[YSDC] Into The Deep - User contributions [en]

Weird Tales

2007-11-17T10:59:20Z

Mario94606:

''This page is about the [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]] pulp magazine and its heirs. Information on the [[Golden Smog]] album can be found at [[Weird Tales (Album)]]''

[[Image:weird-tales-may-1934-cover.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The cover of ''Weird Tales'' issue May 1934 featuring ''[[Queen of the Black Coast]]'', one of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s original stories about [[Conan the Barbarian]].]]
'''Weird Tales''' is the name of an [[United States|American]] [[fantasy fiction]] and horror [[Pulp magazine|pulp magazine]] first published in March of [[1923]]. The magazine was set-up in Chicago by [[J.C. Henneberger]], an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. [[Edwin Baird]] was the first editor of ''Weird Tales'', and his assistant was [[Farnsworth Wright]].

Baird was replaced by Farnsworth Wright after fourteen issues. Wright (who suffered from [[Parkinson's disease]]) gave ''Weird Tales'' a unique identity, and began to publish stories by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], as well as the hugely popular [[Jules de Grandin]] stories of [[Seabury Quinn]]. Another successful contributor was [[Robert E. Howard]], whose [[Conan the Barbarian]] stories, among many others, were hugely popular. Wright also gave early opportunities to such highly regarded pulp writers as [[Robert Bloch]] and [[Clark Ashton Smith]]. Wright continued as editor until March 1940, dying in June the same year.

''Weird Tales'' always struggled financially, and like most pulp magazines including the similarly legendary [[crime fiction]] title ''[[Black Mask]]'', suffered competition from comic books, radio drama, and eventually inexpensive paperback books. After the death of Lovecraft and retirement of Wright, ''Weird Tales'' took on a different flavor, but commercially generally declined until it ceased publication in September [[1954]] after 279 issues. Under the editorship of Dorothy McIlwraith, Weird's later years were distinguished by an influx of newer writers, including such major figures as Robert Bloch, [[Manly Wade Wellman]], [[Fritz Leiber]], [[Henry Kuttner]], [[C. L. Moore]], [[Theodore Sturgeon]], [[Joseph Payne Brennan]] and [[Margaret St. Clair]], a somewhat more eclectic range, and occasional pieces of "lost" Lovecraft completed, and Lovecraftian pastiches written by his self-appointed [[literary executor]] [[August Derleth]], who also wrote better fiction for the magazine in his own voice.

After several shortlived reincarnations, including four issues as a magazine in the early 1970s edited by [[Sam Moskowitz]] and published by [[Leo Margulies]], Robert Weinberg & Victor Dricks purchased the title after Marguiles' death and licensed a series of four paperback anthologies from 1981-1983 edited by [[Lin Carter]]. ''Weird Tales'' was revived under license by publisher/editors [[George H. Scithers]], [[John Gregory Betancourt]], and [[Darrell Schweitzer]] in [[1988]], beginning with issue 290. Some combination of these three have edited it since. The revived magazine has seen reasonable commercial success (as far as fiction magazines go) publishing notable contemporary writers such as [[Tanith Lee]], [[Brian Lumley]], and [[Thomas Ligotti]]. Weird Tales became part of the [[DNA Publications]] chain for several years around the turn of the millennium, and in 2005 was sold to Wildside Press (owned by former co-editor [[John Gregory Betancourt]]) and changed to a bimonthly (6 issues/year) schedule. Betancourt, Scithers, and Schweitzer remain as co-editors.

[[Category:Magazines]]

==External links==
*[http://www.wildsidepress.com/newsletter.html Wildside Press] – current publisher.

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

Weird Tales

2007-11-17T10:56:06Z

Mario94606:

''This page is about the [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]] pulp magazine and its heirs. Information on the [[Golden Smog]] album can be found at [[Weird Tales (Album)]]''

[[Image:weird-tales-may-1934-cover.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The cover of ''Weird Tales'' issue May 1934 featuring ''[[Queen of the Black Coast]]'', one of [[Robert E. Howard]]'s original stories about [[Conan the Barbarian]].]]
'''Weird Tales''' is the name of an [[United States|American]] [[fantasy fiction]] and horror [[Pulp magazine|pulp magazine]] first published in March of [[1923]]. The magazine was set-up in Chicago by [[J.C. Henneberger]], an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre. [[Edwin Baird]] was the first editor of ''Weird Tales'', and his assistant was [[Farnsworth Wright]].

Baird was replaced by Farnsworth Wright after fourteen issues. Wright (who suffered from [[Parkinson's disease]]) gave ''Weird Tales'' a unique identity, and began to publish stories by [[H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]], as well as the hugely popular [[Jules de Grandin]] stories of [[Seabury Quinn]]. Another successful contributor was [[Robert E. Howard]], whose [[Conan the Barbarian]] stories, among many others, were hugely popular. Wright also gave early opportunities to such highly regarded pulp writers as [[Robert Bloch]] and [[Clark Ashton Smith]]. Wright continued as editor until March 1940, dying in June the same year.

''Weird Tales'' always struggled financially, and like most pulp magazines including the similarly legendary [[crime fiction]] title ''[[Black Mask]]'', suffered competition from comic books, radio drama, and eventually inexpensive paperback books. After the death of Lovecraft and retirement of Wright, ''Weird Tales'' took on a different flavor, but commercially generally declined until it ceased publication in September [[1954]] after 279 issues. Under the editorship of Dorothy McIlwraith, Weird's later years were distinguished by an influx of newer writers, including such major figures as Robert Bloch, [[Manly Wade Wellman]], [[Fritz Leiber]], [[Henry Kuttner]], [[C. L. Moore]], [[Theodore Sturgeon]], [[Joseph Payne Brennan]] and [[Margaret St. Clair]], a somewhat more eclectic range, and occasional pieces of "lost" Lovecraft completed, and Lovecraftian pastiches written by his self-appointed [[literary executor]] [[August Derleth]], who also wrote better fiction for the magazine in his own voice.

After several shortlived reincarnations, including four issues as a magazine in the early 1970s edited by [[Sam Moskowitz]] and published by [[Leo Margulies]], Robert Weinberg & Victor Dricks purchased the title after Marguiles' death and licensed a series of four paperback anthologies from 1981-1983 edited by [[Lin Carter]]. ''Weird Tales'' was revived under license by publisher/editors [[George H. Scithers]], [[John Gregory Betancourt]], and [[Darrell Schweitzer]] in [[1988]], beginning with issue 290. Some combination of these three have edited it since. The revived magazine has seen reasonable commercial success (as far as fiction magazines go) publishing notable contemporary writers such as [[Tanith Lee]], [[Brian Lumley]], and [[Thomas Ligotti]]. Weird Tales became part of the [[DNA Publications]] chain for several years around the turn of the millennium, and in 2005 was sold to Wildside Press (owned by former co-editor [[John Gregory Betancourt]]) and changed to a bimonthly (6 issues/year) schedule. Betancourt, Scithers, and Schweitzer remain as co-editors.

[[Category:Magazines]]

==External links==
*[http://www.wildsidepress.com/newsletter.html Wildside Press] – current publisher.

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

At the Mountains of Madness (fiction)

2007-11-17T09:59:57Z

Mario94606:

'''''At the Mountains of Madness''''' is a [[novella]] by [[horror fiction|horror]] writer [[H.P. Lovecraft]], written in February/March [[1931 in literature|1931]] and originally serialized in the February, March and April [[1936 in literature|1936]] issues ''[[Astounding (magazine)|Astounding Stories]]''. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death.
[[Image:ATMOM.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Classics Illustrated's cover to "[[At the Mountains of Madness]]"]]
The story is considered by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] to represent the decisive "demythology" of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]].
==Inspiration==

Lovecraft had a lifelong interest in [[History of Antarctica#Exploration|Antarctic exploration]]. "Lovecraft had been fascinated with the Antarctic continent since he was at least 12 years old, when he had written several small treatises on early Antarctic explorers," biographer S. T. Joshi wrote.<ref>S. T. Joshi, ''The Annotated Lovecraft'', p. 175.</ref> At about the age of 9, inspired by W. Clark Russell's 1887 book ''The Frozen Pirate'', Lovecraft had written "several yarns" set in Antarctica.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, p. 132.</ref>

By the 1920s, Joshi notes, Antarctica was "one of the last ''unexplored'' regions of the earth, where large stretches of territory had never seen the tread of human feet. Contemporary maps of the continent show a number of provocative blanks, and Lovecraft could exercise his imagination in filling them in...with little fear of immediate contradiction."<ref>Joshi, p. 18.</ref>

The first expedition of [[Richard Evelyn Byrd]] took place in 1928-1930, the period just before the novella was written, and Lovecraft mentioned the explorer repeatedly in his letters, remarking at one point on "geologists of the Byrd expedition having found many fossils indicating a tropical past".<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. 3, p. 144; cited in Joshi, p. 183; see also Joshi, p. 186.</ref>

[[Lin Carter]] has suggested that one inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' was Lovecraft's own hypersensitivity to cold, as evidenced by an incident where the writer "collapsed in the street and was carried unconscious into a drug store" because the temperature dropped from 60 degrees to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees to -1 degree Celsius). "The loathing and horror that extreme cold evoked in him was carried over into his writing," Carter wrote, "and the pages of ''Madness'' convey the blighting, blasting, stifling sensation caused by sub-zero temperatures in a way that even Poe could not suggest."<ref>Lin Carter, ''Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos'', p. 84. Joshi regards this suggestion as "facile"--''Annotated Lovecraft'', pp. 17-18.</ref>

Lovecraft's most obvious literary source for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s lone novel, ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'', whose concluding section is set in Antarctica. Lovecraft twice cites Poe's "disturbing and enigmatical" story in his text, and explicitly borrows the mysterious phrase "Tekeli-li" from Poe's work. In a letter to [[August Derleth]], Lovecraft wrote that he was trying to achieve with his ending an effect similar to what Poe accomplished in ''Pym''.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, letter to August Derleth, May 16, 1931; cited in Joshi, pp. 329-330.</ref>

[[Image:Mountain.jpg|right|thumb||]]
Another proposed inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[At the Earth's Core (novel)|At the Earth's Core]]'' (1914), a novel that posits a highly intelligent reptilian race, the Mahar, living in a [[hollow earth]]. "Consider the similarity of Burroughs' Mahar to Lovecraft's Old Ones, both of whom are presented sympathetically despite their ill-treatment of man," writes critic William Fulwiler. "[B]oth are winged, web-footed, dominant races; both are scientific scholarly races with a talent for genetics, engineering, and architecture; and both races use men as cattle." Both stories, Fulwiler points out, involve radical new drilling techniques; in both stories, humans are vivisected by nonhuman scientists. Burroughs' Mahar even employ a species of servants known as Sagoths, possibly the source of Lovecraft's [[shoggoths]].<ref>William Fulwiler, "E.R.B. and H.P.L.", ''Black Forbidden Things'', p. 64.</ref>

Other possible sources include [[A. Merritt]]'s "The People of the Pit", whose description of an underground city in the Yukon bears some resemblance to that of Lovecraft's Elder Things, and Katharine Metcalf Roof's "A Million Years After", a story about [[dinosaurs]] hatching from eggs millions of years old that appeared in the November 1930 edition ''Weird Tales''. In a letter to [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft declared the story to be a "rotten", "cheap", and "puerile" version of an idea he had come up with years earlier, and Joshi suggests it may have provoked him to write his own tale of "the awakening of entities from the dim reaches of earth's history."<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. III, p. 186; Joshi, p. 175.</ref>

The long scope of history recounted in the story may have been inspired by [[Oswald Spengler]]'s ''[[The Decline of the West]]''. Some details of the story may have been taken from M. P. Shiel's 1901 novel of [[Arctic]] exploration, ''The Purple Cloud'', which was republished in 1930.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, pp. 10-11.</ref>

Lovecraft's own "[[The Nameless City]]" (1921), which also deals with the exploration of an ancient underground city apparently abandoned by its nonhuman builders, is a clear precedent for ''At the Mountains of Madness''. In both stories, the explorers use the nonhumans' artwork to deduce the history of their species.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, "The Nameless City", ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', pp. 104-105; cited in Joshi, pp. 264-265.</ref>
==Reaction==

This story was rejected by ''[[Weird Tales]]'' editor [[Farnsworth Wright]] on the grounds of its length. The story eventually appeared four years later in ''[[Astounding Stories]]''.

==Plot summary==

The story is written in first-person perspective by Professor William Dyer, a [[geologist]] from [[Miskatonic University]]. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to [[Antarctica]]. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a range of mountains taller than the [[Himalayas]].

The group that discovered and crossed the mountains found the remains of fourteen ancient life forms, completely unknown to science and unidentifiable as neither plants or animals, after discovering an underground cave while boring for ice cores. Six of the specimens seem to be badly damaged, the others uncannily pristine. The extremely early date in the [[geological strata]] of these [[fossil|"fossils"]] is problematic because of their highly evolved features. Because of their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', they are dubbed the "[[Elder Things]]".

When the main expedition loses contact with this party, Dyer and the rest of his colleagues travel to their camp to investigate. The camp is devastated and both the men and the dogs slaughtered, with only one of each missing. Near the camp they find six star-shaped snow mounds, and a damaged Elder Thing buried under each. They discover that the better preserved life forms have vanished, and that some form of experiment has been done, though they are only able to speculate on the subject, and the possibility that it is the missing man and dog. Dyer elects, then, to close off the area from which they took their samples.

Dyer and a student named Danforth fly an airplane over the mountains, which they soon realize are the outer wall of a huge, abandoned stone city of cubes and cones, utterly alien to any human [[architecture]]. Exploring one of the cones, the men are able to learn the history of the Elder Things by interpreting their magnificent [[logogram|hieroglyphic]] murals: The Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the [[Moon]] was pulled loose from the planet and were the creators of life. They built their cities with the help of "[[shoggoth]]s", things created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. Danforth and Dyer realize that the eight Elder Things were still alive when they find a sledge from the camp up in the city, which to their horror contains the bodies of the missing dog and man, evidently kept as scientific specimens.

They find evidence of dead Elder Things and are chased back to their plane by an ululating horror which they identify as a shoggoth. As they fly away, only Danforth looks back and sees something that causes him to lose most of his [[sanity]], and which he refuses to describe. Professor Dyer concludes that the Elder Things and their civilization were destroyed by the shoggoths they created, and begs the planners of the proposed Antarctic expedition to stay away from things that should not be loosed on this Earth.
==Characters==
===William Dyer===
(ca. 1875–?)

The narrator of ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he is a professor of [[geology]] at [[Miskatonic University]] and a leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to [[Antarctica]] in [[1930]]–[[1931|31]]. He reappears in Lovecraft's "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", where he accompanies an expedition to [[Australia]]'s [[Great Sandy Desert]] where he is said to be "appalled at the measureless age of the fragments" of a [[wikt:primordial|primordial]] civilization found there.

In ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he has no first name, only being called "William Dyer" in "The Shadow Out of Time".



===Danforth===

Graduate student at [[Miskatonic University]]. As part of the Pabodie Expedition, he accompanies Dyer on a survey flight over the "[[Plateau of Leng]]" and goes mad after seeing something. He is described as "a great reader of bizarre material", and makes allusions to [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.

According to [[Fritz Leiber]]'s "To Arkham and the Stars", he later recovered after being treated with experimental drugs developed by [[The Dunwich Horror#Morgan, (Professor) Francis|Professor Morgan]], though he never recalled the horror he saw on the plateau. Afterwards, he became a professor of [[psychology]] at the university.


