his body became more of a burden as he aged. 129

As fall faded into early winter of 1936, his ills increased. The final year arrived in 1937 and in February he was placed in Brown Memorial Hospital suffering from intestinal cancer and Bright's Disease. Neither is a pleasant disease. Early on March 15, 130 he "dissolved again into that native infinity of crystal oblivion from which the daemon life had called him for one brief and desolate hour." 131 Three days later they buried him in his grandfather's lot in Swan Point Cemetery, where he remained an outsider even in death. Though his name was added to the central shaft, his actual grave remained unmarked. 132

Perhaps it was fitting, for Howard Phillips Lovecraft had in life a habitual modesty. 133 He never had great faith in his work, feeling it was ruined with the taint of commercialism, Therefore, he never went it alone, but depended on revision work for support. 134 But those whom he corresponded with thought highly of him, His first important publisher, J. C. Henneberger of Weird Tales, felt that Lovecraft's popularity had surpassed that of Poe and Ambrose Bierce. 135

Lovecraft would have been flattered, for Poe was his master. And Henneberger has not been alone in making a comparison between the "Rhode Island recluse" and his idol.

Footnotes:

113. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

114. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 319.

115. Ibid., pp. 344-362.

116. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxvi.

117. Ibid., p. xxviii.

118. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 9.

119. Ibid., p. 9.

120. Ibid., p. 9.

121. Ibid., p. 10.

122. Ibid., p. 10

123. Douglas, Horror!, p. 238.

124. Ibid., p. 237.

125. Ibid., p. 236.

126. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 10.

127. Douglas, Horror!, p. 238.

128. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 10.

129. Lowndes, "Editor's Page" (Nov. 1968), p. 4.

130. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 11. [Nephritis or Bright's Disease is essentially a disease of children or young adults. It is an inflammation of the Glomeruli in the kidneys with symptoms including headache, blood in the urine, puffy face, high blood pressure, convulsions and fever. A salt free diet and bed rest are the main treatments. It is incurable and the chronic form, which it appears Lovecraft had, can be undetected for years and can lead to death. (Collier's Encyclopedia, 1963), Volue 17, pp. 303-304.

131. H. P. Lovecraft, "Ex Oblivione", Magazine of Horror, 4, 6 (November 1968), p. 48.

132. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 11. [At the time this book was written it was still true that Lovecraft lay in an unmarked grave. If one were to Google his grave today they would find a stone. This tombstone was placed on his grave in 1977 by a group of fans who raised the money to do so. At the bottom of this stone are the words, "I am providence", a phrase taken from one of his letters.]

133. August Derleth, "Introduction to Dagon and Other Macabre Tales" (Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965), p. vii.

134. "Lovecraft and his Work", p. 10.

135. J. C. Henneberger, "Letter to Robert A. W. Lowndes", Magazine of Horror, 5, 3 (May 1969), p. 117.

VI: Life of Poe -- Lovecraft's "Master"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:31:00 +0000

"To me Poe is the apex of Fantastic Art." -- H. P. Lovecraft 136

Drake Douglas, in his study of horror, called H. P. Lovecraft the true successor to Edgar Allan Poe, 137 stating that Lovecraft combined Poe's literary quality with the mysticism of Arthur Machen, but brought his own "complete and almost unimaginable originally". 138 It is natural that Lovecraft should follow in Poe's footsteps for their lives show several parallels: both knew alienation, struggle and an early death.

Poe was also born in New England, in Boston, on January 19, 1809. 139 He was also a precocious child, who could recite poetry effectively at the age of five. 140 His parents died early in his life and his foster father provided him with a classical education in England. 141 One of his professors said of him, "While the other boys wrote mere mechanical verses, Poe wrote genuine poetry; the boy was a born poet." 142 He learned Latin, Greek and the Romance Languages, but knew little German or Hebrew. 143 In 1826, Poe spent a term at the University of Virginia, 144 where he was jilted by his first big love, (Sarah) Elmira Royster [pictured right], due mainly to her parents interference. As tragic as this was for him personally, it led to his first important literary work, the long poem "Tamerlane". 145

Poe was described in youth as having a pale, beautiful intelligent face reminding that genius lay within. 146 At five foot eight, he was an athlete, a great swimmer and once set a broad jump record of 21 feet 6 inches. 147 Unfortunately, he developed an Athlete's Heart, which cut short his sports career. 148 His mind was brilliant, but there was a basic flaw in his character that constantly cut short his promise. He was a brooder and enjoyed long walks. 149

In 1927, Poe traveled to Boston and attempted to launch a literary career, but failed and fled into the Army under the name of Edgar A. Perry. 150 During the same year, he had his first book published. It consisted of forty pages of poetry and was entitled, Tamerlane and other Poems. His name did not appear. 151

Poe soon took leave of the Army.

After his mother died in 1831, he tried to make a new start with John Allan, his foster father, but the reconciliation did not work and Poe moved in with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia. When his brother, William Henry Allan died, Poe was dropped from his foster father's will and became depended on his aunt. 152

Poe's stories began appearing in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier in 1832, 153 but his first real success was "MS Found in a Bottle", which won a 1833 contest offered by a Baltimore periodical. 154 This opened the literary door and he had a chance to earn money by writing, but Poe was under the influence of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who had experimented with opium. Poe also began using the drug. 155

On September 22, 1835, at the age of twenty-six, Edgar Poe married Virginia Clemm (pictured right), his ailing thirteen-year-old cousin. For awhile it appeared he was settling down, but no sooner was he married than he began staying out nights and being seen with various women. He took a job as editor, but his scandalous behavior brought about his dismissal. 156 In 1937 he moved with his wife and mother-in-law to New York. The city was in a depression and Poe found no work. Mrs. Clemm supported the family. 157

It wasn't until 1841 that Poe got back on his feet with the editorship of The Gentlemen's Magazine. Poe put the magazine on its feet. Its circulation improved and he began earning a good income. But then Virginia was stricken with tuberculosis and Poe turned to drink for solace. In May of 1842 he was fired. 158

But despite his difficulties, the 1840's were to be his most productive years. In 1843 he wrote, "The Tell-Tale Heart", "Lenore", "Rationale of Verse" and "The Gold-Bug". He wrote "fitfully and brilliantly". 159 "The Raven" was written in 1844 and then his decline began. "The Raven's" appearance on January 29, 1845 in the New York Mirror was his watershed and made his reputation. 160

Virginia's frail health failed completely and he again found comfort in the bottle and with other women, such as Frances S. Osgood. 161 As rumor spread of his affair, his wife died. On January 30, 1847, Poe broke down. All his life he had held a fixation on the perfect and unattainable woman. Virginia had taken on many of his images along this line. With her death she obtained the perfection he sought, but was now unattainable. 162

Poe was nursed to health by a Mrs. Shew and he finally resumed writing. 163 He also resumed his pursuit of women, courting Sarah Helen Power Whitman (pictured left), even proposing marriage. The engagement, however, was canceled because there were rumors that Poe was courting a Mrs. Annie Richman. 164

His world was dissolving into desperate rushes now. He suffered from headaches. Still he came near success in April 1949 when offered a magazine of his own by Edward H. N. Patterson. Poe attempted a lecture for Patterson, but was not up to it. He suffered another breakdown, yet on August 17, he did manage a brilliant lecture at the Exchange House of Richman on "The Poetic Principle". 165

Poe proposed to still another woman, the love of his youth, Elmira Royster. But she broke-off the relationship believing he craved her money. Poe had his third breakdown. Then Elmira had a change of heart and the wedding was set for October 1850. Poe was forty years old.

In September 1949 Poe took a train to baltimore. He arrived drunk and with a high fever. his first stop was at the home of Doctor Nathan C. Brooks (pictured right), but the doctor was out. Poe was not seen again for five days. 166

October Third was an election day. A message went out to Doctor Brooks from Ryan's Saloon that a man called Poe was in a bad way. Poe was taken to Washington College Hospital in a delirium. In the dreary chill of 5 AM, Sunday, October 7, Poe woke briefly. He cried, "Lord, help my poor soul," and died among strangers. 167

His one time lover, Sarah Helen Whitman said, "his mind was indeed a 'Haunted Palace', echoing to the footsteps of angels and demons." 168 Poe gave the world a glimpse of these haunts, but he himself claimed, "No man has recorded, no man has dared to record the wonders of his inner life." 169

Footnotes:

[ Like Lovecraft, Poe was buried in an unmarked grave. Also like Lovecraft, fans collected coins and erected a monument to him in Baltimore in 1875 (pictured left). Later fans decided he should have a proper marker at his grave site and so a stone was so erected (pictured right). This was placed at his supposed gravesite in the Westminster Burial grounds, Baltimore, but apparently this is a dubious placement.]

