H. P. Lovecraft is now recognized as perhaps the most influential of the
twentieth century horror writer. However, this recognition was a long time
coming. During his life, he worked away in almost complete darkness, his
work appearing only in the horror magazines of the dark dough, consume only
by the most ardent fans of the genre. His death at age 46 was almost
unnoticed; but its devoted fans kept alive the spirit of his works, and it
ends up being acknowledged as a horror titan.
A psychologist examining the facts of his early life would find fertile
ground for analysis. He was born in Rhode Island in 1890, the son of
parents who could trace their ancestors to New England dating back to the
colonial era. Yet this genealogy had seen better days; the family was not
poor, but they were not particularly well off. Mental illness seems to have
hovered over the household, and it probably formed the source of
fascination for the rest of decadence with Lovecraft, decay and madness.
His father was confined to a mental institution in 1893, for an apparent
psychotic breakdown.
The boy found escape in reading and delights of imaginative thinking. He
showed literary ability grass at an early age, but it seems to have been
developmentally crippled by his overbearing mother and domineering, who
never encouraged her to take risks.
diseases have done little to help the situation Youthful, providing his
mother excuses to keep it firmly under his control. A series of family and
personal problems meant he was never formally graduated from high school
his mother suffered from chronic shortages of money, and he suffered a
nervous breakdown unspecified in 1908. His mother was eventually committed
to a mental institution in 1919. It is not difficult to understand the
latest concerns with madness and decay that appear in his stories.
Apparently, he was pale, emaciated and socially awkward. Yet in his mind
were more and more ideas that revolutionize not just horror fiction, but
fiction as a whole. His first story was published in 1916, and this will be
followed by years of submissions to horror pulp magazines.
His first efforts were somewhat derivative, and a little more than
imitations of Poe. But gradually, he would find his own distinctive voice.
It is not a simple matter of H. P. Lovecraft to describe those unfamiliar
with his work; but there are some recurring themes. These are: ancient
evils that lurk beneath the surface of things; decadence and ruin hovering
over old towns of New England; ancient alien beings hidden in obscure parts
of the world; and the idea that humanity is quite insignificant when placed
against the great cosmic forces arrayed against him.
In a letter written to the editor of Weird Tales magazine in 1927,
Lovecraft describes how he saw his writing:
Now all my stories are based on the fundamental principle that human laws
and common interests and emotions have no validity or importance in the
vast cosmos to great ... To achieve the essence of externality real, be it
time or space or dimension, forget that such things as organic life, good
and evil, love and hate, and all the local attributes of negligent race and
temporary called humanity, have any existence.
With a succession of brilliantly imaginative tales mingled horror, science
fiction and fantasy (eg "Call of Cthulhu," "The Color Out of Space", "The
Dunwich Horror," "The Shadow out of Time "), Lovecraft created a strange
cosmology that had its own logic and has followed its own laws. Central to
the Mythos was the idea that a race of monstrous alien beings had once
visited Earth and ruled in remote antiquity. Finally, this race would be to
bring the world once again under his rule.
Lovecraft had a distinctive style that can not be mistaken for someone
else. Proud of its ancient heritage again in England, he made a point of
using archaic British spelling (even up preferring "publick" to "public").
His tongue was often florid ( "unspeakable" was a favorite word); but it
could be argued that his style was suited to the atmosphere of horror he
sought to create. Many of his stories published frantic narrators (with
which the reader was supposed to identify) who are confused by the events
that occur around them. The horrible "reward" would always come to the end
of the story when the narrator (and the reader) would be hit with a
shocking revelation. The technique is a time tested and it works.
adult life Lovecraft was also pursued by the tragedy that was his youth. He
married a divorced woman named reasonably rich in 1924 named Sonia Greene,
and the couple moved to New York. He continued his literary activities, but
has never been able to provide financial security with writing. Perhaps
because of his childhood trauma, it lacked the discipline and the desire to
promote his work as much as he could have. During his life a book of his
fiction was published, and even this was a very limited impression. But he
was generous and kind, which often corresponds with many young writers and
offering valuable suggestions on how to improve their skills.
His last years were characterized by a financial decline and isolation. In
the early 1930s, he was divorced, which cut the main means of support. A
small inheritance from his mother was also gradually exhausted; unable or
unwilling to take any other work besides writing, it became increasingly
squeezed by difficulties. He developed intestinal cancer in 1937 and died
the same year. The literary world did not take notice of his death, like
the death of Herman Melville had been ignored.
These are readers who kept his memory. Despite his complete darkness
outside the horror fiction "community", he won a devoted part of admirers.
They understood the literary merit of his work and constantly promoted by
republishing his stories or imitating his distinctive themes.
In the day of Lovecraft literary critics did not believe the horror fiction
could be a serious literary expression vehicle; but as the past decades,
this view would change. It is now recognized that Lovecraft was an
extremely influential voice that was, perhaps, so far ahead of his time
that his contemporaries have lost. Stephen King has called the greatest
horror writer of the twentieth century; even French writer Michel
Houellebecq wrote a literary critic book about him.
The best way to discover Lovecraft is to buy a collection of his stories
and read them. Enjoy the strange images, fantastic sounding names
( "Yog-Sothoth" "Cthulhu", etc.), and the oppressive feeling of fear. And
remember that despite his past and unhappy life, Lovecraft found his own
way to use his literary talents to transcend its limits and its
environment, and achieve immortality. He found release in horror, and
suffering have been redeemed by his art.
Learn more: The origins of Dracula
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