===Frank H. Pabodie===

A member of Miskatonic's [[engineering]] department, Professor Pabodie invented a drill for the expedition that was "unique and radical in its lightness, portability, and capacity...to cope quickly with strata of varying hardness." He also added "fuel-warming and quick-starting devices" to the expedition's four aircraft.<ref>Lovecraft, ''At the Mountains of Madness'', p. 4.</ref>

Lovecraft wrote of the name "Pabodie", "I chose it as a name typical of good old New England stock, yet not sufficiently common to sound conventional or hackneyed." It's an alternative spelling of "Peabody", a name Lovecraft was familiar with through the [[George Peabody|Peabody Museum]] in [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]].<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. V, p. 228; Joshi, p. 181.</ref>

===Professor Lake===

Lake is a professor of biology at Miskatonic University. It is he who first discovers the Mountains of Madness as a result of his "strange and dogged insistence on a westward--or rather, northwestward--prospecting trip" based on his discovery of strange fossils. He also discovers the ancient extraterrestrial specimens that he dubs [[Elder Things]] based on their resemblance to "certain monsters of primal myth" found in the ''Necronomicon''. He reports that his findings in Antarctica confirm his belief "that earth has seen whole cycles of organic life before known one that begins with [[Archaeozoic]] cells," and predicts that this "[w]ill mean to biology what Einstein has meant to mathematics and physics." When the Elder Things turn out to be living creatures rather than fossils, they butcher Lake and the rest of his sub-expedition. For the rest of the story, he is referred to as "poor Lake".

===Professor Atwood===

A member of the Miskatonic University [[physics]] department, and also a meteorologist. He is part of the Lake sub-expedition and is also butchered by the Elder Things.
==Significance==
According to S. T. Joshi, who included this novella as the central story in the first volume of his ''Annotated Lovecraft'' series, ''Mountains'' reveals Lovecraft's true feelings on the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that subsequent writers attributed to him, and "demythologizes" much of his earlier work.

Many of Lovecraft's stories involve features that appear to be [[supernatural]], such as [[monsters]] and the [[occult]]. However, ''Mountains'' appears to explain the origins of such elements—from occult [[symbols]] to "gods" such as [[Cthulhu]]—in rational terms. ''Mountains'' explains many elements of the "Cthulhu Mythos" in terms of early alien civilizations that took root on Earth long before humans appeared.

The story has also inadvertently popularized the concept of [[ancient astronauts]], as well as [[Antarctica]]'s place in the "ancient astronaut mythology".<ref>Jason Colavito, ''The Cthulhu Comparison''</ref>
== Connections to other Lovecraft stories ==

''At the Mountains of Madness'' has numerous connections to other Lovecraft stories. A few include:

* The formless [[shoggoths]] later appear in "[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]" ([[1931 in literature|1931]]), "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), and "[[The Haunter of the Dark]]" ([[1935 in literature|1935]])
* The star-headed [[Elder Things]] also appear in "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), when the main character, Walter Gilman, visits a city of theirs in one of his dreams, and "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", in which they are the vaguely-alluded-to antagonists of the [[Great Race of Yith]].
* The expedition is sponsored by the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Foundation, combining two major names in Lovecraft's fiction: Derby and Pickman.<ref>Anthony Pearsall, ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 326.</ref> Richard Upton Pickman is the main character in Lovecraft's "[[Pickman's Model]]", while Edward Pickman Derby is the protagonist of his "The Thing on the Doorstep", and also one of his literary alter-egos.<ref>Ibid, p. 146.</ref>
* The Elder Things record the coming of [[Cthulhu]] to Earth and the sinking of [[R'lyeh]], events referred to in "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]" ([[1928 in literature|1928]]).
* The Elder Things' city is identified with the Plateau of [[Leng]], first mentioned in Lovecraft's "[[Celephais]]" ([[1920 in literature|1920]]).
* Some members of the expedition have read [[Miskatonic University]]'s copy of the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.
* Dyer mentions "[[Kadath]] in the Cold Waste" while referring to a massive mountain range which even the [[Old Ones]] "shunned as vaguely and namelessly evil."
==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations==
Director [[John Carpenter]]'s Lovecraftian tribute movie ''[[In the Mouth of Madness]]'' ([[1995 in film|1995]]) bases its title on this story, although the plot is unrelated.

Director [[Guillermo Del Toro]] has written a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 has had trouble getting [[Warner Brothers]] to finance the project. Wrote Del Toro, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe."<ref>Guillermo Del Toro Films, [http://www.deltorofilms.com/AtTheMountainsOfMadness.php ''At the Mountains of Madness'']</ref>

[[Chaosium]] developed a game book for their ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' role-playing game, called ''Beyond the Mountains of Madness'', essentially a follow-up to the original story.

A radio adaption of ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is available from the [[Atlanta Radio Theater Company]].

The [[H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society]]<ref> [http://www.cthulhulives.org "HPLHS"]</ref> produced a [[Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness|1930s-style radio drama]] of the story, featuring professional actors, original music and sound effects. It is packaged with photos from the expedition, newspaper clippings and other fun props.

''Mountains of Madness'' is a musical adaptation of Lovecraft's stories by [[Alexander Hacke]], [[Danielle de Picciotto]] and [[Tiger Lillies|The Tiger Lillies]]
== Trivia ==

* The book ''Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica'' ([[2001 in literature|2001]]), by John Long, is an account of a real-life expedition to Antarctica that searched for fossils near the location in the story, but fortunately without the disasters that befell Lovecraft's scientists.

* Late in the story, one of the characters recites a series of subway stops to calm himself; all of the stops still exist today on the [[Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line]] subway in [[Boston]] (though some have changed names).

* Some believe that Lovecraft references the "cursed" [[Gedney family]] with the character of the same name.

* The giant penguins that feature in the ruins of the Elder Thing's city were inspired by the prehistoric species [[Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi|''Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi'']].

* An episode of the popular American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is titled "[[Mountain of Madness]]" and features polar conditions, claustrophobia, and the mental breakdown of [[Homer Simpson]] and [[C. Montgomery Burns]] as themes, though to humorous effect.

* In [[Wake Up Call (The 4400 episode)|an episode]] of ''[[The 4400]]'', [[Kevin Burkhoff]], played by [[Jeffrey Combs]], who has appeared in Lovecraft-based films, is seen giving this book to a psychiatric patient.

* A sequel to the story, ''Hive'' by [[Tim Curran]], details a modern expedition to the Antarctica in which the team discover a subterranean flooded city still populated by Old Ones, who reach out with their minds and gradually drive most of the crew insane. The book references the original story directly, with quotes and characters, and also bears a strong resemblance to the Lovecraft-themed [[John Carpenter]] film ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]''.

* Another sequel is the [[Charles Stross]] novella ''[[A Colder War]]'', which takes place in a world where the proposed follow-up expedition to Antarctica takes place and rediscovers the Elder Thing city as well as locating several more across Earth.

* The novel ''[[The Spiraling Worm]]'' by [[David Conyers]] and [[John Sunseri]] feastures shoggoths, a modern day exploration of the Elder Thing's city, and an alien world shoggoth production factory.
==See also==
* [[Ancient astronauts]]
* [[Elder Things]]
* [[The Mound (short story)|The Mound]]
* [[The Shadow Out of Time]]

==External links==

*[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma98/silverman/poe/fulltext.html ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym''], Edgar Allan Poe; complete text
*[http://www.litrix.com/ecore/ecore001.htm ''At the Earth's Core''], Edgar Rice Burroughs; complete text from litrix.com
*[http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1833.pdf "The People of the Pit"], A. Merritt; complete text from Horrormasters (pdf)

[[Category:Antarctica in fiction]]
[[Category:1936 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by H. P. Lovecraft]]
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos stories]]
[[Category:Novellas]]

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T09:56:28Z

Mario94606: /* Biography */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

[[Image:Mountain.jpg|right|thumb|400px|]]

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].
[[Image:ATMOM.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Classics Illustrated's cover to "[[At the Mountains of Madness]]"]]
Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].
[[Image:Lovecraft stamps.jpg|right||]]

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

At the Mountains of Madness (fiction)

2007-11-17T09:49:46Z

Mario94606:

'''''At the Mountains of Madness''''' is a [[novella]] by [[horror fiction|horror]] writer [[H.P. Lovecraft]], written in February/March [[1931 in literature|1931]] and originally serialized in the February, March and April [[1936 in literature|1936]] issues ''[[Astounding (magazine)|Astounding Stories]]''. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death.
[[Image:ATMOM.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Classics Illustrated's cover to "[[At the Mountains of Madness]]"]]
The story is considered by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] to represent the decisive "demythology" of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]].
==Inspiration==

Lovecraft had a lifelong interest in [[History of Antarctica#Exploration|Antarctic exploration]]. "Lovecraft had been fascinated with the Antarctic continent since he was at least 12 years old, when he had written several small treatises on early Antarctic explorers," biographer S. T. Joshi wrote.<ref>S. T. Joshi, ''The Annotated Lovecraft'', p. 175.</ref> At about the age of 9, inspired by W. Clark Russell's 1887 book ''The Frozen Pirate'', Lovecraft had written "several yarns" set in Antarctica.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, p. 132.</ref>

By the 1920s, Joshi notes, Antarctica was "one of the last ''unexplored'' regions of the earth, where large stretches of territory had never seen the tread of human feet. Contemporary maps of the continent show a number of provocative blanks, and Lovecraft could exercise his imagination in filling them in...with little fear of immediate contradiction."<ref>Joshi, p. 18.</ref>

The first expedition of [[Richard Evelyn Byrd]] took place in 1928-1930, the period just before the novella was written, and Lovecraft mentioned the explorer repeatedly in his letters, remarking at one point on "geologists of the Byrd expedition having found many fossils indicating a tropical past".<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. 3, p. 144; cited in Joshi, p. 183; see also Joshi, p. 186.</ref>

[[Lin Carter]] has suggested that one inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' was Lovecraft's own hypersensitivity to cold, as evidenced by an incident where the writer "collapsed in the street and was carried unconscious into a drug store" because the temperature dropped from 60 degrees to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees to -1 degree Celsius). "The loathing and horror that extreme cold evoked in him was carried over into his writing," Carter wrote, "and the pages of ''Madness'' convey the blighting, blasting, stifling sensation caused by sub-zero temperatures in a way that even Poe could not suggest."<ref>Lin Carter, ''Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos'', p. 84. Joshi regards this suggestion as "facile"--''Annotated Lovecraft'', pp. 17-18.</ref>

Lovecraft's most obvious literary source for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s lone novel, ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'', whose concluding section is set in Antarctica. Lovecraft twice cites Poe's "disturbing and enigmatical" story in his text, and explicitly borrows the mysterious phrase "Tekeli-li" from Poe's work. In a letter to [[August Derleth]], Lovecraft wrote that he was trying to achieve with his ending an effect similar to what Poe accomplished in ''Pym''.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, letter to August Derleth, May 16, 1931; cited in Joshi, pp. 329-330.</ref>

[[Image:Mountain.jpg|right|thumb||]]

Another proposed inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[At the Earth's Core (novel)|At the Earth's Core]]'' (1914), a novel that posits a highly intelligent reptilian race, the Mahar, living in a [[hollow earth]]. "Consider the similarity of Burroughs' Mahar to Lovecraft's Old Ones, both of whom are presented sympathetically despite their ill-treatment of man," writes critic William Fulwiler. "[B]oth are winged, web-footed, dominant races; both are scientific scholarly races with a talent for genetics, engineering, and architecture; and both races use men as cattle." Both stories, Fulwiler points out, involve radical new drilling techniques; in both stories, humans are vivisected by nonhuman scientists. Burroughs' Mahar even employ a species of servants known as Sagoths, possibly the source of Lovecraft's [[shoggoths]].<ref>William Fulwiler, "E.R.B. and H.P.L.", ''Black Forbidden Things'', p. 64.</ref>

Other possible sources include [[A. Merritt]]'s "The People of the Pit", whose description of an underground city in the Yukon bears some resemblance to that of Lovecraft's Elder Things, and Katharine Metcalf Roof's "A Million Years After", a story about [[dinosaurs]] hatching from eggs millions of years old that appeared in the November 1930 edition ''Weird Tales''. In a letter to [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft declared the story to be a "rotten", "cheap", and "puerile" version of an idea he had come up with years earlier, and Joshi suggests it may have provoked him to write his own tale of "the awakening of entities from the dim reaches of earth's history."<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. III, p. 186; Joshi, p. 175.</ref>

The long scope of history recounted in the story may have been inspired by [[Oswald Spengler]]'s ''[[The Decline of the West]]''. Some details of the story may have been taken from M. P. Shiel's 1901 novel of [[Arctic]] exploration, ''The Purple Cloud'', which was republished in 1930.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, pp. 10-11.</ref>

Lovecraft's own "[[The Nameless City]]" (1921), which also deals with the exploration of an ancient underground city apparently abandoned by its nonhuman builders, is a clear precedent for ''At the Mountains of Madness''. In both stories, the explorers use the nonhumans' artwork to deduce the history of their species.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, "The Nameless City", ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', pp. 104-105; cited in Joshi, pp. 264-265.</ref>
==Reaction==

This story was rejected by ''[[Weird Tales]]'' editor [[Farnsworth Wright]] on the grounds of its length. The story eventually appeared four years later in ''[[Astounding Stories]]''.

==Plot summary==

The story is written in first-person perspective by Professor William Dyer, a [[geologist]] from [[Miskatonic University]]. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to [[Antarctica]]. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a range of mountains taller than the [[Himalayas]].

The group that discovered and crossed the mountains found the remains of fourteen ancient life forms, completely unknown to science and unidentifiable as neither plants or animals, after discovering an underground cave while boring for ice cores. Six of the specimens seem to be badly damaged, the others uncannily pristine. The extremely early date in the [[geological strata]] of these [[fossil|"fossils"]] is problematic because of their highly evolved features. Because of their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', they are dubbed the "[[Elder Things]]".

When the main expedition loses contact with this party, Dyer and the rest of his colleagues travel to their camp to investigate. The camp is devastated and both the men and the dogs slaughtered, with only one of each missing. Near the camp they find six star-shaped snow mounds, and a damaged Elder Thing buried under each. They discover that the better preserved life forms have vanished, and that some form of experiment has been done, though they are only able to speculate on the subject, and the possibility that it is the missing man and dog. Dyer elects, then, to close off the area from which they took their samples.

Dyer and a student named Danforth fly an airplane over the mountains, which they soon realize are the outer wall of a huge, abandoned stone city of cubes and cones, utterly alien to any human [[architecture]]. Exploring one of the cones, the men are able to learn the history of the Elder Things by interpreting their magnificent [[logogram|hieroglyphic]] murals: The Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the [[Moon]] was pulled loose from the planet and were the creators of life. They built their cities with the help of "[[shoggoth]]s", things created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. Danforth and Dyer realize that the eight Elder Things were still alive when they find a sledge from the camp up in the city, which to their horror contains the bodies of the missing dog and man, evidently kept as scientific specimens.

They find evidence of dead Elder Things and are chased back to their plane by an ululating horror which they identify as a shoggoth. As they fly away, only Danforth looks back and sees something that causes him to lose most of his [[sanity]], and which he refuses to describe. Professor Dyer concludes that the Elder Things and their civilization were destroyed by the shoggoths they created, and begs the planners of the proposed Antarctic expedition to stay away from things that should not be loosed on this Earth.
==Characters==
===William Dyer===
(ca. 1875–?)