136. Lovecraft, Selected Letters I, p. 173.

137. Douglas, Horror!, pp. 236-237.

138. Ibid., p. 238.

139. W. H. R., "Edgar Allan Poe: An Appreciation", The Works of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: John Hovendon, n. d.), Volume I, i-xi.

140. Ibid., p. v.

141. James Russell Lowell, "The Life of Edgar A. Poe", The Works of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: John Hovendon, n. d.), Volume I, xii.

142. W. H. R., p. v.

143. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, "Edgar Allan Poe", Colliers Encyclopedia, 1963, Volume P, p. 167.

144. Ibid., p. 166.

145. Anonymous, "Edgar Allan Poe -- A Biographical Note", Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: Doubleday, 1966), p. 814.

146. N. P. Willis, "Death of Edgar Allan Poe", The Works of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: John Hovendon, n. d.), Volume I, p. 15.

147. Anonymous, p. 814.

148. Mabbott., p. 167.

149. Anonymous, p. 814.

150. Anonymous, p. 814.

151. Anonymous, pp. 814-815.

152. Anonymous, p. 815.

153. Mabbott, p. 166.

154. W. H. R., p. vii.

155. Anonymous, pp. 815-816.

156. Ibid., p. 816.

157. Ibid., p. 816.

158. Ibid., p. 817.

159. Ibid., p. 817.

160. Ibid., p. 817.

161. Ibid., p. 817.

162. Robert E. Spiller, The Cycle of American Literature (New York: The New American Library, 1955-56), p. 67.

163. Anonymous, p. 818.

164. Ibid., p. 818.

165. Ibid., p. 818.

166. Ibid., p. 819.

167. Ibid., p. 819.

168. W. H. R., p.iv.

169. Ibid., p. iv.

VII: Poe and Lovecraft

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:02:00 +0000

Like Lovecraft's after him, Poe's life was "short, poignant and strangely haunted". 170 Nor did either man escape hack work during their lives.

There is much in Poe's work that is "flashy and false;" 171 yet he was a genius, the inventor of Detective Fiction, a poetry theorist, one of our greatest critics and an international poet. When his story, "Metzengerstein" was published on january 14, 1832 in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier, the full techniques of the modern short story were used for the first time. American's have excelled in the form ever since. 172

Before Poe, the short story had been an episodic series of events, but Poe wrote for the single effect; direct, concise and concentrated, controlled from start to finish. 173. He not only created the modern story form, but he helped define it further in his criticism of Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales. 174 Charles Brockden Brown (pictured right)might have been the progenitor of American horror, but it was Poe who transcended Brown's ability and claimed the title of "Father" of American horror. 175 Poe moved further than James F. Cooper from the world around to the imagination. This artistic imagination made Poe alien and yet akin to all native American writer, Brockden Brown to James to Eliot, who find themselves acclaimed abroad while denied a literary place at home, which they either idolize or criticize. 176

Poe's writing has the merit of conception of form. The style is classic, finished and graceful. 177 His stories are memorable for their "atmosphere, horror and ratiocination." 178 His primary instruments are insanity and the abnormal states of the mind. 179 Poe said of his stories, "Not of Germany, but of the soul." This raised the criticism that he failed to know more souls than his own. 180

It has been said that Poe was not psychologically profound, he used contrivances and his writing represented "great skill devoted to fairly trivial ends". 181 The great imaginative masters seldom resorted to the vague or unreal as effect or used dread and horror alone. They would subjugate fancies with other qualities. Poe's genius lay in his use of terror and mystery to a high merit of construction. 182

Poe felt emotional impact was the prime objective of prose and tried to discover laws of the most telling effect. He avidly read Blackwood's and decided to explore Gothic methods. To Poe fear was the basic emotion and so he chose the supernatural as his material. 183 The purpose of literature is "to amuse by arousing thought," he said. 184 He denounced the didactic, but took the position that a work of art did not need a moral. Short stories should have a unity of mood. Without horror the short story would probably have failed to take hold. Poe's sensational subject matter demanded attention. It was a vivid expression. 185 As an influence, Poe has affected almost everyone who has written short stories. 186 His short story collection is listed by Good Reading as one of the 100 significant books of all time. 187 His singular masterpiece was "The Fall of the House of Usher". 188

Of all Poe imitators, the most outstanding is H. P. Lovecraft. "It is a regrettable example of the peculiar course of literary history that Edgar Allan Poe, who died more than a century ago, is so highly regarded today, while H. P. Lovecraft, dead for just over a quarter of a century, is today almost forgotten." 189 Lovecraft's "The Outsider", "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Rats in the Walls" compare favorably to Poe's own tales. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" is an early classic of Science-Fiction. 190 "The Outsider" appeared in 1926 and is "one of the most superb short stories in the English language." 191 Some claim it would have been accepted as a lost masterpiece if Lovecraft had signed it "Poe". H. P. Lovecraft had no peers in his time and yet was nearly forgotten at his death, while Poe ranks high. Lovecraft died in 1937 at 47 leaving a "rich legacy of ghouls, monsters and assorted horrors." 192

Footnotes:

170. Anonymous, p. 814

171. Quentic Anderson, "American Literature" (Collier's Encyclopedia, 1963) Volume 2, p. 54.

172. Wallace and Mary Stegner, "Great American Short Stories Introduction" (New York: Dell, 1967), p. 9.

173. Ibid., pp. 11-12.

174. Ibid., p. 12.

175. Leslie A. Fieldler, Love and Death in the American Novel, 2nd Ed. (New York: Dell, 1966), pp. 131-144.

176. Spiller, p. 63.

177. Lowell, p. xxii.

178. J. Sherwood Weber, Good Reading, 20th Edition (New York: New American Library, 1969), p. 138.

179. Spiller, p. 68.

180. Stegner, pp. 12-13.

181. Ibid., p. 12.

182. Lowell, pp. xxii-xxiii.

183. Spiller, pp. 67-68.

184. Mabbott, p. 167.

185. Stegner, p. 12.

186. Ibid., p. 13.

187. Weber, p. 9.

188. Mabbott, p. 167.

189. Douglas, pp. 3-4.

190. Ibid., p. 4.

191. Ibid., p. 246.

192. Ibid., p. 248.

VIII: Lovecraft and the Critics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:28:00 +0000

"A sheer accident of personality." 193

H. P. Lovecraft was a highly literate man. He used perfect and elegant English. His stories were heavy on description; short on dialogue, in the rich style of Dickens and Stevenson, generally the best style for horror. 194 His manuscripts were scarred and interlined for he always sought just the right word and made many revisions. 195 His devotion to the horror story was "a sheer accident of personality" in his own opinion, although his wife felt it "was born of sheer loneliness." 196 Ehatever his reason, he never ventured out of the world of horror. It is the opinion of some admirers that his choice of content was the only reason Lovecraft's work is not studied as models of form and style. 197

Certainly Lovecraft shows some of Poe's strength of unity and structure, but he also shows weaknesses that Poe did not. One of Lovecraft's most tiring faults was harping upon the superstitions of the "locals" in his tales, until it "became virtually a twitch on the part of the narrator". 198 It might be a point the author wished to emphasize, but telling it twice was too many times. But this insistence on repeating a point was not entirely Lovecraft's fault. He wrote during a period when writers thought they had to tell the reader everything. 199 It was a time when the reader of fantasy was on the defensive. It was believed only imbeciles read such stories and it would "rot the mind". When Astounding Stories published The Mountains of Madness in 1936, there was an outburst of caustic fault-finding and vituperation. 200 Perhaps this is why Lovecraft's work lacked humor as well as eroticism. 201

During his life, Lovecraft's stories appeared regularly in Pulp Magazines, but were ignored elsewhere, instead of being welcomed for their originality. 202 Lovecraft is thus dismissed because he was a "pulp writer". This label rankles Lovecraft's biographer, August Derleth.

"This is absurd...only an academician could do this, demote pulps out of hand, this does not put them at the forefront of recognition, as they should be, but well in the rear. This is not so much accoutered abroad, where H. P. Lovecraft was hailed by Jean Cocteau, etc." 203

In 1962, Colin Wilson (pictured left) published a book of criticism, The Strength to Dream. Wilson found Lovecraft sick because of his quotation: "Life has never interested me so much as the escape from life." Wilson called Lovecraft "a horrifying figure who rejected reality and is sick." But Wilson's charge of Lovecraft's withdrawal does not hold up in examining Lovecraft's life with his many friends and large correspondence. The term "sick" is relative. Is a "sports nut" sick? 204 Despite the dismissal, Wilson does treat Lovecraft seriously. he groups him with Yeats, Kafka, Wilde and Strindberg; and Wilson explores "Shadow Out of Time" as Lovecraft's best story. 205

Another Wilson, Edmund, dismissed Lovecraft outright as a hack, but Edmund Wilson is admittedly blind to the macabre and this prejudice colors his judgment. 206

Actually the very existence of such consideration being given to Lovecraft's work by such critics is proof that he cannot be ignored. A quarter century after his death, his place as a master writer of minor fiction appears secure. 207 When his writing began appearing in the pulps he quickly won an audience, including even some members of the critical fraternity. Edward J. O'Brien triple-starred "The Colour Out of Space" and "The Dunwich Horror", including them both in his annual, The Best American Short Stories. Dashiell Hammett anthologized Lovecraft's work. Lovecraft's market expanded from Weird Tales to Amazing, Astounding and Magic Mystery magazines. In 1936, William Crawford published "The Shadow over Innsmouth" in book form. 208

Other critics had positive remarks to make concerning Lovecraft's work. "Probably no other writer of horror -- including the master Poe himself -- was so successful in creating the very atmosphere of horror, fear and terror," wrote Drake Douglas. 209 The Benets, Stephen Vincent and William Rose, praised his work. Vincent Starrett said, "the best of his stories are among the best of his time in the field he chose to make his own." 210 The Poe scholar, Dr. Thomas Ollive Mabbott, hailed Lovecraft. "That he has a place seems certain," Mabbott wrote in an American Literature Review, "I have no doubt that it is an honorable place...narrative power was the greatest of Lovecraft's gifts." 211 However, the majority of reviewers and critics ignored Lovecraft expecting him to fade away. 212

Lovecraft did not fade away. His "Cthulhu Mythos" caught the public's attention much as "Sherlock Homes" had. His books, slow to go to print and then only in limited editions, became collector's items selling at fantastic prices. His books are stolen from library shelves and even the mythical book titles he invented are requested. 213 His most qualitative period was from 1925 to 1935, and he was reaching his creative height at the time of his death. 214 He wrote less and less, though, as he neared his last years. In the last three, only three tales, but one of these is often called his best, "The Shadow Out of Tine". August Derleth (pictured right) has called Lovecraft the master of the genre with no peer in America during his time -- only the lack of a quality market for the supernatural limited his audience. 215

Footnotes:

193. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 14.

194. Douglas, p. 239.

195. Selected Letters I, pp. 120-121.

196. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 15.

197. Douglas, pp. 239-240.

198. Robert A. W. Lowndes, "Inquistions: Travellers by Night", Magazine of Horror (January 1968), 4, 1, pp. 110-113.

199. Ibid., p. 112.

200, Robert A. W. Lowndes, "The Editor's Page". Magazine of Horror (january 1969), 5, 1 p. 4.

201. Ibid., p. 127.

202. Wise and Fraser, p. 1010.

203. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 16.

204. Ibid., p. 17. "Here is a question of philosophy."

205. Ibid., p. 18.

206. Ibid., p. 18.

207. Ibid., p. 18.

208. Ibid., p. 10.

209. Douglas, p. 239.

210, "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 16.

211. Ibid., pp. 15-16.

212. Ibid., P. 16.

213. Ibid., p. 16.

214. "Introduction to Dagon", p. ix.

215. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 15.

VIX: Lovecraft's Work -- Verse and Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:42:00 +0000

"Belfries that blackly against the moon totter,
Caverns whose mouths are by mosses effac’d,
And living to answer the wind and the water,
Only the lean cats that howl in the waste!"
--Verse from "The Cats" by H. P. Lovecraft

What of his work? For several years, from early childhood, Lovecraft wrote verse. These were often satires and usually done in 18th Century heroic couplets. Many appeared in the amateur press booklets. 216 Lovecraft viewed his verse as "a mess of mediocre & miserable junk...[a] worthless array of bad verse." 217

He wrote a long scholarly essay on horror writing in 1926-27. "Supernatural Horror in Fiction" was published in The Recluse, a magazine of W. Paul Cook. Lovecraft partially revised it as a serial for The Fantasy Fan from 1933 to February 1935, but the magazine folded. The essay is important in showing Lovecraft's approach to his field and opinion of his fellow writers. 218

His verse and essays are relatively unknown. Lovecraft is known for his fiction, but some critics feel his ultimate fame will rest upon his letters. 219 In fact, a few critics have suggested his fiction could now be burned since his letters are available. Lovecraft's letters are interesting examples of epistolary turned into literary art in their opinion. 220 Lovecraft kept no copies of his own letters and was both amazed and amused when a friend informed him that he kept Lovecraft's letters in a permanent file. Lovecraft put no value on them except as extensions of social conversation. 221

He wrote as if he were talking with the person. His letters showed fortitude and detachment, even through times of misfortune. the great quantity of correspondence made its content a combination "chronicle, diary and autobiography". 222 He told all and sundry that befell him on every manner of subject.

Lovecraft's collected letters came to fifty typewritten volumes of 100 single-spaced pages, not counting the numerous postcards he sent. 223 His personal letters were holographic in small easily flowing legible script. Both sides of the paper were usually filled to the edges and sometimes decorated with diagrams and sketch work. He often dated the letters in the 18th Century and used Greek alphabet for his signature. Latin phrases appear often. 224 He trimmed the work with cabalistic ritual and magic signs, Russian words, strange whorls and even a made-up language. 225 On one particular day in 1927, Lovecraft was observed sitting on a bench in Roger Williams Park writing four postcards and five letters of two or four pages in two hours. He averaged fifteen letters per day plus unnumbered postcards. 226 Some of these letters were 30, 40, 50 or more pages long taking days to complete and were 60,000 words or better (equivalent to a 200 page book). Usually these were travelogues, pro and con arguments of historical philosophical debate or well-developed nightmares. 227

The burden of correspondence forced him to make a concerted effort to reduce it in his later years. It took half his working day to keep up. He delayed answering or wrote shorter replies. His friends tried to help free him of the task, but for every correspondence which dwindled a new one would begin as more admirers wrote to him. 228 Seldom in letter writing history has any one writer received such a spontaneous tribute to his literary style, scholarly knowledge and special characteristics; yet he was not known to the general public. 229.

Footnotes:

216. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxv.

217. Selected Letters I, p. 60.

218. "Introduction to Dagon", p. ix.

219. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxi.

220. Robert A. W. Lowndes, "Inquisitions: Lovecraft's Selected Letters I", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4, 6, pp. 112-114.

221. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxiii.

222. Ibid., pp xxviii-xxix.

223. Ibid., p. xxi.

224. Ibid., p. xxii.

225. Ibid., p. xxii.

226. Ibid., p. xxii.

227. Ibid., p. xxii.

228. Ibid., p. xxiii.

229. Ibid., pp. xxi-xxii.

X: Lovecraft's Work - Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:27:00 +0000

"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places." -- H. P. Lovecraft.

Lovecraft's stories are basically of two types: fantastic, after Lord Dunsany, or weird and terrible cosmic outsiderness, after Poe, Machen and Ambrose Bierce. 230 He did not work in one vain and proceed later to another however. He wrote Dunanyan tales early, but continued to do so even after the first Cthulhu tales, and the New England stories were spread throughout. 231 In his youth he wrote detective fiction after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but Poe "was [his] god of fiction." 232

His stories were confirmations rather than revelative. he did not play for the surprise ending. Instead, the reader knew what should come, but waited inexordinately to the final confirmation. This was different then formal teaching would have such stories written; yet Lovecraft succeeded with a simplicity that made the reader fail to expect the obvious. 233 Lovecraft did write a few revelatory tales: "The Lurking Fear", "In the Tomb", and "The Outsider". 234

Lovecraft developed the use of special effects to heighten the mood. There was a great use of color, especially green, and of sounds such as the lapping of the sea. A descriptive writer, he seldom described monsters allowing the reader to picture his own horrors. One exception was in "The Dunwich Horror" and here the description is unsatisfying. He was a master at converting old farmhouses and churches to scenes of terror, and even though he walked a thin line, he seldom slipped over into bad taste. 235

Even in childhood his preference was clear. Two of his earliest stories are described in his letters.