The narrator of ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he is a professor of [[geology]] at [[Miskatonic University]] and a leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to [[Antarctica]] in [[1930]]–[[1931|31]]. He reappears in Lovecraft's "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", where he accompanies an expedition to [[Australia]]'s [[Great Sandy Desert]] where he is said to be "appalled at the measureless age of the fragments" of a [[wikt:primordial|primordial]] civilization found there.

In ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he has no first name, only being called "William Dyer" in "The Shadow Out of Time".



===Danforth===

Graduate student at [[Miskatonic University]]. As part of the Pabodie Expedition, he accompanies Dyer on a survey flight over the "[[Plateau of Leng]]" and goes mad after seeing something. He is described as "a great reader of bizarre material", and makes allusions to [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.

According to [[Fritz Leiber]]'s "To Arkham and the Stars", he later recovered after being treated with experimental drugs developed by [[The Dunwich Horror#Morgan, (Professor) Francis|Professor Morgan]], though he never recalled the horror he saw on the plateau. Afterwards, he became a professor of [[psychology]] at the university.


===Frank H. Pabodie===

A member of Miskatonic's [[engineering]] department, Professor Pabodie invented a drill for the expedition that was "unique and radical in its lightness, portability, and capacity...to cope quickly with strata of varying hardness." He also added "fuel-warming and quick-starting devices" to the expedition's four aircraft.<ref>Lovecraft, ''At the Mountains of Madness'', p. 4.</ref>

Lovecraft wrote of the name "Pabodie", "I chose it as a name typical of good old New England stock, yet not sufficiently common to sound conventional or hackneyed." It's an alternative spelling of "Peabody", a name Lovecraft was familiar with through the [[George Peabody|Peabody Museum]] in [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]].<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. V, p. 228; Joshi, p. 181.</ref>

===Professor Lake===

Lake is a professor of biology at Miskatonic University. It is he who first discovers the Mountains of Madness as a result of his "strange and dogged insistence on a westward--or rather, northwestward--prospecting trip" based on his discovery of strange fossils. He also discovers the ancient extraterrestrial specimens that he dubs [[Elder Things]] based on their resemblance to "certain monsters of primal myth" found in the ''Necronomicon''. He reports that his findings in Antarctica confirm his belief "that earth has seen whole cycles of organic life before known one that begins with [[Archaeozoic]] cells," and predicts that this "[w]ill mean to biology what Einstein has meant to mathematics and physics." When the Elder Things turn out to be living creatures rather than fossils, they butcher Lake and the rest of his sub-expedition. For the rest of the story, he is referred to as "poor Lake".

===Professor Atwood===

A member of the Miskatonic University [[physics]] department, and also a meteorologist. He is part of the Lake sub-expedition and is also butchered by the Elder Things.
==Significance==
According to S. T. Joshi, who included this novella as the central story in the first volume of his ''Annotated Lovecraft'' series, ''Mountains'' reveals Lovecraft's true feelings on the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that subsequent writers attributed to him, and "demythologizes" much of his earlier work.

Many of Lovecraft's stories involve features that appear to be [[supernatural]], such as [[monsters]] and the [[occult]]. However, ''Mountains'' appears to explain the origins of such elements—from occult [[symbols]] to "gods" such as [[Cthulhu]]—in rational terms. ''Mountains'' explains many elements of the "Cthulhu Mythos" in terms of early alien civilizations that took root on Earth long before humans appeared.

The story has also inadvertently popularized the concept of [[ancient astronauts]], as well as [[Antarctica]]'s place in the "ancient astronaut mythology".<ref>Jason Colavito, ''The Cthulhu Comparison''</ref>
== Connections to other Lovecraft stories ==

''At the Mountains of Madness'' has numerous connections to other Lovecraft stories. A few include:

* The formless [[shoggoths]] later appear in "[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]" ([[1931 in literature|1931]]), "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), and "[[The Haunter of the Dark]]" ([[1935 in literature|1935]])
* The star-headed [[Elder Things]] also appear in "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), when the main character, Walter Gilman, visits a city of theirs in one of his dreams, and "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", in which they are the vaguely-alluded-to antagonists of the [[Great Race of Yith]].
* The expedition is sponsored by the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Foundation, combining two major names in Lovecraft's fiction: Derby and Pickman.<ref>Anthony Pearsall, ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 326.</ref> Richard Upton Pickman is the main character in Lovecraft's "[[Pickman's Model]]", while Edward Pickman Derby is the protagonist of his "The Thing on the Doorstep", and also one of his literary alter-egos.<ref>Ibid, p. 146.</ref>
* The Elder Things record the coming of [[Cthulhu]] to Earth and the sinking of [[R'lyeh]], events referred to in "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]" ([[1928 in literature|1928]]).
* The Elder Things' city is identified with the Plateau of [[Leng]], first mentioned in Lovecraft's "[[Celephais]]" ([[1920 in literature|1920]]).
* Some members of the expedition have read [[Miskatonic University]]'s copy of the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.
* Dyer mentions "[[Kadath]] in the Cold Waste" while referring to a massive mountain range which even the [[Old Ones]] "shunned as vaguely and namelessly evil."
==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations==
Director [[John Carpenter]]'s Lovecraftian tribute movie ''[[In the Mouth of Madness]]'' ([[1995 in film|1995]]) bases its title on this story, although the plot is unrelated.

Director [[Guillermo Del Toro]] has written a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 has had trouble getting [[Warner Brothers]] to finance the project. Wrote Del Toro, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe."<ref>Guillermo Del Toro Films, [http://www.deltorofilms.com/AtTheMountainsOfMadness.php ''At the Mountains of Madness'']</ref>

[[Chaosium]] developed a game book for their ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' role-playing game, called ''Beyond the Mountains of Madness'', essentially a follow-up to the original story.

A radio adaption of ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is available from the [[Atlanta Radio Theater Company]].

The [[H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society]]<ref> [http://www.cthulhulives.org "HPLHS"]</ref> produced a [[Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness|1930s-style radio drama]] of the story, featuring professional actors, original music and sound effects. It is packaged with photos from the expedition, newspaper clippings and other fun props.

''Mountains of Madness'' is a musical adaptation of Lovecraft's stories by [[Alexander Hacke]], [[Danielle de Picciotto]] and [[Tiger Lillies|The Tiger Lillies]]
== Trivia ==

* The book ''Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica'' ([[2001 in literature|2001]]), by John Long, is an account of a real-life expedition to Antarctica that searched for fossils near the location in the story, but fortunately without the disasters that befell Lovecraft's scientists.

* Late in the story, one of the characters recites a series of subway stops to calm himself; all of the stops still exist today on the [[Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line]] subway in [[Boston]] (though some have changed names).

* Some believe that Lovecraft references the "cursed" [[Gedney family]] with the character of the same name.

* The giant penguins that feature in the ruins of the Elder Thing's city were inspired by the prehistoric species [[Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi|''Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi'']].

* An episode of the popular American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is titled "[[Mountain of Madness]]" and features polar conditions, claustrophobia, and the mental breakdown of [[Homer Simpson]] and [[C. Montgomery Burns]] as themes, though to humorous effect.

* In [[Wake Up Call (The 4400 episode)|an episode]] of ''[[The 4400]]'', [[Kevin Burkhoff]], played by [[Jeffrey Combs]], who has appeared in Lovecraft-based films, is seen giving this book to a psychiatric patient.

* A sequel to the story, ''Hive'' by [[Tim Curran]], details a modern expedition to the Antarctica in which the team discover a subterranean flooded city still populated by Old Ones, who reach out with their minds and gradually drive most of the crew insane. The book references the original story directly, with quotes and characters, and also bears a strong resemblance to the Lovecraft-themed [[John Carpenter]] film ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]''.

* Another sequel is the [[Charles Stross]] novella ''[[A Colder War]]'', which takes place in a world where the proposed follow-up expedition to Antarctica takes place and rediscovers the Elder Thing city as well as locating several more across Earth.

* The novel ''[[The Spiraling Worm]]'' by [[David Conyers]] and [[John Sunseri]] feastures shoggoths, a modern day exploration of the Elder Thing's city, and an alien world shoggoth production factory.
==See also==
* [[Ancient astronauts]]
* [[Elder Things]]
* [[The Mound (short story)|The Mound]]
* [[The Shadow Out of Time]]

==External links==

*[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma98/silverman/poe/fulltext.html ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym''], Edgar Allan Poe; complete text
*[http://www.litrix.com/ecore/ecore001.htm ''At the Earth's Core''], Edgar Rice Burroughs; complete text from litrix.com
*[http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1833.pdf "The People of the Pit"], A. Merritt; complete text from Horrormasters (pdf)

[[Category:Antarctica in fiction]]
[[Category:1936 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by H. P. Lovecraft]]
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos stories]]
[[Category:Novellas]]

File:Mountain.jpg

2007-11-17T09:39:24Z

Mario94606:

At the Mountains of Madness (fiction)

2007-11-17T09:32:01Z

Mario94606:

'''''At the Mountains of Madness''''' is a [[novella]] by [[horror fiction|horror]] writer [[H.P. Lovecraft]], written in February/March [[1931 in literature|1931]] and originally serialized in the February, March and April [[1936 in literature|1936]] issues ''[[Astounding (magazine)|Astounding Stories]]''. It has been reproduced in numerous collections since Lovecraft's death.

The story is considered by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] to represent the decisive "demythology" of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]].
==Inspiration==

Lovecraft had a lifelong interest in [[History of Antarctica#Exploration|Antarctic exploration]]. "Lovecraft had been fascinated with the Antarctic continent since he was at least 12 years old, when he had written several small treatises on early Antarctic explorers," biographer S. T. Joshi wrote.<ref>S. T. Joshi, ''The Annotated Lovecraft'', p. 175.</ref> At about the age of 9, inspired by W. Clark Russell's 1887 book ''The Frozen Pirate'', Lovecraft had written "several yarns" set in Antarctica.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, p. 132.</ref>

By the 1920s, Joshi notes, Antarctica was "one of the last ''unexplored'' regions of the earth, where large stretches of territory had never seen the tread of human feet. Contemporary maps of the continent show a number of provocative blanks, and Lovecraft could exercise his imagination in filling them in...with little fear of immediate contradiction."<ref>Joshi, p. 18.</ref>

The first expedition of [[Richard Evelyn Byrd]] took place in 1928-1930, the period just before the novella was written, and Lovecraft mentioned the explorer repeatedly in his letters, remarking at one point on "geologists of the Byrd expedition having found many fossils indicating a tropical past".<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. 3, p. 144; cited in Joshi, p. 183; see also Joshi, p. 186.</ref>

[[Lin Carter]] has suggested that one inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' was Lovecraft's own hypersensitivity to cold, as evidenced by an incident where the writer "collapsed in the street and was carried unconscious into a drug store" because the temperature dropped from 60 degrees to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees to -1 degree Celsius). "The loathing and horror that extreme cold evoked in him was carried over into his writing," Carter wrote, "and the pages of ''Madness'' convey the blighting, blasting, stifling sensation caused by sub-zero temperatures in a way that even Poe could not suggest."<ref>Lin Carter, ''Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos'', p. 84. Joshi regards this suggestion as "facile"--''Annotated Lovecraft'', pp. 17-18.</ref>

Lovecraft's most obvious literary source for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s lone novel, ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'', whose concluding section is set in Antarctica. Lovecraft twice cites Poe's "disturbing and enigmatical" story in his text, and explicitly borrows the mysterious phrase "Tekeli-li" from Poe's work. In a letter to [[August Derleth]], Lovecraft wrote that he was trying to achieve with his ending an effect similar to what Poe accomplished in ''Pym''.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, letter to August Derleth, May 16, 1931; cited in Joshi, pp. 329-330.</ref>

Another proposed inspiration for ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[At the Earth's Core (novel)|At the Earth's Core]]'' (1914), a novel that posits a highly intelligent reptilian race, the Mahar, living in a [[hollow earth]]. "Consider the similarity of Burroughs' Mahar to Lovecraft's Old Ones, both of whom are presented sympathetically despite their ill-treatment of man," writes critic William Fulwiler. "[B]oth are winged, web-footed, dominant races; both are scientific scholarly races with a talent for genetics, engineering, and architecture; and both races use men as cattle." Both stories, Fulwiler points out, involve radical new drilling techniques; in both stories, humans are vivisected by nonhuman scientists. Burroughs' Mahar even employ a species of servants known as Sagoths, possibly the source of Lovecraft's [[shoggoths]].<ref>William Fulwiler, "E.R.B. and H.P.L.", ''Black Forbidden Things'', p. 64.</ref>

Other possible sources include [[A. Merritt]]'s "The People of the Pit", whose description of an underground city in the Yukon bears some resemblance to that of Lovecraft's Elder Things, and Katharine Metcalf Roof's "A Million Years After", a story about [[dinosaurs]] hatching from eggs millions of years old that appeared in the November 1930 edition ''Weird Tales''. In a letter to [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft declared the story to be a "rotten", "cheap", and "puerile" version of an idea he had come up with years earlier, and Joshi suggests it may have provoked him to write his own tale of "the awakening of entities from the dim reaches of earth's history."<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. III, p. 186; Joshi, p. 175.</ref>

The long scope of history recounted in the story may have been inspired by [[Oswald Spengler]]'s ''[[The Decline of the West]]''. Some details of the story may have been taken from M. P. Shiel's 1901 novel of [[Arctic]] exploration, ''The Purple Cloud'', which was republished in 1930.<ref>Joshi and Schultz, pp. 10-11.</ref>

Lovecraft's own "[[The Nameless City]]" (1921), which also deals with the exploration of an ancient underground city apparently abandoned by its nonhuman builders, is a clear precedent for ''At the Mountains of Madness''. In both stories, the explorers use the nonhumans' artwork to deduce the history of their species.<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, "The Nameless City", ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', pp. 104-105; cited in Joshi, pp. 264-265.</ref>
==Reaction==

This story was rejected by ''[[Weird Tales]]'' editor [[Farnsworth Wright]] on the grounds of its length. The story eventually appeared four years later in ''[[Astounding Stories]]''.

==Plot summary==

The story is written in first-person perspective by Professor William Dyer, a [[geologist]] from [[Miskatonic University]]. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to [[Antarctica]]. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a range of mountains taller than the [[Himalayas]].

The group that discovered and crossed the mountains found the remains of fourteen ancient life forms, completely unknown to science and unidentifiable as neither plants or animals, after discovering an underground cave while boring for ice cores. Six of the specimens seem to be badly damaged, the others uncannily pristine. The extremely early date in the [[geological strata]] of these [[fossil|"fossils"]] is problematic because of their highly evolved features. Because of their resemblance to creatures of myth mentioned in the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', they are dubbed the "[[Elder Things]]".

When the main expedition loses contact with this party, Dyer and the rest of his colleagues travel to their camp to investigate. The camp is devastated and both the men and the dogs slaughtered, with only one of each missing. Near the camp they find six star-shaped snow mounds, and a damaged Elder Thing buried under each. They discover that the better preserved life forms have vanished, and that some form of experiment has been done, though they are only able to speculate on the subject, and the possibility that it is the missing man and dog. Dyer elects, then, to close off the area from which they took their samples.