"The Twin" (L. E. M.'s Note: my title) written before he was eleven concerns twin brothers. One kills the other and assumes both identities. In the end this one is struck by lightning. A scar identifies him and his diary reveals his secret. 236

A more interesting boyhood story is "The Beast in the Cave". A man becomes lost in Monmouth Cave where he hears and sees a strange animal. He kills it. Later a guide finds the man and the dying animal, which appears to be a snow-white ape. The animal gasps, turns and speaks as it dies. It was a man long lost on the cave who was changed mentally and physically by the never-ending dark, silence and solitude. 237

This boyhood story points directly to the recurring themes of his best adult tales, especially "The Outsider", where solitude, loneliness and dark are constant. Of his early pure horror tales, the best are "The Rats in the Walls", "The Outsider", "The Picture in the House", "Pickman's Model", "The Hound", "Cool Air", "He", "The Horror of Red Hook", "In the Vault", "The Shunned House" and "The Unnameable". 238

"Herbert West: Reanimator" and "Imprisoned With the Pharaohs" were written to order, which was uncustomary for Lovecraft. 239 "Herbert West: Reanimator" was his first professional story and was written by request for Home Brew in 1921. 240 It was a six-part series revolving around the adventures of a young medical student (a kind of Doctor Frankenstein) who collected corpses by night and brought them back to life by day. Each reanimation led to an adventure. 241

"Imprisoned With the Pharaohs" appeared in Weird Tales over the byline of Harry Houdini, but was actually written by Lovecraft. Houdini had visited the magazine's office in Chicago because he was enthusiastic about Weird Tales. There he befriended the publisher, J. C. Henneberger. One day Houdini related an amazing tale of a trip he had made through Eygpt. Henneberger sent an outline to Lovecraft, who wrote it as an article, but asked that his name be left off, which pleased Houdini since he received all the credit. 242

Houdini's magic did not extend to writing. Lovecraft found Houdini's adventure humorous. Houdini claimed to have been taken prisoner and left bound in "Campbell's Tomb" between the Sphinx and Second Pyramid. 243 Lovecraft's library research convinced him Houdini's story was completely false. 244 Lovecraft felt that Houdini liked to make up fantastic tales and pass them off as true and Lovecraft decided to stretch this one somewhat by adding fake mummies and mysterious deaths. Houdini accepted it and Lovecraft was paid $100. 245 The story was written in 1924 and finished just before Lovecraft's marriage, Unfortunately the manuscript was lost and in order to make the deadline, Lovecraft spent his wedding night at the typewriter redoing it. 246

Foornotes:

230. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 22

231. "Introduction to Dagon", p. viii.

232. Selected Letters I, p. 20.

233. Robert A. W. Lowndes, "The Editor's Page", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4, 6, pp. 125-126.

234. Ibid., p. 126.

235. Douglas, pp. 240-241.

236. Selected Letters I, p. 20.

237. Ibid., pp. 20-21.

238. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", p. 11.

239. "Introduction to Dagon", p. vii.

240. Selected Letters I, p. 158.

241. Ibid., p. 158.

242. Henneberger, p. 117.

243. Selected Letters I, p. 312-313.

244. Ibid., p. 317.

245. Ibid., p. 313.

246. Robert A. W. Lowndes, "It Is Written...", Magazine of Horror (May 1969), 5, 3, p. 118.

XI: Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:25:00 +0000

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
-- H. P. Lovecraft
"The Call of Cthulhu"

In February 1928. Weird Tales published Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" which told of "The Old Ones" who once ruled Earth and lost it through the practice of black magic. 247 It began a new myth, known as the "Cthulhu Mythos" and Lovecraft used the myth over and over and even encouraged other writers to add to it. 248

Some critics, the most recent being Colin Wilson, have suggested that Lovecraft too the Mythos seriously. This is false. Lovecraft considered the Mythos pure entertainment and it amazed him to see the gullibility of people who took them as reality. Furthermore, the original grains for the Mythos appeared in the work of others, such as Poe and Machen. 249

"All my stories, unconnected as they may be, are based on the fundamental lore or legend that this world was in habited one time by another race who, in practicing black magic lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live on outside, ever ready to take possession on this earth again," 250 Lovecraft said of his work.

It can be seen how Lovecraft's philosophy relates to the work of Arthur Machen (pictured right). Machen wrote of his native Wales, 251 and was interested in the "original form of man". Many of Machen's characters dissolve into putrid masses. 252. In "The White Powder", for instance, we have a young man who's sister gives a vitamin in the form of a white powder to perk him up from the strains of his studies. He then becomes wild and finally locks himself in his room. One day an inhuman face is seen in the window of his room. The door is forced open by a doctor who sees the young man melt into a putrid mass, which the doctor destroys. The white powder was the "wine of the sabbath of the witches". 253

The Cthulhu Mythos evolved with "The Nameless City" and "The Call of Cthulhu". Later Lovecraft constructed a pantheon of gods and asked other writers to add to it. Many did, including Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, Henry Kuttner, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard and Robert Bloch. 254 The primary "Cthulhu" stories are "The Nameless City", "Festival", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Dunwich Horror", "Whisperer in Darkness", "The Dreams in the Witch-House", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Shadow Out of Time", The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and "The Thing on the Doorstep." 255

"The Nameless City" was based on a dream after Lovecraft read Lord Dunsany's (pictured left) Book of Wonder and the phrase, "The unreverberate blackness at the abyss." It was in this story that Arab Alhazred first appeared. For the name of the mad philosopher, Lovecraft used a pen name from his childhood when he was interested in The Arabian Nights. 256

The Mythos were mainly Lovecraft's last phase. Based on the history of mankind, they represent the primal battle of good and evil. They are similar to the Christian Mythos, especially as the latter concerns Satan. 257

The Elder Gods top the pantheon of deities. They are benignly good, but only Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss, is ever named. These Gods exist near Betelgeuse in Orion and seldom interfere in the struggle on earth between evil and the races. 258

The powers of evil belong to the Great Old Ones or The Ancient Ones. Many of these are named: the supreme blind god, Azathhoth; the all-in-one and one-in-all Yoh-Sothoth; Nyarlathoted, messenger of The Great Ones; Cthulhu, the water elemental, who dwells in R'Lyeh; Hastur, the unspeakable, who rules air and space; Shub-Niggurath, the black goat of the woods with a thousand young, the fertility god. 259

Lovecraft added all the trimmings; books such as the dreaded Necronomicon of Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, places such as Arkham, Kingsport, Dunwich and Kadath in the cold waste among others. 260

Seemingly unexamined, but interesting to contemplate, is the name chosen by Lovecraft for his mythology, Cthulhu. The word is similar to the Greek word Chthonian. Considering Lovecraft's devotion to ancient Greece it seems possible that he may have borrowed from its mythology for his own. In Greek myth, Chthonians were the Gods of the Earth, although there was no strict dividing line between them and the Olympians. The Greeks believed the earth had powerful influences on life and death; the dead were buried in earth, yet it supported life. A blending of life and death from which sprang the Greek cults, known as Mysteries, which held secret rites of fertility near Athens. 261

Stories relating to the "cthulhu Mythos" before or after Lovecraft include: A. Gordon Pym by Poe, "The Yellow Sign"by Robert W. Chambers, "An Inhabitant of Concosa" by Bierce and Machen's "The White Powder" and "The Black Seal". 262

Lovecraft was also an early innovated of Science-Fiction. His "the Whisperer in Darkness" introduced a new planet called Yuggoth, the "Gateway of the Old Ones", which lay behind Neptune, preceding the discovery of Pluto by one year. Pluto had been suspected for years, so Lovecraft probably used his studies of astronomy ro advantage. 263 "Whisperer" is not good Science-Fiction, though, for it is naive about space travel. However, "The Colour Out of Space" (1927) is very fine Science-Fiction. 264

Lovecraft actually began hinting at the "Cthulhu Mythos" with his first adult tale, "Dagon" (1917). Written in the form of a suicide note, it tells of a sailor set adrift during a World War I naval battle. He drifts to an uncharted island with a beach strewn with dead fish. Black slime and the odor of fish prevail. Exploring, he finds a great carved stone. It pictures great humanoid forms killing whales. Suddenly he sees something huge and flees. Picked up at sea, he speaks of Dagon, the Fish-God. to escape the horror of his mind he turns to drugs. When the drugs are gone and memory returns he decides to kill himself. 265

Footnotes:

247. Douglas, pp. 242-243.

248. Wise and Fraser, p. 1010.

249. August Derleth, "A Note on the Cthulhu Mythos", The Trail of Cthulhu (Sauk City, Wisc.:Arkham House, 1962), p.247.

250. Wise and Fraser, p. 1010.

251. Ibid., 1010.

252. Douglas, p. 255.

253. Ibid., p. 254.

254. "H. P. Lovecraft and His Work", pp. 12-13.

255. Ibid., p. 13.

256. Selected Letters I, p. 122.

257. "H. P. Lovecraft and His Work", p. 11.

258. Ibid., p. 12.

259. Ibid., p. 12.

260. Ibid., p. 13.

261. Michael Jameson, "Mythology, Classical" (Collier's Encyclopedia, 1963), Volume 17, pp. 115E-115F.

262. "H. P. Lovecraft and His Work", pp. 13-14.

263. Douglas, p. 244.

264. Ibid., pp. 244-245.

265. H. P.Lovecraft, Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965), pp. 3-8.

XII: A Lovecraft Sampling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:11:00 +0000

“A serious adult story must be true to something in life. Since marvel tales cannot be true to the events of life, they must shift their emphasis towards something to which they can be true; namely, certain wistful or restless moods of the human spirit, wherein it seeks to weave gossamer ladders of escape from the galling tyranny of time, space, and natural law.”
― H.P. Lovecraft

A brief look at five short stories will give an idea of Lovecraft's usual themes and style.

"Nyarlathotep" is in the "Cthulhu Mythos". Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, comes out of the wastes of Egypt. He comes at a time of great political and social upheaval when the people are going about with worried faces. He presents exhibitions of strange instruments of science and afterward the rest become disturbed and nightmares become a public problem. Nyarlathotep comes to the narrator's city, which is full of crime and predicts the end of the world. the narrator calls it a lie and Nyarlathotep chases everyone from his meeting. The city gradually falls to ruin and finally the people march off in madness. The narrator is the last to go and he sees the Old Gods, hears their drums and understands Nyarlathotep is their soul. 266

In "What the Moon Brings" we find the narrator talking of his fear of moonlight because it changes the familiar to the unfamiliar. He speaks of walking in a garden of "opiate...narcotic" flowers that bring dreams. The "lotus-blossims" fall into a stream and take the faces of the dead. He follows the stream and is led to a strange sea where all the dead of earth have been gathered. Beneath the moon lit sea he sees a great icon and to escape it, he says he would gladly leap into the stream where the sea worms feast on the dead." 267

"Memory" takes place in some unknown future. It is told in the third person, a rarity for Lovecraft, who usually used the first person. A valley is described. There is a crumbling ruin where small apes play and poison snakes and toads hide. A "Genie of the Moon" pauses in this valley and asks "The Daemon of the Valley" who built the stones. The Daemon, who is "Memory", says the builders were called "man", but even he hardly recalls them. Man could not be understood. Their deeds were only of the moment. 268

Lovecraft's most famous story, "The Outsider" is narrated by the main character. The narrator says he has always lived in an old castle far below the many floors and has never seen the day. He has never seen anyone else or heard speech. Desiring to see light, but afraid of the climb, he has remained alone. Finally he can no longer stand the solitude and decides to risk the climb. The climb is long and terrible, with great chances of bad falls, but he reaches the light of the moon at last. Much to his surprise he is not high up in a tower, but at ground level. He forces his way out a rusting door into a graveyard. Following a road, he comes to another castle, one that is vaguely familiar and yet different. There is a party going on inside and he enters just as something frightens the guests away. Wondering what scared them he sees a movement in a hallway. Approaching he sees the horrible decaying form that panicked the people and in a swoon he stumbles toward it, touching the outstretched hand with his. Regaining himself, he flees back the way he came and reenters the rusting door. Unable to climb down again, he is happy to remain where he is, alone once more, for he realizes that when his hand met the monster's paw he touched nothing but the cold surface of polished glass. 269

"Ex Obivione" is a startling piece, well-constructed, unexpected, lonely, but lovely; frightening, but peaceful; beautiful and emotional from beginning to end. Even more than "The Outsider" it reflects the existential philosophy of Lovecraft, the worthlessness of life, the void waiting at the end of living and the inability of man to control his own destiny.

The narrator is in the last days of his life. he likes to sleep for the dreams of beauty are found in sleep that he sought vainly in life. In his dreams he visits "old graves and enchanted woods". the wind takes him south and to the stars. the gentle rain takes him on a barge down a stream beneath the ground. Finally he walks through golden valley to a great wall. here is the wall between life and death, beyond which lies the answers to life. This trip to the wall becomes a recurrent dream. In "opiate peace" the dreamer wishes not to return from the valley. Feeling the entry beyond the wall would allow no return to awakening, he seeks each night, in sleep, to find the gate latch, which is hidden from him. He wishes to be beyond the gate where he believes it is beautiful. One night he dreams of a "scroll of the dream gods". these gods were too wise to live in a waking world. the scroll tells of wonders beyond the wall, though some tell of disappointment. the narrator does not know what to believe, but "doubt and secrecy are the lure of lures" and nothing could be as bad as the torture of the commonplace. Finally he finds the drug that will unlock the gate. he takes the drug and in sleep finds the gate ajar. he enters where he can never more return from and finds beyond only a white limitless void.

"So, happier than I had ever dared hoped to be, I dissolved again into that native infinity of crystal oblivion from which the daemon life had called me for one brief and desolate hour." 270

Such stories as these have caused some critics to take a freudian view of Lovecraft, branding him a homosexual with hidden sexual fear represented by the "invisible thing from outside". There is no evidence of homosexual activity of Lovecraft. His wife claimed he was not. Whether he was a latent homosexual is conjecture. According to the theories of the time and the writings on homosexuality by Dr. Edmund Bergler (once regarded as the leading expert on the subject, but much disputed in recent times), his childhood held the seeds of homosexuality. 271 But it is not necessary to accept that such childhood traumas would cause homosexual behavior. It would seem just as well that any sexual fear could be the invisible thing within, not from outside. It would seem even more likely, given Lovecraft's views, that the "invisible thing from outside" was the meaning of life, which in its meaningless became a terrible monster better not faced by most people.

According to the critics, Lovecraft was to simply fade away. But he has not faded. Instead, he has influenced many other writers and more than a hundred stories by these others have added to the "Cthulhu Mythos". If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Lovecraft is not without honor. 272

Donald A. Woolheim (pictured right) , an acquaintance of Lovecraft, wrote a parody, which points out all the cliches of that writer's work. Entitled "The Horror Out of Lovecraft", it employs all of Lovecraft's effects: mysterious ancestors, mixed marriages of strange religions under mysterious circumstances, old Yankee names such as Eliphas Snodgrass, Lovecraftian places, books, happenings under circumstances never made clear, sinking islands, disappearances, faces chewed off, green lighting, slime and stench.

The story tells of Eliphas Snodgrass who disappears under strange circumstances never made clear. the narrator tells the reader that Eliphas had been begging to see the "dreaded Necromicom". Eliphas reappears about a strange ship where the sailors rave of bubbling seas. he steals the book and locks himself in his room. The narrator breaks down the door just in time to see the "still quivering big toe of Eliphas Snodgrass". 273

Footnotes:

266. H. P. Lovecraft, "Nyarlathotep", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4. 6. 44-46.

267. H. P. Lovecraft, "What the Moon Brings", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4. 6. 42-43.

268. H. P. Lovecraft, "Memory", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4. 6. 41-42.

269. H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider", The Dunwich Horror and Others (Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1963) pp.

270. H. P. Lovecraft, "Ex Oblivione", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4. 6. 46-47.

271. "H. P. Lovecraft and his Work", pp. 16-17. August Derleth shrugged off the suggestion on Lovecraft's wife's say so. Under the theories about the roots of homosexuality that were prevalent several decades ago, some of Lovecraft's childhood environment fit the pattern as claimed by Dr, Edmund Bergler [Edmond Bergler, Homosexuality: Disease of Way of Life? (New York: Collier Books, 1962), pp. 27-43.] These would include the lack of a father image, the dominance of women, particularly an over-protective mother, and feelings of masculine inferiority. These as a cause and whether Lovecraft was homosexual are pure speculation.

272. Besides the authors already mentioned within this paper, this author also contributed to the Lovecraftian material. "Writings of Elwin Adams" is loosely patterned after Lovecraft. [Magazine of Horror (January 1969)] Also of some interest is a story by Ray Bradbury entitled "The Handler" [Br-r-r-!, edited by Groff Conklin (New York: Avon, 1959) pp. 145-147.], which originally appeared in Weird Tales, 1946. Bradbury's story is similar to Lovecraft's "In the Vault", except that it magnifies the situation beyond all subtlety.

273. Donald A. Woolheim, "The Horror Out of Lovecraft", Magazine of Horror (May 1969), 5, 3, pp. 38-45. Besides being a novelist and writer, Woolheim was the long-time editor of the annual World's Best Science Fiction collections.

XIII: Conclusion, But Not The End

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:59:00 +0000

"The Aim of life is contentment." -- H. P. Lovecraft 274

No one who ever read the work of H. P. Lovecraft was indifferent. His detractors are as enthusiastic as his admirers and include some fine writers, although many seem not to have read his work. 275 It is possible that his work was overrated during his life because it was so obviously better than the average good work of the day. But robert A. W. Lowndes, editor of several modern pulps and a correspondent of Lovecraft's in the latter's last years, thinks he was not overrated, especially by editors or pub;ushers who could have made a difference in Lovecraft's living style. 276 Certainly critics did not overrate him. Instead they failed to comprehend what Lovecraft tried to do, and they "denounce[d[ a record player for not being fit to wash clothes in -- both machines contain things that whirl, you know." 277

As so often happens, Lovecraft fell into decline at his death. In the middle 1940s he gained some, then slipped again. August Derleth and Donald Wandrei formed Arkham House, named after Lovecraft's imaginary city, and published his work, bringing it to the public's attention. 278 Although almost all Lovecraft's work is available in Arkham House volumes, it is still in limited editions and except for Lancer Books, few of the volumes are out in cheap editions. 279 It is understandable for Lovecraft appeals to special tastes.