Dyer and a student named Danforth fly an airplane over the mountains, which they soon realize are the outer wall of a huge, abandoned stone city of cubes and cones, utterly alien to any human [[architecture]]. Exploring one of the cones, the men are able to learn the history of the Elder Things by interpreting their magnificent [[logogram|hieroglyphic]] murals: The Elder Things first came to Earth shortly after the [[Moon]] was pulled loose from the planet and were the creators of life. They built their cities with the help of "[[shoggoth]]s", things created to perform any task, assume any form, and reflect any thought. Danforth and Dyer realize that the eight Elder Things were still alive when they find a sledge from the camp up in the city, which to their horror contains the bodies of the missing dog and man, evidently kept as scientific specimens.

They find evidence of dead Elder Things and are chased back to their plane by an ululating horror which they identify as a shoggoth. As they fly away, only Danforth looks back and sees something that causes him to lose most of his [[sanity]], and which he refuses to describe. Professor Dyer concludes that the Elder Things and their civilization were destroyed by the shoggoths they created, and begs the planners of the proposed Antarctic expedition to stay away from things that should not be loosed on this Earth.
==Characters==
===William Dyer===
(ca. 1875–?)

The narrator of ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he is a professor of [[geology]] at [[Miskatonic University]] and a leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to [[Antarctica]] in [[1930]]–[[1931|31]]. He reappears in Lovecraft's "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", where he accompanies an expedition to [[Australia]]'s [[Great Sandy Desert]] where he is said to be "appalled at the measureless age of the fragments" of a [[wikt:primordial|primordial]] civilization found there.

In ''At the Mountains of Madness'', he has no first name, only being called "William Dyer" in "The Shadow Out of Time".



===Danforth===

Graduate student at [[Miskatonic University]]. As part of the Pabodie Expedition, he accompanies Dyer on a survey flight over the "[[Plateau of Leng]]" and goes mad after seeing something. He is described as "a great reader of bizarre material", and makes allusions to [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.

According to [[Fritz Leiber]]'s "To Arkham and the Stars", he later recovered after being treated with experimental drugs developed by [[The Dunwich Horror#Morgan, (Professor) Francis|Professor Morgan]], though he never recalled the horror he saw on the plateau. Afterwards, he became a professor of [[psychology]] at the university.


===Frank H. Pabodie===

A member of Miskatonic's [[engineering]] department, Professor Pabodie invented a drill for the expedition that was "unique and radical in its lightness, portability, and capacity...to cope quickly with strata of varying hardness." He also added "fuel-warming and quick-starting devices" to the expedition's four aircraft.<ref>Lovecraft, ''At the Mountains of Madness'', p. 4.</ref>

Lovecraft wrote of the name "Pabodie", "I chose it as a name typical of good old New England stock, yet not sufficiently common to sound conventional or hackneyed." It's an alternative spelling of "Peabody", a name Lovecraft was familiar with through the [[George Peabody|Peabody Museum]] in [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]].<ref>H. P. Lovecraft, ''Selected Letters'' Vol. V, p. 228; Joshi, p. 181.</ref>

===Professor Lake===

Lake is a professor of biology at Miskatonic University. It is he who first discovers the Mountains of Madness as a result of his "strange and dogged insistence on a westward--or rather, northwestward--prospecting trip" based on his discovery of strange fossils. He also discovers the ancient extraterrestrial specimens that he dubs [[Elder Things]] based on their resemblance to "certain monsters of primal myth" found in the ''Necronomicon''. He reports that his findings in Antarctica confirm his belief "that earth has seen whole cycles of organic life before known one that begins with [[Archaeozoic]] cells," and predicts that this "[w]ill mean to biology what Einstein has meant to mathematics and physics." When the Elder Things turn out to be living creatures rather than fossils, they butcher Lake and the rest of his sub-expedition. For the rest of the story, he is referred to as "poor Lake".

===Professor Atwood===

A member of the Miskatonic University [[physics]] department, and also a meteorologist. He is part of the Lake sub-expedition and is also butchered by the Elder Things.
==Significance==
According to S. T. Joshi, who included this novella as the central story in the first volume of his ''Annotated Lovecraft'' series, ''Mountains'' reveals Lovecraft's true feelings on the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that subsequent writers attributed to him, and "demythologizes" much of his earlier work.

Many of Lovecraft's stories involve features that appear to be [[supernatural]], such as [[monsters]] and the [[occult]]. However, ''Mountains'' appears to explain the origins of such elements—from occult [[symbols]] to "gods" such as [[Cthulhu]]—in rational terms. ''Mountains'' explains many elements of the "Cthulhu Mythos" in terms of early alien civilizations that took root on Earth long before humans appeared.

The story has also inadvertently popularized the concept of [[ancient astronauts]], as well as [[Antarctica]]'s place in the "ancient astronaut mythology".<ref>Jason Colavito, ''The Cthulhu Comparison''</ref>
== Connections to other Lovecraft stories ==

''At the Mountains of Madness'' has numerous connections to other Lovecraft stories. A few include:

* The formless [[shoggoths]] later appear in "[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]" ([[1931 in literature|1931]]), "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), and "[[The Haunter of the Dark]]" ([[1935 in literature|1935]])
* The star-headed [[Elder Things]] also appear in "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]" ([[1933 in literature|1933]]), when the main character, Walter Gilman, visits a city of theirs in one of his dreams, and "[[The Shadow Out of Time]]", in which they are the vaguely-alluded-to antagonists of the [[Great Race of Yith]].
* The expedition is sponsored by the Nathaniel Derby Pickman Foundation, combining two major names in Lovecraft's fiction: Derby and Pickman.<ref>Anthony Pearsall, ''The Lovecraft Lexicon'', p. 326.</ref> Richard Upton Pickman is the main character in Lovecraft's "[[Pickman's Model]]", while Edward Pickman Derby is the protagonist of his "The Thing on the Doorstep", and also one of his literary alter-egos.<ref>Ibid, p. 146.</ref>
* The Elder Things record the coming of [[Cthulhu]] to Earth and the sinking of [[R'lyeh]], events referred to in "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]" ([[1928 in literature|1928]]).
* The Elder Things' city is identified with the Plateau of [[Leng]], first mentioned in Lovecraft's "[[Celephais]]" ([[1920 in literature|1920]]).
* Some members of the expedition have read [[Miskatonic University]]'s copy of the ''[[Necronomicon]]''.
* Dyer mentions "[[Kadath]] in the Cold Waste" while referring to a massive mountain range which even the [[Old Ones]] "shunned as vaguely and namelessly evil."
==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations==
Director [[John Carpenter]]'s Lovecraftian tribute movie ''[[In the Mouth of Madness]]'' ([[1995 in film|1995]]) bases its title on this story, although the plot is unrelated.

Director [[Guillermo Del Toro]] has written a screenplay based on Lovecraft's story, but in 2006 has had trouble getting [[Warner Brothers]] to finance the project. Wrote Del Toro, "The studio is very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending, but it's impossible to do either in the Lovecraft universe."<ref>Guillermo Del Toro Films, [http://www.deltorofilms.com/AtTheMountainsOfMadness.php ''At the Mountains of Madness'']</ref>

[[Chaosium]] developed a game book for their ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' role-playing game, called ''Beyond the Mountains of Madness'', essentially a follow-up to the original story.

A radio adaption of ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is available from the [[Atlanta Radio Theater Company]].

The [[H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society]]<ref> [http://www.cthulhulives.org "HPLHS"]</ref> produced a [[Dark Adventure Radio Theatre: At the Mountains of Madness|1930s-style radio drama]] of the story, featuring professional actors, original music and sound effects. It is packaged with photos from the expedition, newspaper clippings and other fun props.

''Mountains of Madness'' is a musical adaptation of Lovecraft's stories by [[Alexander Hacke]], [[Danielle de Picciotto]] and [[Tiger Lillies|The Tiger Lillies]]
== Trivia ==

* The book ''Mountains of Madness: A Scientist's Odyssey in Antarctica'' ([[2001 in literature|2001]]), by John Long, is an account of a real-life expedition to Antarctica that searched for fossils near the location in the story, but fortunately without the disasters that befell Lovecraft's scientists.

* Late in the story, one of the characters recites a series of subway stops to calm himself; all of the stops still exist today on the [[Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line]] subway in [[Boston]] (though some have changed names).

* Some believe that Lovecraft references the "cursed" [[Gedney family]] with the character of the same name.

* The giant penguins that feature in the ruins of the Elder Thing's city were inspired by the prehistoric species [[Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi|''Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi'']].

* An episode of the popular American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is titled "[[Mountain of Madness]]" and features polar conditions, claustrophobia, and the mental breakdown of [[Homer Simpson]] and [[C. Montgomery Burns]] as themes, though to humorous effect.

* In [[Wake Up Call (The 4400 episode)|an episode]] of ''[[The 4400]]'', [[Kevin Burkhoff]], played by [[Jeffrey Combs]], who has appeared in Lovecraft-based films, is seen giving this book to a psychiatric patient.

* A sequel to the story, ''Hive'' by [[Tim Curran]], details a modern expedition to the Antarctica in which the team discover a subterranean flooded city still populated by Old Ones, who reach out with their minds and gradually drive most of the crew insane. The book references the original story directly, with quotes and characters, and also bears a strong resemblance to the Lovecraft-themed [[John Carpenter]] film ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]''.

* Another sequel is the [[Charles Stross]] novella ''[[A Colder War]]'', which takes place in a world where the proposed follow-up expedition to Antarctica takes place and rediscovers the Elder Thing city as well as locating several more across Earth.

* The novel ''[[The Spiraling Worm]]'' by [[David Conyers]] and [[John Sunseri]] feastures shoggoths, a modern day exploration of the Elder Thing's city, and an alien world shoggoth production factory.
==See also==
* [[Ancient astronauts]]
* [[Elder Things]]
* [[The Mound (short story)|The Mound]]
* [[The Shadow Out of Time]]

==External links==

*[http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma98/silverman/poe/fulltext.html ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym''], Edgar Allan Poe; complete text
*[http://www.litrix.com/ecore/ecore001.htm ''At the Earth's Core''], Edgar Rice Burroughs; complete text from litrix.com
*[http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1833.pdf "The People of the Pit"], A. Merritt; complete text from Horrormasters (pdf)

[[Category:Antarctica in fiction]]
[[Category:1936 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by H. P. Lovecraft]]
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos stories]]
[[Category:Novellas]]

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T09:04:42Z

Mario94606: /* Biography */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].
[[Image:ATMOM.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Classics Illustrated's cover to "[[At the Mountains of Madness]]"]]
Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].
[[Image:Lovecraft stamps.jpg|right||]]

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T08:35:34Z

Mario94606: /* Biography */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].
[[Image:ATMOM.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Classics Illustrated's cover to "At the Mountains of Madness"]]
Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].
[[Image:Lovecraft stamps.jpg|right||]]

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

File:ATMOM.jpg

2007-11-17T08:30:19Z

Mario94606: classics illustrated - At the Mountains of Madness

classics illustrated - At the Mountains of Madness

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T08:25:43Z

Mario94606: /* Lovecraft's influence in popular culture */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].

Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].
[[Image:Lovecraft stamps.jpg|right||]]

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T08:22:51Z

Mario94606: /* Lovecraft's influence in popular culture */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].

Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].
[[Image:Lovecraft stamps.jpg|right||]]

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

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H.P. Lovecraft

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[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].

Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.
[[Image:Pooch cthulhu.jpg|right|thumb||]]
His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

File:Pooch cthulhu.jpg

2007-11-17T08:13:46Z

Mario94606: painted picture of the creator and his creation

painted picture of the creator and his creation

H.P. Lovecraft

2007-11-17T08:09:06Z

Mario94606: /* Further reading */

[[Image:hp-lovecraft.jpg|thumb|180|H.P. Lovecraft]]

'''Howard Phillips Lovecraft''' ([[August 20]], [[1890]] – [[March 15]], [[1937]]) was an [[United States|America]]n author of [[fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]], noted for giving horror stories a [[Science fiction|science fiction]] framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and influential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

==Biography==
Lovecraft was born on [[20 August]] [[1890]] in his family home at 454 (then 194) Angell Street in [[Providence, Rhode Island]]. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman of jewelry and precious metals. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, who could trace her ancestors in America back to their arrival in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] in 1630. Unusual for the time, both were in their 30s when they married, and it was the first marriage for both. Howard was their only child. When Lovecraft was three his father became acutely [[psychotic]] at a hotel in [[Chicago, Illinois]], where he was on a business trip, and was brought back to Butler Hospital in Providence, where he remained for the rest of his life. His affliction was [[General paresis of the insane|general paresis]].

Lovecraft was thereafter raised by his mother, two aunts (Lillian Delora Phillips and Annie Emeline Phillips), and his grandfather, [[Whipple Van Buren Phillips]], with whom they lived until his death. Lovecraft was a [[child prodigy]], reciting poetry at age two and writing complete poems by six. His grandfather encouraged his reading, providing him with classics such as ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights|The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch's Age of Fable]]'', and children's versions of The ''[[Iliad]]'' and The ''[[Odyssey]]''. His grandfather also stirred young Howard's interest in the weird by telling him original tales of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently ill as a child and was said by his biographer ([[L. Sprague de Camp]]) to have suffered from a rare disease known as [[poikilothermism]], the result of which made him always feel cold to the touch. He attended school only sporadically but he read much. He produced several [[hectograph]]ed publications with a limited circulation beginning in 1899 with ''The Scientific Gazette''.

Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, and the family was subsequently impoverished by mismanagement of his property and money. The family was forced to move down the street to 598 Angell Street, accommodations which were much smaller and less comfortable. Lovecraft was deeply affected by the loss of his home and birthplace and even contemplated suicide for a time. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1908, as a result of which he never received his high school diploma. This failure to complete his education — his hopes of ever entering [[Brown University]] dashed — nagged at him for the rest of his life, and he in fact maintained that he was a highschool graduate.

Lovecraft wrote fiction as a youth, but then set it aside for some time in favour of poetry and essays, before returning to fiction in 1917 with more polished stories such as ''The Tomb'' and ''Dagon''. The latter was his first professionally published work, appearing in ''Weird Tales'' in 1923. Also around this time he began to build up his huge network of correspondents. His lengthy and frequent missives would make him one of the great letter writers of the century. Among his correspondents were the young [[Forrest J. Ackerman]], [[Robert Bloch]] (''[[Psycho]]'') and [[Robert E. Howard]] (''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' series).

Lovecraft's mother also was committed to the Butler Hospital, where she died from surgical complications on [[May 21]], [[1921]].

Shortly after, he attended an amateur journalist convention where he met [[Sonia Greene]]. She was [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]], a [[Jew]], and, having been born in 1883, seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924, and the couple moved to the [[Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough|Borough]] of [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Lovecraft's aunts may have been unhappy with this arrangement. Lovecraft himself rather disliked New York life. A few years later he and Greene agreed to an amicable divorce, and he returned to Providence to live with his aunts during their remaining years. Due to the unhappiness of their marriage, some biographers have speculated that Lovecraft could have been [[asexual]].

Back in Providence Lovecraft lived in a "spacious brown Victorian wooden house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this is the address given as the home of Dr. Willett in ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''). The period after his return to Providence — the last decade of his life — was Lovecraft's most prolific. During this time period he produced almost all of his best known short stories for the leading [[pulp magazine|pulp publications]] of the day (primarily ''[[Weird Tales]]'') as well as longer efforts like ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]''. He frequently revised work for other authors and did a large amount of ghost-writing.

Despite his best writing efforts, however, he grew ever poorer. He was forced to move to smaller and meaner lodgings with his surviving aunt. He was also deeply affected by [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[suicide]]. In 1936 he was diagnosed with [[cancer (medicine)|cancer]] of the intestine and he also suffered from [[malnutrition]]. He lived in constant pain until his death the following year (1937) in Providence, [[Rhode Island]].

Lovecraft's grave in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence is occasionally marked with [[graffiti]] quoting his famous phrase from ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)]]'' (originally from ''The Nameless City''):
:''"That is not dead which can eternal lie,''
:''And with strange aeons even death may die."''

Lovecraft was listed along with his parents on the Phillips family monument. That was not enough for his fans, so in 1977 a group of individuals pitched in to buy him a headstone of his own. They chose a plain block of granite, on which they had inscribed Lovecraft's name, the dates of his birth and death and the phrase, "I AM PROVIDENCE," a line from one of his personal letters.

==Background of Lovecraft's work==
Much of Lovecraft's work was directly inspired by his [[nightmare]]s, and it is perhaps this direct insight into the [[subconscious]] and its [[symbolism]] that helps to account for their continuing resonance and popularity. All these interests naturally led to his deep affection for the works of [[Edgar Allan Poe]], who heavily influenced his earliest macabre stories and writing style. Lovecraft's discovery of the stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]] moved his writing in a new direction, resulting in a series of imitative fantasies in a "Dreamlands" setting. It was probably the influence of [[Arthur Machen]], with his carefully constructed tales concerning the survival of ancient evil, and his mystic beliefs in hidden mysteries which lay behind reality, that finally helped inspire Lovecraft to find his own voice from 1923 onwards. This took on a dark tone with the creation of what is today often called the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], a pantheon of alien extra-dimensional deities and horrors which predate mankind, and which are hinted at in aeon-old myths and legends. The strangeness of the mythos' style may have been influenced, and was certainly foreshadowed, by the paintings of [[Hieronymus Bosch]]. The term 'Cthulhu Mythos' was coined by Lovecraft's correspondent and fellow author, [[August Derleth]], after Lovecraft's death; Lovecraft referred to his artificial mythology as "Yog-Sothothery"[http://www.sff.net/people/timpratt/611.html]. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the ''[[Necronomicon]]'', the secret [[grimoire]] written by the mad [[Arab]] [[Abdul Alhazred]]. The resonance and strength of the Mythos concept have led some to believe that Lovecraft had based it on actual myth, and [[faux]] editions of the ''Necronomicon'' have also been published over the years.

His prose is somewhat [[antiquarian]]. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "[[wikt:eldritch|eldritch]]", "[[wikt:rugose|rugose]]", "[[wikt:noisome|noisome]]", "[[wikt:squamous|squamous]]", and "[[wikt:cyclopean|cyclopean]]", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured [[British English]] (he was an admitted [[Anglophile]]), and he sometimes made use of anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete" and "lanthorn/lantern".

Lovecraft was a prolific letter writer, inscribing multiple pages to his group of correspondents in small longhand. He sometimes dated his letters 200 years before the current date, which would have put the writing back in U.S. colonial times, before the [[American Revolution]] that offended his [[Anglophile|Anglophilia]]. He explained that he thought that the [[18th century|18th]] and [[20th century|20th]] centuries were the best; the former being a period of noble grace, and the latter a [[century]] of [[science]]. In his view, the 19th century, particularly the [[Victorian era]], was a "mistake".

==Survey of the work==
The definitive editions (specifically ''At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels'', ''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', ''The Dunwich Horror and Others'', and ''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'') of his prose fiction are published by [[Arkham House]], a publisher originally started with the intent of publishing the work of Lovecraft, but which has since published a considerable amount of other literature as well.

Lovecraft's poetry is collected in ''The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft'', while much of his juvenilia, various essays on philosophical, political and literary topics, antiquarian travelogues, and other things, can be found in ''Miscellaneous Writings''. Also, Lovecraft's essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature'', first published in 1927, is a historical survey of horror literature available with endnotes as ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature''.

===Writing phases===
Lovecraft had three very distinct categories of fiction in which he wrote during his life. Although the groups' stories were often written in overlapping time periods with the other groups, there were still periods where almost all of Lovecraft's writings could be categorized in one of the below mentioned groups. It should be noted that these distinctions have been drawn by others and not by Lovecraft himself.
*[[Macabre]] stories (approximately 1905–1920)
*[[H.P. Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle|Dream-Cycle]] stories (approximately 1920–1927)
*[[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories (approximately 1925–1935)
It might also be noted that some critics see little difference between the Dream-Cycle and the Mythos, often pointing to the recurring Necronomicon and subsequent 'gods'. A frequently given explanation is that the Dream-Cycle belongs more to the genre of fantasy, while the Mythos is science fiction.

===Letters===
Despite the fact that Lovecraft is mostly known for his works of weird fiction, the bulk of Lovecraft's writing mainly consists of voluminous letters about a variety of topics, from weird fiction and art criticism to politics and history. S. T. Joshi estimates that Lovecraft wrote about 87,500 letters from 1912 until his death in 1937 — one famous letter from [[November 9]], [[1929]] to Woodburn Harris being 70 pages in length.

Lovecraft was not a very active letter-writer in youth. In 1931 he admitted: "In youth I scarcely did any letter-writing - thanking anybody for a present was so much of an ordeal that I would rather have written a two hundred fifty-line pastoral or a twenty-page treatise on the rings of Saturn." (SL 3.369–70). The initial interest in letters stemmed from his correspondence with his cousin Phillips Gamwell but even more important was his involvement in the amateur journalism movement, which was responsible for the enormous number of letters Lovecraft produced.

Lovecraft clearly states that his contact to numerous different people through letter-writing was one of the main factors in broadening his view of the world: "I found myself opened up to dozens of points of view which would otherwise never have occurred to me. My understanding and sympathies were enlarged, and many of my social, political, and economic views were modified as a consequence of increased knowledge." (SL 4.389).

Today there are four publishing houses that have released letters from Lovecraft — Arkham House with its five-volume edition ''Selected Letters'' being the most prominent. Other publishers are Hippocampus Press (''Letters to Alfred Galpin'' et al.), Night Shade Books (''Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei'' et al.) and Necronomicon Press (''Letters to Samuel Loveman and Vincent Starrett'' et al).

=== Copyrights ===

There is no little controversy over the [[copyright]] status of many of Lovecraft's works, especially his later works. All works published in the US before 1923 are [[public domain]]. However, there is some disagreement over who exactly owns or owned the copyrights and whether the copyrights for the majority of Lovecraft's works published post-1923 - including such prominent pieces as ''[[The Call of Cthulhu (Fiction)|The Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' - have now expired.

Questions center over whether copyrights for Lovecraft's works were ever renewed under the terms of the [[USA]] [[Copyright Act of 1976]] for works created prior to [[January 1]] [[1978]]. If Lovecraft's work had been renewed they would be eligible for protection for 75-95 years after the author's death according to the [[Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act]] of 1998. This means the copyrights would not expire on some of Lovecraft's works until 2019 at the earliest, providing that no further laws extend the periods of copyrights within the USA. Similarly, the [[European Union]] [[Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection]] of 1993 extended the copyrights to 70 years after the author's death.

In those [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]] countries who have implemented only the minimum copyright period, copyright expires 50 years after the author's death.

Lovecraft protégés and part owners of Arkham House, [[August Derleth]] and [[Donald Wandrei]] often claimed copyrights over Lovecraft's works. On [[October 9]], [[1947]] Derleth purchased all rights to ''[[Weird Tales]]''. However, since April 1926 at the latest, Lovecraft had reserved all second printing rights to stories published in ''Weird Tales''. Hence, ''Weird Tales'' may only have owned the rights to at most six of Lovecraft's tales. Again, even if Derleth did obtain the copyrights to Lovecraft's tales no evidence as yet has been found that the copyrights were renewed.[http://phantasmal.sourceforge.net/Innsmouth/LovecraftCopyright.html]

However, prominent Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi concludes in his biography, ''H.P. Lovecraft: A Life'', that Derleth's claims are "almost certainly fictitious" and that most of Lovecraft's works published in the amateur press are most likely now in the public domain. The copyright for Lovecraft's works would have been inherited by the only surviving heir of his 1912 will: Lovecraft's aunt, [[Annie Gamwell]]. Gamwell herself perished in 1941 and the copyrights then passed to her remaining descendents, [[Ethel Phillips Morrish]] and [[Edna Lewis]]. Morrish and Lewis then signed a document, sometimes referred to as the Morrish-Lewis gift, permitting [[Arkham House]] to republish Lovecraft's works but retaining the copyrights for themselves. Searches of the [[Library of Congress]] have failed to find any evidence that these copyrights were then renewed after the 28 year period and, hence, it is likely that these works are now in the public domain.

According to [[Peter Ruber]]'s (the current editor of Arkham House) essay, ''The Un-Demonizing of August Derleth'', certain letters obtained in June 1998 detail the Derleth-Wandrei acquisition of Lovecraft's estate. It is unclear whether these letters contradict Joshi's views on Lovecraft's copyrights.[http://www.epberglund.com/RGttCM/nightscapes/NS15/ns15nf01.htm]

It is also worth noting that [[Chaosium]], publishers of the [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu role-playing game]], have a [[trademark]] on the phrase "The Call of Cthulhu" for use in game products. Another RPG, [[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]], included in one of its earlier suppliments a section on the [[Cthulhu Mythos]]; they were forced to remove this from later editions because of Chaosium's trademark.

Regardless of the legal disagreements surrounding Lovecraft's works, Lovecraft himself was extremely generous with his own works and actively encouraged others to borrow ideas from his stories, particularly with regard to his Cthulhu Mythos. By "wide citation" he hoped to give his works an "air of verisimilitude" and actively encouraged other writers to reference his creations, such as the ''Necronomicon'', Cthulhu and [[Yog-Sothoth]]. After his death, many writers have contributed stories and enriched the shared mythology of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as making numerous references to his work (see [[References to the Cthulhu Mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]]).

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.
[[Image:Story.jpg|right|thumb||painted rendition of H.P. Lovecraft]]
''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S.T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

== Locations featured in Lovecraft stories ==
Lovecraft drew extensively from his native New England for settings in his fiction. Numerous real historical locations are mentioned, and several fictional New England locations make frequent appearances.

=== Historical locations ===
* [[Copp's Hill]], [[Boston, Massachusetts]]
* [[Red Line (MBTA)]]
* [[Cranston, Rhode Island|Pawtuxet]](not extant)
* Many locations within his hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], including the (then purportedly haunted) Halsey House, Prospect Terrace, and [[Brown University|Brown University's]] John Hay Library and John Carter Brown Library.

=== Fictional locations ===
* [[Miskatonic University]] in the fictional [[Arkham]], [[Massachusetts]]
* [[Innsmouth]]
* [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]]

== Bibliography ==
*[[List of Works by H. P. Lovecraft]]

==Books==

* McInnis, John L. (1975). ''H.P. Lovecraft: The maze and the minotaur''. (Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge).

*From [[Arkham House]]
**Definitive versions with corrected texts by [[S. T. Joshi]]:
***''At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels'' (7th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1985. ISBN 0-870-54038-6.
***''Dagon and Other Macabre Tales'', S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1987. ISBN 0-870-54039-4..
***''The Dunwich Horror and Others'' (9th corrected printing), S. T. Joshi (ed.), 1984. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
***''The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions'', S.T. Joshi (ed.), 1989. ISBN 0-87054-040-8.
**''[[Miscellaneous Writings]]'' (ISBN 0870541684)
*From [[Ballantine]]/[[Del Rey]]:
**''[[The Tomb and Other Tales]]'' (ISBN 0345336615)
**''[[Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos]]'' (ISBN 034542204)
**''[[The Doom That Came to Sarnath]]'' (ISBN 0345331052)
**''[[The Lurking Fear and Other Stories]]'' (ISBN 0345326040)
**''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]'' (ISBN 0345337794)
**''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]'' (ISBN 0345354907)
**''[[At the Mountains of Madness|At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 0345329457)
**''[[The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre]]'' (ISBN 0345350804)
**''[[The Road to Madness]]'' (ISBN 0345384229)
**''[[Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0345384210)
**''[[Waking Up Screaming: Haunting Tales of Terror]]'' (ISBN 034545829X)
*From [[Night Shade Books]]:
**''[[The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 1892389169)
**''[[Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei]]'' (ISBN 1892389495)
*From Hippocampus Press:
**''[[The Shadow out of Time]]'' (ISBN 0967321530)
**''[[From the Pest Zone: The New York Stories]]'' (ISBN 0967321581)
**''[[The Annotated Fungi From Yuggoth]]'' (ISBN 0972164472)
**''[[Collected Essays]]'' (ISBN 0972164413)
**''[[The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature]]'' (ISBN 0967321506 )
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters to Alfred Galpin]]'' (ISBN 096732159X)
**''[[H. P. Lovecraft: Letters To Rheinhart Kleiner]]'' (ISBN 0974878952)
**''[[Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue]]'' (ISBN 0967321573)
**''[[Primal Sources: Essays on H. P. Lovecraft]]'' (ISBN 0972164405)
**''[[An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia]]'' (ISBN 097487891X)

==Adaptations==

===Movies===



Films based (generally ''very'' loosely) on specific Lovecraft works (partial list only; see [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/ Lovecraft's IMDB entry] for a more complete selection):
*''Cool Air'' (1998), Adaptation by Bryan Moore starring Jack Donner ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200546/combined IMDb entry])
*''The Curse'' (1987) Adaptation of "[[The Colour out of Space]]" ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092809/ IMDb entry])
*''Dagon'' (2001), based less on Lovecraft's story of the same name as on ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264508/ IMDb entry])
*''Die, Monster, Die!'' (1965) (another adaptation of "The Colour out of Space") ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0059465/ IMDb entry])
*''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' (2003), an animated adaptation of the book by the same name ([http://www.petting-zoo.org/Movies_Dreamquest.html Official Site]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/ IMDb entry])
*''[[The Dunwich Horror]]'' (1970) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065669/ IMDb entry])
*''From Beyond'' (1986) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/ IMDb entry])
*''The Haunted Palace'' (1963), an adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://us.imdb.com/Title?0057128 IMDb entry])
*''Necronomicon'' (1994) Three short films based on his stories (The Rats in the Walls, Cool Air, The Whisperer in Darkness) ([http://imdb.com/title/tt0107664/ IMDb entry]) Curiously, this film depicts Lovecraft himself stealing the Necronomicon from some sort of religious order.
*''Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft'' (1998), Excellent Lovecraft sampler. Show on ''[[Bravo!]]'' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213968/combined IMDb entry]
*''[[Re-Animator]]'' (1985) Comedic adaptation of "''Herbert West, the Re-Animator''" which had two sequels ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089885/ IMDb entry])
*''The Resurrected'' (1992) Adaptation of ''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105242/ IMDb entry])
*''Rough Magik'' (2000), BBC pilot for a Call of Cthulhu show ala "X-Files" starring Paul Darrow ([http://www.lurkerfilms.com Available on DVD])
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (2005) Highly faithful adaptation of the short story; B/W, silent film, short film ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478988/ IMDb entry: Available on DVD])
*[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_mistero_di_Lovecraft_-_Road_to_L. ''Il mistero di Lovecraft - Road To L.''] (2005), feature film mockumentary based on a diary which states that Lovecraft was in Italy in 1926 ([http://www.roadtol.com Official Site]) ([http://www.rarovideo.com available on DVD here]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461331/ IMDb entry])

===Radio production===
*''The Call of Cthulhu'' (Broadcast in Tasmania, on Lovecraft's 100th birthday)
*''Jeffrey Combs reads Herbert West—Reanimator'' (Audio book CD by Beyond Books/Lurker Films)
*''At the Mountains of Madness'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Dunwich Horror'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Rats in the Walls'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)
*''The Shadow Over Innsmouth'' (Atlanta Radio Theater Company, www.artc.org)

==Lovecraft's influence in popular culture==
:''Main article: [[Lovecraftian horror]]''

Beyond direct adaptation, Lovecraft and his stories have had a profound (if sometimes indirect and unnoticed) impact on popular culture, and has been praised by many modern writers of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Much of his influence is secondary, as he was a friend, inspiration, and correspondent to many authors who would gain fame through their creations. He was a friend of [[Conan the Barbarian]] creator [[Robert E. Howard]]; [[Robert Bloch]], author of ''[[Psycho]]''; and [[Frank Belknap Long]], Lovecraft's biographer and contributor to the Mythos.