Lovecraft recognized the limits of his field, but claimed it was the only one that held his full emotional and intellectual interest. 280 He felt himself an outsider in his time, believing he was born two centuries too late. 281 It is very possible that he was born too soon. He would have been better suited to the present. Basically he was an existentialist. His stories reflect man's helplessness against the universe. Man must co-exist with the void he must someday approach, and he knows in the end the void will claim him. Lovecraft felt no thoughtful man could be happy. There was nothing to really live for. Religion was a disillusionment, but was possibly a better occupation for the mind than reality. 282 "the aim of life is contentment," he said. "This is only obtained by creating." 283 Concerning his own creating, he saw himself with more insight than most see themselves. He did not complain of his limitations. he took what was available within himself and accepted the price of criticism he had to pay for his standards and taste. 284

The critics ignored him, expecting he would fade away, but like his Cthulhuian gods, he has not faded away in his banishment, but simply waits for a chance to return, making irregular appearances in the meantime. It seems doubtful that he will ever fade completely, not with new writers imitating his work; not while he still receives admiration from readers not growing up during his lifetime when horror was readily available on the newsstands and his superiority was evident; 285 not when essays and books on his work continue to appear in Esquire, 286 Playboy, 287 modern pulps, 288 anthologies, 289 and reprints from Arkham House.

It is possible that Howard Phillips Lovecraft has been felt with unfairly. He is the best of the pulp writers and the Pulps were a literary phenomena of great influence during their existence on a generation of young people. They should be examined in the overall examination of American Literature. Moreover, Lovecraft should receive the same treatment as other minor writers. His best stories should be pulled from the mass and studied. Lovecraft maintained a vast correspondence. He was a scholar of wide variety. He traveled over much of the eastern half of the country to study its history and lore. Like Poe, his stories are of the soul, but Lovecraft certainly knew more "souls than his own." In his best stories is a reflection of our times, not his, and a philosophy of universal consideration concerning the mystery of death, the existence of life and the worth of mankind. If his best stories were isolated as other writers' best stories are, many of his weaknesses would disappear. He knew the use of language, form and construction, and this alone should justify further study.

Lovecraft died 33 years ago. [This piece was written and published in 1970 -- L.E.M. Note.] His first professional stories were written over fifty years ago; yet they are still published, still read. Fifty years have seen many changes in life styles, political thought, religious view and public outlook; yet Lovecraft's stories are still read voluntarily. Perhaps there is a universal timelessness in horror that has escaped the critics. Perhaps there is a touchstone of human feeling in horror that goes back further in the mind of man than any other emotional touchstone; the very emotions of man's existence and his wonder, and fear, of death. If this is so, then Lovecraft was not the outsider lurking on the bookshelf, but very, very much the insider.

Footnotes:

274. Selected Letters I, p. 215.

275. Lowndes, (November 1968), p. 4.

276. Ibid., p. 4.

277. Ibid., p 125.

278. Douglas, pp. 247-248.

279. Robert A. W. Lowndes, "It is Written...", Magazine of Horror (November 1968), 4, 6, p. 117.

280. Lowndes, p. 5.

281. "Preface to Selected Letters I", p. xxv.

282. Selected Letters I, pp. 26-27.

283. Ibid., p. 215.

284. Lowndes, p. 124.

285. Ibid., p. 4.

286. Henneberger, p. 117, his reference to "the Cult of Lovecraft" written for Esquire by an author who stole letters from Weird Tales.

287. Charles Beaumont, Remember? Remember?, these essays originally appeared in Playboy during the 'sixties and late 'fifties.

288. Both essays on Lovecraft and work by Lovecraft have appeared regally in Health-Knowledge publications during recent years.

289. besides Lancer Book anthologies of Lovecraft's tales and the books of Arkham House, such publishers as Avon and Modern Library have published Lovecraft's stories. It should also be noted that some recent motion pictures have appeared based on Lovecraft's work besides those wrongly attributed to Poe. Die Monster, Die!, The Dunwich Horror and The Shuttered Window have all been released.

Die Monster, Die! is a very loose adaptation of "The Colour Out of Space". It starred Nick Adams and Boris Karloff.

XIV: A H. P. Lovecraft Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:25:00 +0000

[Author's Note: "Lurker on the Bookshelf was written 41 years ago as was the following list of H. P. Lovecraft's work. At the time, Lovecraft was still a somewhat obscure name, horror fiction was a neglected stepchild of literature and Stephen King was still unheard of, for Carrie wasn't to be published until a few years after this. Stephen King, in fact, was being published in the same kind of Pulps as Lovecraft had been, and so was I. There were no home computers, no internet; this list had to be culled from a variety of publications and took a good deal of time to do. Since that time horror writing has blossomed as a force, Lovecraft has gained more notoriety and several biographies and other materials have been published about him and his work. Several more volumes of his Letters have been published since I wrote this piece and they probably contained further information about stories and articles he wrote that were unknown to me in 1970. My disclaimer that this checklist was probably incomplete is much more true today than when I made the statement. - LEM]

The information contained within this listing of H. P. Lovecraft's work has been culled from his letters, anthologies and the essays of others listed in the bibliography No claim is made that this list is complete. Lovecraft wrote many poems and essays for the amateur press, some of which appeared as anonymous or under pseudonyms. Where any item is of uncertain nature a (?) follows it. Symbols have been kept to a minimum. S.S. indicates short story, N. is novel, E. covers articles as well as essays and P. is poem or verse. The revision work he did for others is not included.

CHILDHOOD

FROM AGE 8 (1898) THROUGH AGE 18 (1908)

1898 (?)

"The Secret Cave", S.S.
"The Little Glass Bottle", S.S.

1899

Articles in the Scientific Gazette, E., (through 1906)

1901 (?)

"The Twin" (My title), S.S.

1902
"The Other Side of the Moon", S.S.

1903

Articles in the Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy, E., *through 1908)

1905

"The Beast in the Cave", S.S.
"Poetry and the Gods", S.S.
Letter in the Providence Sunday Journal of Astronomy.
Astronomy articles in the Providence Tribune, E., (through 1908)
Astronomy articles in the Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner, E.
"The Transition of Juan Romero", S.S.

1908

"The Alchemist", S.S., The United Amateur

1911

"When I Went to Lilies to Dinner & he Was Asleep -", P.

1912

"Sixty-two Lines of Heroic Couplets" (?), P., Providence Evening Bulletin

1913

Letter in Argosy (September)

1914

"Verse of forty-four lines" (?), P., Argosy
"Satirical Poem" (?), P. Argosy
"Poem of Heroic Couplet" (?), P., Argosy
"On a Modern Lothario", P., Barney-Stone (July-August)
"To the Pinfeather Club", P., Pinfeather (November)
"To The Rev. Jas. T. Pike", P. United Official Quarterly (November)
"To Gen. Villa", P., Blarney-Stone (November-December)

1915

"1914", P., Interesting Items (March)
"March", P., United Amateur (March)
"The Simple Speller's Tale", P., Conservative (April)
"Elegy on Rev. F. C. Clark", P., Providence News (April)
"Quinsnickett Park", P., Badger (June)
"To the U.A.P.A. From the P.A.P.C.", P., Providence Amateur (June)
"On the Bay-Stater's Policy", P., Bay-Stater (June)
"On an N. E. Village Seen by Moonlight", P. Trail (June)
"The Crime of Crimes", P., Trail (July)
"Fragment on Whitman", P., Conservative (July)
"The Magazine Poet", P., United Amateur (October)
"The State of Poetry", P., Conservative (October)
"Gems From in a Minor Key", P., Conservative (October)
"On the Cowboys of the West", P., Plainsman (December)
"To Saml. Loveman, Esq.", P. Bearcat (December)
"A Mississippi Autumn", P., Ole Miss (December)
"The Isaacsonic-Montoniad", P.