Many later creators of horror writing and films show influences from Lovecraft, including [[Clive Barker]], [[H. R. Giger]] and [[John Carpenter]]. Others, notably [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[August Derleth]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Fred Chappell]], [[Stephen King]], [[Alan Moore]], and [[Brian Lumley]], have written stories that are explicitly set in the same "universe" as Lovecraft's original stories. Videogames like [[Eternal Darkness]] show a great amount of influence from his work; others, like [[Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth]], are directly based on his job. Lovecraft [[pastiche]]s are common. For more examples of specific references to and uses of the Mythos in popular culture, see [[References to the Cthulhu mythos|References to the Cthulhu Mythos]].

Lovecraft's "universe" is so distinctive that he is an [[eponym]] for strange creatures and settings. ''Lovecraftian'' horror may mean a story that references the Mythos, or that is simply too bizarre to be classified as normal horror. Examples include beings with hideous and completely unnatural features (innumerable sets of [[eyes]], far too many limbs) or architecture or geography of ''inhuman'' or ''alien'' design (such as the city of R'lyeh, which makes exclusive use of curves in its architecture). Lovecraftian horror stands in contrast to the predominantly humanoid and [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] designs in mainstream horror and [[mythology]].

==Race, Class, and Sex==
The [[racist]], [[classist]] and [[sexist]] themes in much of Lovecraft's writing evoke strong reactions in many modern readers. Lovecraft was an avowed Anglophile, and may have held [[England|English]] culture to be the pinnacle of civilization, with the descendants of the English in America as something of a second-class offshoot, and everyone else below them (see, for example, his poem "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_American_to_Mother_England An American to Mother England]). Lovecraft's writing showed a distinct disinclination towards mixing with other ethnic groups, reverence for birth-issued social status, and a preference for traditional social roles for women.

Racial, ethnic, class, and sexual [[stereotype]]s are frequently encountered in Lovecraft's work. A typical example of this sentiment is found in the name of the black cat "Nigger-Man" in his tale ''[[The Rats in the Walls]]'', which was actually the name he gave to his real-life cat. The narrator in "The Rats in the Walls" expresses sentiments which could be considered hostile towards [[Jews]] (although several of Lovecraft's closer friends and correspondents were Jewish), [[Italians]], and [[Poles]]. Racist views can also be found in his poetry, particularly in ''On the Creation of Niggers,'' and ''New England Fallen'' (both 1912).

Contemporary critics have decried Lovecraft's presumed [[white supremacy|white supremicism]], particularly in the treatment of immigrants and [[African-American]]s. However, Lovecraft does not spare even northern European ethnic groups from his onslaught of negative ethnic stereotyping. The degenerate descendants of [[Dutch_people|Dutch]] immigrants in the [[Catskill Mountains]], "who correspond exactly to the decadent element of [[white trash]] in the [[Southern United States|South]]," (''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'', 1919) are common targets. ''The Temple'' presents a stereotypical arrogant and coldly murderous [[Prussia]]n aristocrat [[U-boat]] captain from [[World War I]] who makes frequent references to his "iron German will," supremely rational Prussian mental powers, and the insignificance of human life compared to the need to glorify the [[Fatherland]].

Perhaps the best example of his classist views can be found in the short story ''Cool Air'' (1926): the (presumably [[Anglo-Saxon]]) narrator speaks disparagingly of the poor [[Hispanic]]s of his neighborhood, but he worshipfully respects the wealthy and aristocratic [[Spaniard]] Dr. Muñoz, "a man of birth, cultivation, and discrimination."

Lovecraft drew upon the history of his own ethnic group for the environment of much of his work, and his love for Anglo-Saxon history and culture is often-times repeated in his work (such as King [[Kuranes]]' nostalgia for England in ''[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]''). Characteristically, this history is viewed sardonically.

A major Lovecraftian theme is the individual who finds that his lineage is accursed or interbred with a non-human strain. Important examples are ''Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family'' (1920), ''The Rats in the Walls'' (1923), and ''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' (1931). This theme may represent concerns relating to Lovecraft's own family history, particularly the death of his father due to what Lovecraft must have suspected to be a [[syphilis|syphilitic]] disorder.

Lovecraft expressed racist and ethnocentric beliefs in his personal correspondence and he gave a thorough summary of his views on race and culture in a letter to J. Vernon Shea written [[September 25]], 1933. This letter, 648, can be found in the book ''Selected Letters IV'' published by [[Arkham House]].

Women in Lovecraft's fiction are rare, and the few leading female characters in his stories often turn out to be agents of some evil, alien force. Paradoxically, Lovecraft married a [[Jewish]] woman of [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] ancestry, Sonia Greene. The marriage failed, and some commentators believe that the cause may have been shame felt by Lovecraft over his wife being essentially the breadwinner.

While the unapologetic frankness with which Lovecraft reveals his beliefs on race, class, and sex can often seem quite shocking to the early 21st century reader, the modern reader must bear in mind that these attitudes were not at all unusual during Lovecraft's lifetime. The [[eugenics]] movement, for example, was quite mainstream in the [[United States]] and most of [[Europe]] before [[World War II]], to the point where harsh eugenics policies were actually written into the law in many states. [[Racial segregation]] was still legally enforced throughout much of the United States. Very many prominent and powerful individuals in these times openly avowed attitudes similar to or even harsher than Lovecraft's.

==Further reading==
In the past few decades, the quantity of books ''about'' Lovecraft has increased considerably. Also, Lovecraft's stories themselves have enjoyed a veritable publishing renaissance in recent years. The titles mentioned below are a small sampling.

''Lovecraft, a Biography'', written by [[L. Sprague de Camp]], published in 1975, and now [[out of print]], was Lovecraft's first full-length biography. [[Frank Belknap Long]]'s ''Howard Phillips Lovecraft: Dreamer on the Night Side'' ([[Arkham House]], 1975) presents a more personal look at Lovecraft's life, combining reminiscence, biography, and literary criticism. Long was a friend and correspondent of Lovecraft, as well as a fellow fantasist who wrote a number of Lovecraft-influenced Cthulhu Mythos stories (including ''The Hounds of Tindalos''). A newer, more extensive biography is ''H. P. Lovecraft: A Life,'' written by Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]]. It was for a long time [[out of print]], but has recently been republished by [[Necronomicon Press]], with a new afterword by the author. Used copies of the first edition are rare. An adequate alternative is Joshi's abridged ''A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time''. Most recently, an English translation of [[Michel Houellebecq]]'s ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'' was published by Believer Books in 2005.

Other significant Lovecraft-related works are ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'' (informative but expensive) and ''Lovecraft's Library: A Catalogue'' (a meticulous listing of many of the books in Lovecraft's now scattered library), both by Joshi, and also ''Lovecraft at Last,'' an account by [[Willis Conover]] of his teenage correspondence with Lovecraft. For those interested in studying in detail Lovecraft's writings and philosophy, Joshi's ''A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' is useful both for the analysis it provides and for the thorough bibliography appended to it. [[Andrew Migliore]] and John Strysik's ''Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft'' and [[Charles P. Mitchell]]'s ''The Complete H. P. Lovecraft Filmography'' are both practicable for their discussion of films containing Lovecraftian elements (see [[H._P._Lovecraft#Adaptations|Adaptations]], below).

Lovecraft's prose fiction has been published numerous times, but, even ''after'' the "corrected texts" were released by Arkham House in the 1980s, many non-definitive collections of his stories have appeared, including Ballantine Books editions and, also, three popular Del Rey editions, which nonetheless have interesting introductions. The two collections published by Penguin, ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' and ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'', incorporate the modifications made in the corrected texts.

Many readers, when they first encounter Lovecraft's works, find his writing style difficult to read — owing, no doubt, to his fondness for adjectives, long paragraphs, and archaic diction. This characteristic style differs greatly from the fashion standards in literature of the early 21st century. Also, Lovecraft's early 20th century perspective yielded references in his works to objects and ideas that may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Some of Lovecraft's writings, however, are annotated with [[footnote]]s or [[endnote]]s. In addition to the Penguin editions mentioned above and ''The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature'', Joshi has produced ''The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'' as well as ''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', both of which are footnoted extensively.

Lastly, ''The Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft'' presents an excellent and extensive study of Lovecraft's use of language, which further reveals the depth of his writings.

==External links==
*[http://www.hplovecraft.com/ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive]
*[http://www.hplfilmfestival.com The HP Lovecraft Film Festival] - Annual film festival held in Portland Oregon
*[http://www.lurkerfilms.com Lurker Films] - Distributor of Lovecraft related films on DVD
*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net "The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List"] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
*[http://www.templeofdagon.com/ H. P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos Information and Forum]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/lexicon/ The Cthulhu Lexicon]
*[http://www.netherreal.de/library/timeline/ When the Stars are Right... (Cthulhu Mythos chronology)]
*[http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lovecraft.html Essay on Lovecraft by S. T. Joshi]
*[http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,1498708,00.html Extract from Michel Houellebecq's ''HP Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life'']
*[http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/ A number of stories by H.P. Lovecraft]
*[http://www.noveltynet.org/content/books/lovecraft/index.php The Complete (?) Works of H.P. Lovecraft in PDF format]
*[http://www.cthulhulives.org The HP Lovecraft Historical Society]
*[http://terror.org.pl/~darkeye/bookz/hor_lovecraft.html Library of Bookz - Biblioteka - Horror - H.P. Lovecraft - (Spiral of Life)]
*[http://www.rinf.com/e-books/HP-Lovecraft.html H.P. Lovecraft Ebooks]
*[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com Lovecraft Country]
* {{isfdb name|id=H._P._Lovecraft|name=H. P. Lovecraft}}

[[Category:Writers|Lovecraft, H. P.]]
[[Category:Historic:Authors|Lovecraft, H. P.]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

File:Story.jpg

2007-11-17T08:04:25Z

Mario94606: h.p lovecraft

h.p lovecraft

Yog-Sothoth

2007-11-17T07:58:27Z

Mario94606:

'''Yog-Sothoth''' (''The Key and the Gate'') is a [[fictional character]] in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] of [[H.P. Lovecraft]]. The being takes the form of a conglomeration of glowing spheres.
[[Image:Yog-sothoth.jpg|right|thumb|400px|]]
==Yog-Sothoth in the mythos==

Yog-Sothoth is an [[Outer God]] and is conterminous with ''all'' time and space, yet is supposedly locked outside of the universe that we inhabit.

Supposedly, Yog-Sothoth knows all and sees all, surpassing even [[Yibb-Tstll]] in wisdom. To "please" this deity could bring knowledge of many things. However, like most beings in the mythos, to see it or learn too much about it is to court disaster. Some authors state that the favour of the god requires a human sacrifice or eternal servitude.

==Avatars of Yog-Sothoth==

Yog-Sothoth has several different [[avatar]]s. Among them are:

* Aforgomon
* The Dweller on the Threshold 
* Tawil-at-U'mr

===Aforgomon===

'''Aforgomon''' an obscure avatar of Yog-Sothoth invented by [[Clark Ashton Smith]]. He was revered by many cultures past, present, and future as the God of Time because of his praeternatural ability to manipulate time and space. Little is known of this being's appearance because he only reveals himself to those who have angered him. However, it is known that he is accompanied by a blinding light. He is the mortal enemy of [[Xexanoth]].

===Tawil At-U'mr===

'''Tawil At-U'mr''' (''The Most Ancient and Prolonged of Life''), also spelt ''Umr at-Tawil'' or ''Tawil-at'Umr'', is an avatar of Yog-Sothoth and presides over the timeless halls beyond the Gate of the Silver Key and the strange, near-omnipotent ''Ancient Ones'' that dwell there. He is often described as the silhouette of a man behind a strange, shimmering veil. If this being chose to rend this veil, those who viewed that which lay beyond would be driven mad by the sight. Tawil at-U'mr is generally considered to be benevolent, in total contrast to the wrathful Aforgomon.

==Quotations==

<blockquote>
Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread.
 —H. P. Lovecraft, "[[The Dunwich Horror]]"
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
Imagination called up the shocking form of fabulous Yog-Sothoth – only a congeries of iridescent globes, yet stupendous in its malign suggestiveness.
 —H. P. Lovecraft, "[[The Horror in the Museum]]"
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
It was an All-in-One and One-in-All of limitless being and self – not merely a thing of one Space-Time continuum, but allied to the ultimate animating essence of existence’s whole unbounded sweep – the last, utter sweep which has no confines and which outreaches fancy and mathematics alike. It was perhaps that which certain secret cults of earth have whispered of as YOG-SOTHOTH, and which has been a deity under other names; that which the crustaceans of [[Yuggoth]] worship as the Beyond-One, and which the vaporous brains of the spiral nebulae know by an untranslatable Sign...
 —H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffman Price, "[[Through the Gates of the Silver Key]]"
</blockquote>

==References to Yog-Sothoth==


===Literary references===

* Yog-Sothoth plays a fairly large role in the ''[[Illuminatus!]]'' [[trilogy]] by [[Robert Anton Wilson]] and [[Robert Shea]].
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' [[novel]] ''[[Moving Pictures (novel)|Moving Pictures]]'', an "outerdimensional being" named "Yob Soddoth" is mentioned during a pre-exam drill being administered to [[Ponder Stibbons]] by his roommate Victor Tugelbend.
* [[Doctor Who spin-offs|Virgin Publishing's ''Doctor Who'' novels]] claim that a number of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' monsters are established Lovecraftian beings – in Yog-Sothoth's case, the [[Yeti (Doctor Who)|Great Intelligence]]. This is established in ''[[Virgin New Adventures|White Darkness]]'' by [[David McIntee]] and expanded upon in ''[[Virgin Missing Adventures|Millenial Rites]]'' by [[Craig Hinton]]
* The graffiti in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Needful Things]]'' (1991) proclaims "Yog-Sothoth Rules".

===Music references===

* [[Yog-Sothoth (band)|Yog-Sothoth]] is the name of a French free-form [[Jazz]] band whose music is similar to what one might expect to hear from the musician in the Lovecraft short story "[[The Music of Erich Zann]]".
* [[Mark E. Smith]], [[songwriter]] and [[lyricist]] of [[The Fall (band)|The Fall]], name checks Yog-Sothoth in the supernaturally-based song "Spectre vs. Rector" (1979).
* "Yog Sototh" is a song by [[Nembrionic|Nembrionic Hammerdeath]] on the ''Themes of an Occult Theory'' [[Extended play|EP]].
* [[Kai Althoff]]'s band [[Workshop]] titles their 2004 release ''Yog Sototh''.
*[[Electric Wizard]]'s "[[Supercoven]]" makes reference to Yog-Sothoth

===Other media===

* Yog Sothoth is referred to in an episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]'' entitled "Big Trouble in Billy's Basement" in which Billy sneaks a peek at one of Grim's books of dark magic, ends up becoming a minion of Yog-Sothoth, and tries to summon "his master".