1916

"A Rural Summer Eve", P., Trail (January)
"On Receiving a Picture of Swans", P., Conservative (January)
"An American to Mother England", P., Poesy (January)
"The Bookstall", P., United Official Quarterly (January)
The Teuton's Battle-Song", P. United Amateur (February)
"Unda -- or -- The Bride of the Sea", P., Providence Amateur (February)
"To Charlie of the Comics", P. signed Anonymous, Providence Amateur (February)

"To the Late J. H. Fogler, Esq.", P., Scot (March)
"Temperance Song", P. Dixie Booster (March)
"The Power of Wine", P. Tryout (April)
"R. Kleiner, Laurea tus, in Heliconem", P., Conservative (April)
"Ye Ballade of Patrick von Flynn", P., Conservative (April)
"Content", P., United Amateur (June)
"The Beauties of Peace", P., Providence News (June)
"Respite", P., Conservative (October)
"The Rose of England". P., Scot (October)
"Inspiration", P., Conservative (October)
"Brumalia", P., Tryout (December)
"Brotherhood", P., Tryout (December)
"The Symphonick Ideal", P., Conservative

1917

"On the Image Maker of Thebes", E., Fay Theater Contest.
"The Rutted Road", P., signed Lewis Theobald, jur., Tryout (January)
"Elegy on Phillips Gamwell, Esq.", P., Providence News (January)
"On Genl. Robert Edward Lee", P., Cayote (January)
"Futurist Art", P., Conservative (January)
"Fact and Fancy", P., Tryout (February)
"The Nymph's Reply", P., signed Lewis Theobald, jur., Tryout (February)
"On Graduation from R. I. Hospital School of Nurses", P., signed John T. Dunn, Tryout (February)
"Pacifist War Song", P. signed Lewis Theobald, jur., Tryout (March)
"On receiving a Picture of the Marshes at Ipswich", P., Merry Minutes (March)
"Percival Lowell", P., Excelsior (March)
"To A. F. Lockhart", P., Tryout (March)
"Britannia Victura", P., Inspiration (April)
"Iterum Conjuctae", P., Tryout (May)
"To Templeton and Mount Monadnock", P. Vagrant (June)
"The Poet of Passion", P., signed Lewis Theobald, jun., Tryout (June)
"To M. W. M.", P., signed Anonymous, United Amateur (July)
"Prologue", P., Tryout (July)
"Ode for July 4, 1917", P., United Amateur (July)
"On the Death of a Rhyming Critic", P., Toledo Amateur (July)
"The Smile", P., Little Budget (September)
"Nemesis", P. Vagrant (November)
"Autumn", P., Tryout (November)
"To Greece", P., Vagrant (November)
"Sunset", P. signed Lewis Theobald, jur., Tryout (December)
"An American to the British Flag", P. Little Budget (December)
"25th Anniv, Evening News", P., Tryout (December)
"To the Nurses of the Red Cross", P. signed anonymous.
"Dagon", S.S., Black Cat and later Weird Tales
"The Tomb", S.S., Black Mask

ADULTHOOD

FROM AGE 19 (1809) THROUGH DEATH AT AGE 47 (1937)

1918

"Astrophobas", P., signed Ward Phillips, United Amateur (January)
"Laeta; A lament", P., signed Ames Dorrnce Rersley, Tryout (February)
"The Volunteer", P., Providence News (February)
"A Winter Wish", P., Tryout (February)
"To Jonathan Hoag, Esq.", P., Eurus (February)
"April", P., Tryout (March)
"Ver Rusticum", P., Vagrant (April)
"A Garden", P., Vagrant (April)
"The Poe-et's Nightmare", P., Vagrant (April)
"Ad Britannas, 1918", P., Little Budget (April)
"Polaris", S.S., United Cooperative
"The Mystery of Muroon Grange", Serial signed as Ames Dorrance Rersley, Ward Phillips and L. Theobald, Hesperia (?)

1919

"The White Ship", S.S., United Cooperative
"The House", P., signed Ward Phillips
"Despair", P., signed Ward Phillips
"The Doom That Came To Sarnath", S.S.

"The Other Gods", S.S., United Cooperative
"The Statement of Randolph Carter", S.S., Weird Tales
"Beyond the Wall of Sleep", S.S.
"The Green Meadow", S.S. written with Winifred V. Jackson (pictured right) and signed Elizabeth Berksley and Lewis Theobald, jur.

1920

Commonplace Book, Misc.
revision work for Frank Belknap Long
"Preface to Jonathan Hoag's Book", E.
"Nyarlathrep", S.S., United Cooperative
"The Crawling Chaos", S.S. written with Winifred V. Jackson (pictured right) and signed Elizabeth Berksley and Lewis Theobald, jur.
"Arthur Jermyn or The White Ape", S.S., Weird Tales
"The Cats of Ulthar", S.S., Weird Tales
"Celephais" S.S., United Cooperative
"From Beyond", S.S.
"The Picture in the House", S.S., Weird Tales
"The Temple", S.S.
"The Terrible Old Man", S.S., Tryout and Weird Tales
"The Tree", S.S.

1921

"The Best Poet", Speech made to the February Amateur Journalists' Conference
"Lecture on Lord Dunsany", Speech to the United Amateur in December
"The Quest of Iranon", S.S.
"Herbert West: Reanimator", Series, Home Brew
"The Outsider", S.S., Weird Tales
"To Zara - June 1829 (To Miss Sara Longhurst)", P., signed Edgar Allan Poe
"The Moon-Bog", S.S.
"The Music of Erich Zann", S.S., Weird Tales
"The Nameless City", S.S.
Rivsion work for David Bush

1922

Azathoth [projected Novel], N.
"The Lurking Fear", S.S., Home Brew
"The Hound", S.S., Weird Tales
"Hypnos", S.S.
"The Descendant" [fragment], S.S.

1923

Ghost Writing on The Loved Dead by C. M. Eddy (pictured right)
"Far as the Eye Can See...". P.
"The Festival", S.S.
"The Rats in the Wall", S.S., Weird Tales
"The Unnamable", S.S., Weird Tales
Articles on Beauty Culture for trade magazines
"Providence Stories", E., Dealer News

1924

Plot outline for Frank Belknap Long
Projected work on American superstition
Joke adaption work for Weird Tales (September)
The House of the Worm [projected novel], N.
"The Pathetick History of Sir Wilful Wildrake", P. signed L. Theobald, our.
"The Shunned House", S.S.
"Imprisoned with the Pharaohs", E. ghost written for Harry Houdini, Weird Tales
Selling Talk to Creditor's National Clearing House (July)

1925

"He", S.S.
"The Horror at Red Hook", S.S.
"In the Vault", Weird Tales

1926

"The Call of Cthulhu", S.S., Weird Tales
"Cool Air", S.S., Weird Tales
"Pickman's Model", S.S., Weird Tales
"The Silver Key", S.S.
"The Strange House in the Mist", S.S.
"Supernatural Horror in Fiction", E., The Recluse and partially in The Fantasy Fan

1927

"The Colour Out of Space", S.S., Weird Tales and Best American Short Stories of 1927
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, N.

1928

"The Dunwich Horror", S.S., Weird Tales and Best American Short Stories of 1928

1930

"The Whisperer in Darkness", S.S., Weird Tales

1931

The Shadow Over Innsmouth, N. (William Crawford-Visionary Publishing Co.)
At the Mountains of Madness, N.

1932

The Dreams in the Witch-House, N.
"Through the Gates of the Silver Key", S.S.

1933

"The Thing on the Doorstep", S.S., Weird Tales

1934

"The Shadow Out of Time", S.S., Astounding Stories
"The Book" [Fragment] S.S.
"The Thing in the Moonlight" [Fragment] S.S.

1935

"In the Walls of Eryx", S.S.
"the Haunter of the Dark", S.S., Weird Tales
"Supernatural Horror in Fiction: Revised", E., The Fantasy Fan

1937

"The Evil Clergyman", S.S.