* A [[fansite]] for the ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' [[role-playing game]] is titled [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/ yog-sothoth.com]

==External links==

*[http://lovecraft.cjb.net The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List] - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.



{{horror-stub}}

[[de:Yog-Sothoth]]
[[ko:요그-쇼토스]]
[[ja:ヨグ＝ソトース]]
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[[zh:犹格·索托斯]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

[[Category:Outer Gods]]

File:Yog-sothoth.jpg

2007-11-17T07:55:06Z

Mario94606: jelly, blob-like slime creature

jelly, blob-like slime creature

Shub-Niggurath

2007-11-17T07:48:01Z

Mario94606:

Shub-Niggurath

2007-11-17T07:44:59Z

Mario94606: /* References */

'''Shub-Niggurath''' (''The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young'') is a fictional deity in the [[Cthulhu mythos]] of [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. The being first appeared in Lovecraft's revision story "The Last Test" ([[1928 in literature|1928]]); however, in Lovecraft's fiction, she is never actually described, but is frequently mentioned or called upon in incantations. Shub-Niggurath also appears in the works of other mythos authors, including [[August Derleth]], [[Lin Carter]], and [[Brian Lumley]].

==Shub-Niggurath in the mythos==

Shub-Niggurath is an [[Outer God]] in the pantheon. She is a perverse [[Mother Goddess|fertility deity]] said to appear as an enormous cloudy mass which extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. Small creatures are spat forth, which are either reconsumed into the [[miasma theory of disease|miasmatic]] form or escape to some monstrous life elsewhere.

===Cult===

<blockquote>
One squat, black temple of [[Tsathoggua]] was encountered, but it had been turned into a shrine of Shub-Niggurath, the All-Mother and wife of the Not-to-Be-Named-One. This deity was a kind of sophisticated [[Astarte]], and her worship struck the pious [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] as supremely obnoxious.
 —H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, "The Mound"
</blockquote>

Of all the mythos deities, Shub-Niggurath is probably the most extensively worshiped. Her worshipers include the [[Hyperborean_cycle|Hyperboreans]], the [[Mu_(Cthulhu_mythos)|Muvians]], and the people of [[The_Doom_That_Came_to_Sarnath|Sarnath]], as well as any number of [[Druid|druidic]] and [[Barbarian|barbaric]] cults. She is also worshiped by the non-human species of the mythos, such as the "Fungi from [[Yuggoth]]" (the [[Mi-Go]]) and the [[Cthulhu mythos celestial bodies#Yaddith|Nug-Soth of Yaddith]]. <ref>Harms, "Shub-Niggurath", ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'', pp. 275.</ref>

With the proper [[occult]] paraphernalia, Shub-Niggurath can be summoned to any woodlands at the time of the [[new moon]]. However, the place from whence she comes is not known. One possibility is that she dwells at the court of [[Azathoth]] at the center of the universe. She may also live beneath the planet Yaddith, where she is served by the [[Dhole (Cthulhu mythos)|Dholes]]. It is also possible that she lives in another [[dimension]] altogether. <ref>Harms, ''The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana'', pp. 275.</ref>

===Progenies===

<blockquote>
''Iä! Iä! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat [of the Woods] with a Thousand Young!''
 —H.P. Lovecraft, "The Dreams in the Witch House"
 —H.P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"
 —H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald, "The Man of Stone"
</blockquote>

Shub-Niggurath is believed to have mated with [[Hastur]] to produce the beings [[Ithaqua]], [[Zhar (Great Old One)|Zhar and Lloigor]], and an unnamed triplet of the latter. Hastur may also be the father of her "Thousand Young" or "Dark Young", though there is a good chance that they were spawned by fission. She may possibly have mated with [[Yog-Sothoth]] to produce [[Great_Old_One_compendium#Nug_and_Yeb|Nug and Yeb]] (though their father is more likely Hastur), and even [[Great_Old_One_compendium#Yig|Yig]] to produce [[Byatis]] (which is debatable since some believe her to be Yig's mother, though he may be the offspring of [[Mappo no Ryûjin]]).

==Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath==

<blockquote>
Something black in the road, something that wasn't a tree. Something big and black and ropy, just squatting there, waiting, with ropy arms squirming and reaching. . . It came crawling up the hillside. . . and it was the black thing of my dreams – that black, ropy, slime jelly tree-thing out of the woods. It crawled up and it flowed up on its hoofs and mouths and snaky arms.
 —[[Robert Bloch]], "Notebook Found in a Deserted House"
</blockquote>

The '''Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath''' are horrifying, pitch-black monstrosities, seemingly made of ropy tentacles. They stand as tall as a tree (perhaps between twelve and twenty feet tall) on a pair of stumpy, hooved legs. A mass of tentacles protudes from their trunks where a head would normally be, and puckered maws, dripping green goo, cover their flanks. The monsters roughly resemble trees in silhouette — the trunks being the short legs and the tops of the trees represented by the ropy, branching bodies. The whole mass of these things smells like an open grave. They usually dwell in woodlands wherever Shub-Niggurath's cult is active.

The Dark Young are usually called upon to preside over cult ceremonies. One means for summoning them is found in the ''[[Cthulhu_mythos_arcane_literature#Book_of_Eibon|Book of Eibon]]'' and requires a blood offering. The ritual may only be performed in the deep of the woodlands at the darkest of the moon, and the victim must be sacrificed over a stone altar.

Dark young act as proxies for Shub-Niggurath in the accepting of sacrifices and the worship of cultists, in the devouring of non-cultists, and in the spreading of their mother's faith across the world.

==Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath==

The '''gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath''' is the name given to the favored, once-human worshipers of Shub-Niggurath. When the deity deems a worshiper to be most worthy, a special ceremony is held in which the Black Goat of the Woods swallows the initiate and then regurgitates the cultist as a transformed [[satyr]]-like being. A changed worshiper is also endowed with immortal life. <ref>Campbell, "The Moon-Lens", ''Cold Print''.</ref>

==The Black Goat==

Although Shub-Niggurath is often associated with the epithet ''The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young'', it is possible that the ''Black Goat'' is a separate entity. Rodolfo Ferraresi, in his essay "The Question of Shub-Niggurath", says that Lovecraft himself separated the two in his writings, such as in "Out of the Aeons" ([[1935 in literature|1935]]) in which a distinction is made between Shub-Niggurath and the Black Goat — the goat is the figurehead through which Shub-Niggurath is worshipped. The most persuasive distinction, however, is the depiction of the Black Goat as a male, most notably in the rite performed in "[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]" ([[1931 in literature|1931]]) in which the Black Goat is called the "Lord of the Woods".

The Black Goat may be the personification of [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]], since Lovecraft was influenced by [[Arthur Machen]]'s ''[[The Great God Pan]]'' ([[1890 in literature|1890]]), a story that probably inspired Lovecraft's "[[The Dunwich Horror]]" ([[1929 in literature|1929]]). In this incarnation, the Black Goat may represent [[Satan]] in the form of the [[satyr]], a half-man, half-goat. In folklore, the satyr symbolized a man with excessive sexual apetites. The Black Goat may otherwise be a male, earthly form of Shub-Niggurath — an incarnation she assumes to copulate with her worshipers. <ref>Ferraresi, "The Question of Shub-Niggurath", ''Crypt of Cthulhu #35'', pp. 17–8, 22.</ref>

==Appearances in other fiction==

Both [[Stephen King]] and [[Terry Pratchett]] have referenced Shub-Niggurath in their works. Terry Pratchett parodies Lovecraftian gods, referring to them as the things from the "[[Dungeon Dimensions]]". For example, in Pratchett's ''[[Moving Pictures (novel)|Moving Pictures]]'', the being "Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with A Million Young" kills its victims by showing them pictures of its children until their brains implode.

Some of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Doctor Who spin-offs#original fiction|spin-off novels]] have identified the Nestene Consciousness (the being which animates the [[Auton]]s) as one of the offspring of Shub-Niggurath. The connection was first drawn in ''Millennial Rites'' by [[Craig Hinton]], and has been followed up in other appearances of the Consciousness in the novels.

==Other appearances==

* A Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath is the [[boss (video game)|final adversary]] of the [[first-person shooter]] [[computer game]] ''[[Quake]]''.

* Shub-Niggurath makes an appearance as the main villain in the online PC game ''Arcane 2: The Stone Circle''.

* In ''[[Bruno the Bandit]]'', one of the denizens of the demon world is "Shub-Megawrath", a goat-like blob creature with a thousand children (1001, if you count the croatoan clone of Bruno she created). The character is meant to be another of the Lovecraft references that occasionally pepper the strip.

* Shub-Niggurath is the name of a French band.

* Shub-Niggurath is the name of an old Mexican black/death metal band (albums: ''Horror Creatures'' Demo, 1990; ''Unknown Adorer'' EP, 1991; ''Blasphemies Of Nether World'' EP, 1992; ''The Black Goatlike Arise'' Demo, 1993; ''Evilness And Darkness Prevails'' Full-length, 1994; ''The Kinglike Celebration (Final Aeon on Earth)'' Full-length, 1997).

* Shub-Niggurath is mentioned by the band [[Morbid Angel]] in their song "Angel of Disease".

===Footnotes===
<references/>

==External links==
{{Wikisourcepar|The Whisperer in Darkness}}
* [http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/dreamswitchhouse.htm "The Dreams in the Witch House" by H.P. Lovecraft]

* [http://terror.snm-hgkz.ch/lovecraft/html/stone.htm "The Man of Stone" by H.P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald]

* [http://www.sockpuppet.org/~tyme/lovecraft/works/rev/mound.htm "The Mound" by H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop]

* [http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/thewhispererindarkness.htm "The Whisperer in Darkness" by H.P. Lovecraft]

==Further reading==

* Gaiman, Neil. "Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" (1998 - first published in "The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy" Mike Ashley (ed.), Robinson Publishing.) republished DreamHaven Books, ill. Koponen, Jouni 2004. ISBN 1-892058-07-3.
:—"On the seafront were three bed-and-breakfasts next to each other: Sea View, Mon Repose and Shub Niggurath, each with a neon VACANCIES sign turned off in the window of the front parlour, each with a CLOSED FOR THE SEASON notice thumbtacked to the front door", pp. 04.

[[Category:Outer Gods]]

File:Shub-Niggurath.jpg

2007-11-17T07:39:45Z

Mario94606: Artistic portrayal of Shub-Niggurath, along with her "Thousand Young".

Artistic portrayal of Shub-Niggurath, along with her "Thousand Young".

Chaosium

2007-11-17T07:17:03Z

Mario94606:

'''Chaosium''' is one of the longer lived publishers of [[role-playing game]]s still in existence. Originally founded by [[Greg Stafford]], its first game was actually a wargame, [[White Bear and Red Moon]], which later mutated into [[Dragon Pass]] and its sequel, [[Nomad Gods]]. [[White Bear and Red Moon]] is notable for containing the first published material about [[Glorantha]], later immortalized as the primary setting for the [[role-playing game]] [[RuneQuest]] and, now, [[Hero Wars]].

The rules of [[RuneQuest]], Chaosium's first role-playing game, were distilled down into a generic, genre-agnostic format known as [[Basic Role-Playing]] ([[BRP]]). These generic rules formed the basis of many, if not most, of Chaosium's later RPGs, such as [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu]], [[Stormbringer]], [[Nephilim (RPG)|Nephilim]], and [[RingworldRPG|Ringworld]].

Chaosium and [[Greg Stafford]] are also responsible for [[Pendragon]], an Arthurian RPG now published by [[Green Knight Publishing]]. Other games of note include [[Mythos (role-playing game)|Mythos]], [[Elfquest]], [[Worlds of Wonder]], [[Superworld]], [[Hawkmoon]], and the frequently forgotten [[Prince Valiant]].

Some Chaosium products have been translated into [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Italian language|Italian]], and were available in [[France]] from [[Jeux Descartes]], in [[Germany]] from [[Pegasus Press]], in [[Spain]] from [[La factoría de ideas]] and in [[Italy]] from ''Stratelibri'' and ''Grifo Edizioni''. [[Call of Cthulhu role-playing game|Call of Cthulhu]]'s Quickstart Rules were translated to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and distributed free by [[The Orc Magazine]].

In the mid-[[1980s]], Chaosium entered into a complex arrangement with [[Avalon Hill]] to publish [[RuneQuest]] material while Chaosium maintained editorial control over Glorantha-based material for the game (which Avalon Hill would publish). While this agreement reportedly kept the company in existence, it also left RuneQuest moribund, leading to products of questionable quality, long gaps with no products published at all, and, eventually, the death of the game altogether.

In the late [[1990s]], Chaosium effectively split up into various successor companies, each maintaining its focus on a few of the company's products. [[Green Knight Publishing]] formed to focus on [[Pendragon RPG|Pendragon]], Chaosium "proper" retained Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and Mythos, while [[Greg Stafford]] founded [[Issaries]] to publish [[Hero Wars|Hero Quest]] and focus on bringing new [[Glorantha]] related material into print. Also, [[Wizard's Attic]] was formed in order to act as a fulfillment house.

== Call of Cthulhu fiction ==
*''The [[Hastur]] Cycle.''
*''Mysteries of the Worm: New Second Edition, Revised & Expanded by [[Robert Bloch]].''
*''Cthulhu's Heirs.''
*''[[Shub Niggurath]] Cycle: She who is to come.''
*''Encyclopedia Cthulhiana.''
*''The [[Azathoth]] Cycle: the Blind Idiot God.''
*''The Book of Iod: The Eaters of Souls & other tales By Henry Kuttner.''
*''Made in Goatswood: New Tales of Horror in the Severn Valley.''
*''The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods Wait.''
*''The [[Cthulhu]] Cycle.''
*''the Disciples of [[Cthulhu]] Second Revived Edition.''
*''The [[Necronomicon]]: Selected Stories and Essays.''
*''[[The Xothic Legend Cycle: The Complete Mythos Fiction of Lin Carter]]''
*''Singers of Strange Songs.''
*''Scroll of Thoth: Simon Magnus and the Great Old Ones.''
*''The Complete Pegana by [[Lord Dunsany]]''
*''The [[Innsmouth]] Cycle.''
*''The [[Nyarlathotep]]Cycle.''
*''Tales Out of [[Innsmouth]]. ''
*''The [[Ithaqua]] Cycle.''
*''The Yellow Signs and Other Stories: the Complete Weird Tales of [[Robert W. Chambers]].''
*''The Book of Eibon''
*''Book of Dyzan''
*''Nameless Cults: the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] Fiction of [[Robert E. Howard]]''
*''The [[Tsathoggua]] Cycle''
*''The Antarktos Cycle: [[At the Mountains of Madness]] and other Chilling Tales''
*''Song of Cthulhu: Tales of the Sphere Beyond Sound''
*''The Disciples of Cthulhu II: Blasphemous Tales of the Followers''
*''[[The Three Impostors]] & other stories vol.1 of the best weird tales of [[Arthur Machen]]''
*''[[The White People]] & Others Stories vol.2 of the best weird tales of [[Arthur Machen]]''
*''The Terror & Others Stories vol.3 of the best weird tales of [[Arthur Machen]]''
*''[[Arkham]] Tales''
*''[[The Spiraling Worm]]''
*''Frontier Cthulhu''
*''The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson: Horripilating Tales of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] ''

== External links ==

* [http://www.chaosium.com Chaosium's official website]

[[Category:Publishers]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

Lovecraft Country

2007-11-17T06:59:26Z

Mario94606:

'''Lovecraft Country''' is the [[New England]] setting, combining real and fictitious locations, used by [[H.P. Lovecraft]] in many of his [[weird fiction]] stories, and later elaborated by other writers working in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] genre. The term was popularized by [[Chaosium]], the producers of the Lovecraftian [[role-playing game]] [[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]. Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] refers to the area as the '''"Miskatonic region"''', after its fictional [[Miskatonic River|river]] and [[Miskatonic University|university]], <ref>''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', S.T. Joshi and Peter Cannon</ref> while Lovecraft biographer Lin Carter calls it '''Miskatonic County''', <ref>''[[Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos]]'', Lin Carter</ref> though Lovecraft indicates that at least some of his fictional towns were located in the real-life [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex County]] of [[Massachusetts]].<ref>See "Shadow Over Innsmouth", "Dreams in the Witch House".</ref>

In its 1998 supplement ''Dead Reckonings'', Chaosium defined Lovecraft Country as "a land located in the northeast of [[Massachusetts]]. The most important portion stretches along the [[Miskatonic River]] valley, from [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]] in the far west to where it enters the [[Atlantic Ocean]] between [[Arkham]], [[Kingsport (Lovecraft)|Kingsport]], and Martin's Beach."<ref>''Dead Reckonings'', Kevin Ross & Shannon Appel eds.</ref> If one were to replace Martin's Beach with another seaside town, [[Innsmouth]], one would have a list of the most significant locations in Lovecraft Country.