DATES UNKNOWN

"Memory", S.S., Magazine of Horror (November 1968)
"What the Moon Brings", S.S., Magazine of Horror (November 1968)
"Ex Oblivione"", S.S., Magazine of Horror (November 1968)
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, N.
The Fungi from Yuggoth, collected poetry

POSTHUMOUSLY

1939

The Outsider and Others, S.S. Collection (Arkham House)

1943

Beyond the Walls of Sleep, S.S. Collection (Arkham House)

1944

Marginalia, Miscellaneous Writings (Arkham House)

1945

The Lurker in the Threshold, S.S. Collection of fragments completed by August Derleth

1947

Cry Horror! S.S. Collection originally published as The Lurking Fear and Other Stories (Avon) [Author's Note: This was the first stories collection by Lovecraft that I read. The paperback was given to me by a friend, Stuart Meisel, when I was in my mid-teens. -- LEM]

1949

Something About Cats and Other Pieces, Miscellaneous Writings (Arkham House)

1954

"The Survivor", S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth

1957

"The Gable Window", S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth, Saturn
"Wentworth's Day", S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth
"The Peabody Heritage",  S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth
"The Ancestor",  S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth
"The Shadow Out of Space",  S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth
"The Lamp of Alhazred",  S.S. fragment completed by August Derleth
The Survivor and Others, S.S. Collection of fragments completed by August Derleth

1959

The Shuttered Room and Other Pieces, S.S. Collection (Arkham House)

1963

Collected Poems, Poetry Collection (Arkham House)
Dreams and Fancies, Miscellaneous Writings (Arkham House)
The Dunwich Horror & Others: Best of H. P. Lovecraft, S.S. collection (Arkham House)
The Dunwich Horror and Others, S.S. Collection (Lancer)

1964

The Colour Out of Space and Others, S.S. Collection (Lancer)
The Mountains of Madness & Others, N. Collection (Arkham House)

1965

Dagon & Other Macabre Tales, S.S. Collection (Arkham House)
Selected Letters I: 1911-1924, Edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei [pictured right with Lovecraft] (Arkham House)

1968

Selected Letters II: 1925-1929, Edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei (Arkham House)

PROJECTED

Selected Letters III: 1930-1937, Edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei (Arkham House) [This has resulted in at least 5 volumes of letters put out by Arkham House since. - LEM]

ARTHUR'S NOTE ADDED 2011

As can be seen, between H. P. Lovecraft's death in 1937 and 1970 when my study appeared (original title -- Outsider of the Bookshelf: A Study of H. P. Lovecraft), the work and memory of Lovecraft was barely kept alive by August Derleth, Donald Wandrei and Arkham House. These Arkham books were published as limited editions in hard cover. There were two reprints in paperback by Lancer Books and another paperback collection put out by Avon Books. During this time Lovecraft was a cult figure barely known by the public at large.

There were a few movies based on his work, but even some of these were credited to Edgar Allan Poe. At least one of his stories, "Pickman's Model" was adapted for TV in Rod Serling's anthology series, Night Gallery, but that aired in November 1971, a year after this piece appeared.

Horror, although popular in film, was not prominent in the literary scope of things. Most of what you saw in print of a horror nature was short stories. You had some writers of note such as Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Shirley Jackson, Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury, Athough Bradbury was more often classified as a Science-Fiction writer.

Three years after my piece appeared there was book published called, "Carrie". It was written by a young English teacher named Stephen King and soon everything would change and horror would become main stream. Suddenly bestseller lists were rife with horror fiction, and not just short stories, but novels, and in King's case, very long novels.

Somewhere in this sudden blossoming of things that go bomb in the night, Lovecraft was rediscovered and raised to a higher level in the eyes of many. The result is that since I put this checklist of his work together many more of his works have been published and republished. Biographies have been written about him, TV shows have been based on his works, comic books of Lovecraftian tales have appeared, and even a video game. If I were to add all that has appeared since 1970, my checklist would probably be at least wife as long. If someone wishes to do so, if someone hasn't already, they will find it easier going I'm sure since the Internet is now readily available. -- LEM November 4, 2011.

XV: Biblography

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:09:00 +0000

These are the books used in preparing this study.

Anderson, Quentic. "American Literature," Colliers Encyclopedia. New York: Crowell-Collier, 1963, Volume 2, pp. 43-74.

Anonymous. "Edgar Allan Poe -- A Biographical Note," Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Doubleday, 1966, pp. 814-819.

Beaumont, Clarles. Remember? Remember? New York: The Macmillan Company, 1963.

Bergler, Edmond. Homosexuality: Disease of Way of Life? New York: Collier Books, 1962, pp. 27-43.

Bradbury, Ray. "The Handler," Br-r-r-!, Edited by Groff Conklin. New York: Avon, 1959, pp. 145-157.

Clarens, Carlos. An Illustrated History of the Horror Film. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1967.

Crist, Judith. "This Week's Movies," TV Guide (October 31, 1970), Volume 18, No, 44, p. a-6.

Derleth, August. "A Note on the Cthulhu Mythos," The Trail of Cthulhu. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1962, pp. 243-248.

---. "H. P. Lovecraft and His Work," The Dunwich Horror and Others, by H. P. Lovecraft. New York: Lancer, 1963, pp.7-18.

   ---. "Introduction," Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, by H. P. Lovecraft. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965, pp. vii-ix.

   ---. The Mask of Cthulhu. Saul City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1958.

   ---. The Trail of Cthulhu. Sauk City, Wisc: Arkham House, 1962.

   --- and Wandrei, Donald. "Preface," Selected Letters I: 1911-1924, by H. P.Lovecraft, editors. August derleth and Donald Wandrei. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965.

Douglas, Drake. Horror! New York: Collier-Macmillan, 1966.

Fiedler, Leslie A. Love and Death in the American Novel, 2nd edition. New york: Dell, 1966.

Foley, Martha and Burnett, David. "Foreword," The Best American Short Stories 1967. New York: Ballantine, 1967.

Henneberger, J. C. Letter to Robert A. W. Lowndes, published in Magazine of Horror (May 1969), Volume 5, No. 3, pp. 116-117.

Jackson, Shirley. "Biography of a Story -- The Lottery," Come Along With Me, by Shirley Jackson, edited by Stanley Edgar Hyman. New York: Popular library, 1968, pp. 221-244.

Jameson, Michael. "Mythology, Classical," Collier's Encyclopedia. New York: Crowell-Collier, 1963, volue 17, pp. 115, 115a-115j, 117.

Lovecraft, H. P. The Colour Out of Space and Others. New York: Lancer, 1964.

---. Cry Horror!. New York: Avon, 1947.

---. Dagon & Other Macabre Tales. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965.

---. The Dunwich Horror and Others: The Best Supernatural Stories of H. P. Lovecraft. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1963.

---. "Ex Oblivione," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 46-48.

---. "Memory," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 41-42.

---. "Nyarlathotep," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 44-46.

---. Selected Letters I: 1911-1924, Editors August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965.

---. "Supernatural Horror in Literature," Dagon & Other Macabre Tales. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham House, 1965, pp. 347-413.

---. "What the Moon Brings," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volue 4, No. 6, pp. 42-44 .

--- and Derleth, August. The Survivor and Others. New York: Ballantine, 1957.

Lowndes, Robert A. W. "The Editor's Page," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 4-6, 124-126.

---. "The Editor's Page," Magazine of Horror (January 1969), Volume 5, No. 1, pp. 4-5, 127.

---. "Inquisitions: Lovecraft's Selected Letters I," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 112-114.

---. "Inquisitions: Traverler's By Night," Magazine of Horror (January 1968), Volume 4, No. 1, pp. 110-113.

---. "It is Written...," Magazine of Horror (November 1968), Volume 4, No. 6, pp. 117-123.

---. "It is written...," Magazine of Horror (May 1969), Volume 5, No. 3, pp. 116-127.

---. "Letter to L. E. Meredith," January 31, 1969.

Lowell, James Russell. "The Life of Edgar Allan Poe," The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume I. New York: John Hovendon, n.d., pp. xi-xxiv.

Mabbott, Thomas Ollive. "Edgar Allan Poe," Collier's Encyclopedia. New york: Crowell-Collier, 1964, Volume 19, pp. 166-167.

Meredith, Larry Eugene. "How to Write the Horror Story". Philadelphia: Temple University, 1970.

---. "The Writings of Elwin Adams," Magazine of Horror (January 1969), Volume 5, No. 1, pp. 69-79.

"Nephritis or Bright's Disease," Collier's Encyclopdia. New York: Crowell-Collier, 1963, Volume 17, pp. 303-304.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. 10 Volumes. New York: John Hovendon, n.d.

R., W. H. "Edgar Allen (sic) Poe: An Appreciation," The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: John Hovendon, n.d. Volume I, pp.i-x.

The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Random House, 1968, pp. 639, 570, 1, 357.

Sandburg, Carl. "Little Girl Be Careful What You Say," Complete Poems. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1950, p. 656.

Spiller, Robert E. The Cycle of American Literature. New York: The New American Library, 1955-56.

Steeves, H. R. "Gothic Romance," Collier's Encyclopedia. New York: Crowell-Collier, 1963, Volume 17, pp. 252-254.

Stegner, Wallace and Mary. "Introduction," Great American Short Stories. New York: Dell, 1957, pp. 9-20.

Stern, Philip van Doren. "Introduction," Great Ghost Stories. New York: Washington Square Press, 1962, pp. ix-xxvi.

Weber, J. Sherwood, editor. Good Reading, 20th edition, New York: New American Library, 1968.

Willis, N. P. "Death of Edgar A. Poe," The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume I. New York: John Hovendon, n.d., pp. 13-19.

Wise, Herbert A. and Fraser, Phyllis, Editors. Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. New York: Random House, 1944.

Wollheim, Donald A. "The Horror Out of Lovecraft," Magazine of Horror (May 1969), Volume 5, No. 3, pp. 38-45.