Sometimes the phrase is used in a more inclusive sense, encompassing not only northeastern Massachusetts but also the southern hills of [[Vermont]] (the setting of "[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]") as well as Lovecraft's hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], where he set such works as ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''. A Geocities page titled "My Lovecraft Pilgrimage" refers to Providence as "the center of 'Lovecraft Country'". <ref>[http://www.geocities.com/thastygliax/hplprov.html My Lovecraft Pilgrimage]</ref>

==Lovecraft's fiction==

Lovecraft first used a New England setting for the [[1920 in literature|1920]] short story "[[The Terrible Old Man]]", set in Kingsport. In the story that first mentions both Arkham and the Miskatonic Valley, "[[The Picture in the House]]" (written later in 1920), Lovecraft wrote that "the true epicure of the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteem most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous."

In a 1930 letter to [[Robert E. Howard]], Lovecraft attempted to explain his fascination with New England as a setting for weird fiction: "It is the night-black [[Massachusetts]] legendary which packs the really macabre 'kick'. Here is material for a really profound study in group neuroticism; for certainly, none can deny the existence of a profoundly morbid streak in the Puritan imagination." <ref>''The Annotated Lovecraft'', Joshi and Cannon, p. 2</ref>

Lovecraft first mentioned Arkham's [[Miskatonic University]] in ''[[Herbert West: Reanimator]]'', written in 1921-1922. He added Dunwich to his imaginary landscape in 1928's "[[The Dunwich Horror]]",<ref>[http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=70 ''The Dunwich Horror,'' by H. P. Lovecraft.] Lovecraft's original story featuring Dunwich.</ref> and expanded it to include Innsmouth in 1931's "[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]".<ref>[http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=75 ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth,'' by H. P. Lovecraft.] Lovecraft's original story featuring Innsmouth.</ref>

Other Lovecraft stories that make use of Lovecraft Country settings include "[[The Festival]]", "[[The Colour out of Space]]", "[[The Strange High House in the Mist]]", "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]", and "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]".

==Derleth's additions==

[[August Derleth]], Lovecraft's friend and literary executor, discouraged other Cthulhu Mythos writers from setting their stories in Lovecraft's New England. But he himself attempted to fill in the blanks of the setting, particularly in his posthumous "collaborations" with Lovecraft — Derleth's stories based on notes or ideas that Lovecraft left behind.

"[[The Lurker at the Threshold]]" is set in Billington's Wood, a forest north of Arkham, while "Witch's Hollow" takes place in the titular valley in the hills to the west of the town. The title of "The Fisherman of Falcon Point" refers to a promontory on the Atlantic coast south of Innsmouth. "Wentworth's Day" and "The Horror from the Middle Span" take place in the area north of Dunwich, while "The Gable Window" concerns a house on the Aylesbury Pike.

==Roleplaying games==

Between 1990 and 1998, Chaosium released a number of Lovecraft Country gamebooks. Most were background supplements which codified descriptions of Lovecraft's named cities, but there were also a number of adventure books. These included:

* ''Arkham Unveiled'' (1990)
* ''Return to Dunwich'' (1991)
* ''Kingsport: The City in the Mist'' (1991)
* ''Escape from Innsmouth'' (1992)
* ''Adventures in Arkham Country'' (1993)
* ''Miskatonic University'' (1994)
* ''Tales of the Miskatonic Valley''
* ''Dead Reckonings'' (1998)
* ''Before the Fall'' (1998)
* ''Children of the Deep'' (unreleased)

Since 1998, the Lovecraft Country name seems to have fallen out of use at Chaosium, though some of the books have been rereleased in the 2000s (''H.P. Lovecraft's Dunwich'', ''H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham'', and ''H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport'').

[[Skotos]], an online game company, has licensed Chaosium's Lovecraft Country material. They have produced two games, ''Lovecraft Country: The Tomb of the Desert God'' and ''Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night'', as well as a comic, ''Lovecraft Country: Return to Arkham'', written by Shannon Appelcline.<ref>[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com/comic/ Skotos: Lovecraft Country]</ref>

==Other uses==

The phrase ''Lovecraft Country'' is now used outside of the Cthulhu gaming community. ''Return to Lovecraft Country'' was a collection of short stories set in "the New England of H.P. Lovecraft", published by Triad Entertainments in 1996. The editor, Scott David Aniolowski, has also done editorial work for Chaosium. ''Eternal Lovecraft'', a short-story collection published by Golden Gryphon Press in 1998, has a section called "Lovecraft Country".

The phrase occurs in popular discussions of Lovecraft's connection to the region. The Harvard Law School ''Record'' used the phrase in an October 20, 2005 article:

:Many Lovecraft stories take place in "Lovecraft Country"--the fictional North Shore towns of Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and Dunwich (perhaps fictional equivalents of Ipswitch, Salem/Danvers, Marblehead, or Newburyport).<ref>[http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/paper609/news/2005/10/20/Opinion/Spirit.Of.Lovecraft.Haunts.Cambridge.New.England-1028731.shtml?sourcedomain=www.hlrecord.org&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com "Spirit of Lovecraft Haunts Cambridge, New England", Dan Alban, ''The Record'', October 20, 2005]</ref>

==Notes==

<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.baharna.com/cmythos/newengl.htm "A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England"], from The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide
* [http://chaosium.com/callofcthulhu/lcountry.html Chaosium's (empty) Lovecraft Country Page]
* [http://www.lovecraftcountry.com/ Skotos' Lovecraft Country Game Pages]
* ''Return to Lovecraft Country'' Book (ISBN 1-57502-535-3)
* ''Eternal Lovecraft'' Book (ISBN 0-9655901-7-8)
* [http://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/sites/ Lovecraftian Sites in New England]

[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos locations]]
[[Category:Fictional regions]]
[[Category:Massachusetts in fiction]]
[[Category:Skotos games]]

Lovecraft Country

2007-11-17T06:42:16Z

Mario94606:

'''Lovecraft Country''' is the [[New England]] setting, combining real and fictitious locations, used by [[H. P. Lovecraft]] in many of his [[weird fiction]] stories, and later elaborated by other writers working in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] genre. The term was popularized by [[Chaosium]], the producers of the Lovecraftian [[role-playing game]] [[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]. Lovecraft scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] refers to the area as the '''"Miskatonic region"''', after its fictional [[Miskatonic River|river]] and [[Miskatonic University|university]], <ref>''More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft'', S.T. Joshi and Peter Cannon</ref> while Lovecraft biographer Lin Carter calls it '''Miskatonic County''', <ref>''[[Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Cthulhu Mythos]]'', Lin Carter</ref> though Lovecraft indicates that at least some of his fictional towns were located in the real-life [[Essex County, Massachusetts|Essex County]] of [[Massachusetts]].<ref>See "Shadow Over Innsmouth", "Dreams in the Witch House".</ref>

In its 1998 supplement ''Dead Reckonings'', Chaosium defined Lovecraft Country as "a land located in the northeast of [[Massachusetts]]. The most important portion stretches along the [[Miskatonic River]] valley, from [[Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)|Dunwich]] in the far west to where it enters the [[Atlantic Ocean]] between [[Arkham]], [[Kingsport (Lovecraft)|Kingsport]], and Martin's Beach."<ref>''Dead Reckonings'', Kevin Ross & Shannon Appel eds.</ref> If one were to replace Martin's Beach with another seaside town, [[Innsmouth]], one would have a list of the most significant locations in Lovecraft Country.

Sometimes the phrase is used in a more inclusive sense, encompassing not only northeastern Massachusetts but also the southern hills of [[Vermont]] (the setting of "[[The Whisperer in Darkness]]") as well as Lovecraft's hometown of [[Providence, Rhode Island]], where he set such works as ''[[The Case of Charles Dexter Ward]]''. A Geocities page titled "My Lovecraft Pilgrimage" refers to Providence as "the center of 'Lovecraft Country'". <ref>[http://www.geocities.com/thastygliax/hplprov.html My Lovecraft Pilgrimage]</ref>

==Lovecraft's fiction==

Lovecraft first used a New England setting for the [[1920 in literature|1920]] short story "[[The Terrible Old Man]]", set in Kingsport. In the story that first mentions both Arkham and the Miskatonic Valley, "[[The Picture in the House]]" (written later in 1920), Lovecraft wrote that "the true epicure of the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteem most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous."

In a 1930 letter to [[Robert E. Howard]], Lovecraft attempted to explain his fascination with New England as a setting for weird fiction: "It is the night-black [[Massachusetts]] legendary which packs the really macabre 'kick'. Here is material for a really profound study in group neuroticism; for certainly, none can deny the existence of a profoundly morbid streak in the Puritan imagination." <ref>''The Annotated Lovecraft'', Joshi and Cannon, p. 2</ref>

Lovecraft first mentioned Arkham's [[Miskatonic University]] in ''[[Herbert West: Reanimator]]'', written in 1921-1922. He added Dunwich to his imaginary landscape in 1928's "[[The Dunwich Horror]]",<ref>[http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=70 ''The Dunwich Horror,'' by H. P. Lovecraft.] Lovecraft's original story featuring Dunwich.</ref> and expanded it to include Innsmouth in 1931's "[[The Shadow Over Innsmouth]]".<ref>[http://www.mythostomes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=75 ''The Shadow Over Innsmouth,'' by H. P. Lovecraft.] Lovecraft's original story featuring Innsmouth.</ref>

Other Lovecraft stories that make use of Lovecraft Country settings include "[[The Festival]]", "[[The Colour out of Space]]", "[[The Strange High House in the Mist]]", "[[The Dreams in the Witch House]]", and "[[The Thing on the Doorstep]]".

==Derleth's additions==

[[August Derleth]], Lovecraft's friend and literary executor, discouraged other Cthulhu Mythos writers from setting their stories in Lovecraft's New England. But he himself attempted to fill in the blanks of the setting, particularly in his posthumous "collaborations" with Lovecraft — Derleth's stories based on notes or ideas that Lovecraft left behind.

"[[The Lurker at the Threshold]]" is set in Billington's Wood, a forest north of Arkham, while "Witch's Hollow" takes place in the titular valley in the hills to the west of the town. The title of "The Fisherman of Falcon Point" refers to a promontory on the Atlantic coast south of Innsmouth. "Wentworth's Day" and "The Horror from the Middle Span" take place in the area north of Dunwich, while "The Gable Window" concerns a house on the Aylesbury Pike.

==Roleplaying games==

Between 1990 and 1998, Chaosium released a number of Lovecraft Country gamebooks. Most were background supplements which codified descriptions of Lovecraft's named cities, but there were also a number of adventure books. These included:

* ''Arkham Unveiled'' (1990)
* ''Return to Dunwich'' (1991)
* ''Kingsport: The City in the Mist'' (1991)
* ''Escape from Innsmouth'' (1992)
* ''Adventures in Arkham Country'' (1993)
* ''Miskatonic University'' (1994)
* ''Tales of the Miskatonic Valley''
* ''Dead Reckonings'' (1998)
* ''Before the Fall'' (1998)
* ''Children of the Deep'' (unreleased)

Since 1998, the Lovecraft Country name seems to have fallen out of use at Chaosium, though some of the books have been rereleased in the 2000s (''H.P. Lovecraft's Dunwich'', ''H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham'', and ''H.P. Lovecraft's Kingsport'').

[[Skotos]], an online game company, has licensed Chaosium's Lovecraft Country material. They have produced two games, ''Lovecraft Country: The Tomb of the Desert God'' and ''Lovecraft Country: Arkham by Night'', as well as a comic, ''Lovecraft Country: Return to Arkham'', written by Shannon Appelcline.<ref>[http://www.lovecraftcountry.com/comic/ Skotos: Lovecraft Country]</ref>

==Other uses==

The phrase ''Lovecraft Country'' is now used outside of the Cthulhu gaming community. ''Return to Lovecraft Country'' was a collection of short stories set in "the New England of H.P. Lovecraft", published by Triad Entertainments in 1996. The editor, Scott David Aniolowski, has also done editorial work for Chaosium. ''Eternal Lovecraft'', a short-story collection published by Golden Gryphon Press in 1998, has a section called "Lovecraft Country".

The phrase occurs in popular discussions of Lovecraft's connection to the region. The Harvard Law School ''Record'' used the phrase in an October 20, 2005 article:

:Many Lovecraft stories take place in "Lovecraft Country"--the fictional North Shore towns of Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and Dunwich (perhaps fictional equivalents of Ipswitch, Salem/Danvers, Marblehead, or Newburyport).<ref>[http://media.www.hlrecord.org/media/paper609/news/2005/10/20/Opinion/Spirit.Of.Lovecraft.Haunts.Cambridge.New.England-1028731.shtml?sourcedomain=www.hlrecord.org&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com "Spirit of Lovecraft Haunts Cambridge, New England", Dan Alban, ''The Record'', October 20, 2005]</ref>

==Notes==

<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.baharna.com/cmythos/newengl.htm "A Short Tour of Lovecraftian New England"], from The Cthulhu Mythos: A Guide
* [http://chaosium.com/callofcthulhu/lcountry.html Chaosium's (empty) Lovecraft Country Page]
* [http://www.lovecraftcountry.com/ Skotos' Lovecraft Country Game Pages]
* ''Return to Lovecraft Country'' Book (ISBN 1-57502-535-3)
* ''Eternal Lovecraft'' Book (ISBN 0-9655901-7-8)
* [http://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/sites/ Lovecraftian Sites in New England]

[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos locations]]
[[Category:Fictional regions]]
[[Category:Massachusetts in fiction]]
[[Category:Skotos games]]