H.P. Lovecraft died 75 years ago today. His obituary follows (hat tip to Unspeakable Gibberer). In the comments below, let us know what Lovecraft and his themes mean to you, tell us what Lovecraftian-themed book you’ve read lately, or just say whatever you would like. For my part, I’d just like to say thanks. Thanks, HPL, for being true to yourself.
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Funeral services for Howard Phillip Lovecraft, student and writer of fiction, who died yesterday at Jane Brown Memorial Hospital, will be held Thursday at 12 o’clock in the chapel of Horace B. Knowles’s Sons, 187 Benefit Street. Burial will be in the family plot in Swan Point Cemetery. He was 46.
Born in this city, Aug. 20, 1890, the only child of the late Winfield S. and Sarah P. Lovecraft, Mr. Lovecraft from early life was handicapped by poor health. Essentially a student and an omnivorous reader, he was able to take his place only from time to time in regular school classrooms with children of his own age but graduated from Hope Street high school and secured the equivalent of a college education from private tutors.
His early recourse to the library of his grandfather , Whipple V. Phillips, at 454 Angell street in which he was turned loose to browse at will gave him the bend toward weird writing which was his hobby. In his autobiographs, which he wrote up to the day before he was admitted to the hospital last month, he related the importance to his life of the fairy tales and classical tales he read but six years of age.
Besides his interest in the supernatural, he was a constant student of genealogy and of astronomy, and at one time, wrote a newspaper column on the latter subject. His days and nights for years were spent in writing in the library at 86 College Street, where he lived, in recent years, with his aunt, Mrs. Phillips Camwell, his sole survivor. As he neared the end of his life, he turned his scholarly interests to a study of his own physical condition and daily wrote minutely of his case for his physician’s assistance. His clinical notes ended only when he could no longer hold a pencil.
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I was introduced to Lovecraft at age 6 through a combination of my older brother, and a movie adaptation of “The Dunwich Horror.” The movie inspired in me nightmares that were so unspeakable and horrific, that I got taken to the hospital in the middle of the night. I was diagnosed with a “minor heart attack”(I was a sickly child with a heart murmur). From that moment on I was obsessed with the works of this great author. I have since become an artist and many of my works are very inspired by his dark visions.
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I was intoruced to Lovecraft when I was 12 and first read the overwhelming Dunwich Horror in an anthology published by Random House: Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. It’s hard to imagine a more timely intoduction: the birds, the bees and Lovecraft: sex and the supernatural simultaneously. Quite a tea party, that, even 57 years later.
I just purchased Lovecraft’s complete fiction and am re-reading the story of poor Willy Whateley and his twin. Having grown up in the Springfield/Wilbrham area, which seems to have inspired Lovecraft in part, I feel a wierd little connection with Willy and company. And I might add that it is a pleasure to read the writings of his cohorts. Supernatural fiction owes more than it knows to the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. May the God in Whom he may or may not have believed rest his soul.
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I owe H.P. Lovecraft a debt of gratitude for making my mythic novel a possibility. In my novel, I wanted to figure out how to unite all of the mythologies of the earth. To my surprise, I found the way to do this in the biblical Tower of Babel story and the pre-Hebrew, Ugaritic myths. Combining this line of thinking with Lovecraft’s premise that all gods are really just beings of immense power from distant worlds, and I came up with my own myth, which is intricately blended with Lovecraft’s own mythology. I’ve read everything by Lovecraft himself, although I have not caught up on all the stuff written by his contemporaries like Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard, etc. I like to think my novel and the series that follows will further explore and add to the mythological themes that H.P. Lovecraft focused on.
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Lovecraft, in my book, will always be the most important writer of horror and I would dare say that he is as important as Tolkein, but no one gives him credit for it. The reason is very simple: Tolkein taught society how to dream. No one thought outside the box and made something really truly grand and beautiful outside our realm. Lovecraft taught society how to have nightmares. Not only did he look outside our world to find something to fear, but he bound it so completely with everything a human is and does and thinks that even something so foreign as Nyralthotep is familiar to us because it IS us.
When I finished reading my first collection of Lovecraft, the first thing I thought was “I can do this.” Mind you, not as well as he did, but it inspired me as no other writer ever has, and it reshaped my entire writing philosophy. There’s a ton of quotes of his I could choose to represent what he gave me, but I’m going to go with “The Whisperer In Darkness”…
“To shake off the maddening and wearying limitation of time and space and natural law – … Surely such a thing was worth the risk of one’s life, soul, and sanity.”
What did Lovecraft teach me? Insanity pays. Boo-yah!
Recent Lovecraftian reading: Herbert West – Reanimator/The King In Yellow, Richard W. Chambers
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I LOVE your comparison to Tolkein! I would love to quote your entire first paragraph in my research paper on Lovecraft’s legacy.
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Knock yourself out. Just make the paper good. 😉
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I thought long and hard about what to say here, Lovecraft has meant so many things to me over the years but I think I’ll just echo what Neil Gaiman had to say about the old man from Providence Lovecraft is Rock And Roll.
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I started loving books for Lovecraft. I felt in love with Mountains of Madness! I’m sorry he died too young 😦
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Excellent post, Mike. I just linked to it on my LJ, Yaddith Times. Never miss a chance to corrupt — I mean, educate — the reading public!
http://ankh-hpl.livejournal.com/
Last Lovecraftian book read: Southern Gods by John Horner Jacobs.
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[…] Lovecraft eZine reprints his obituary from the local paper: Funeral services for Howard Phillip Lovecraft, student and writer of fiction, who died yesterday […]
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Ca I just say – Great post, Mike. Thank you. I’ve been working so hard on this article I completely forgot the date.
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H.P. Lovecraft was my introduction to the weird tale as something to inspire awe alongside horror, to incite wonder as much as terror. As great as it is to read a tale that invokes fear I find the spectacle of the grotesque far more interesting; I love s story that captures an incongruous distortion of reality, a tale that celebrates the bizarre and incites a phantasmagoric impression rather than one that’s merely repulsive (though there’s certainly room for that as well!).
Lovecraft was the reason I sought out the works of those who inspired him: the Blackwoods and Machens and Dunsanys of the weird literary landscape. And Lovecraft in turn pointed me to those who were inspired by him (who in turn inspired myself): the Campbells and Kleins and Ligottis, etc., etc.- I could keep naming names for fear of excluding some of my literary heroes but I’ll stop as there are only so many hours in the day. It’s a rare talent whose stories can be read again and again, each time sparking new ideas and a fresh take on well worn themes. Lovecraft is something of a literary perpetual motion machine, he is a neverending source of imagination and inspiration.
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me too, Christopher! Almost exactly 🙂
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Oops – I meant “joB” in the above post (obviously).
Also forgot – “R.I.P.H.P.”
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Being a huge fan of the man for 35+ years, I finally purchased this book today, in honor of his 75th. Didn’t plan on this quickly, but thought it the appropriate day to “dive in” (to Rl’yeh…).
After me there are only 14 available. I have to say that Jerad (of Centipede Press) does an AMAZING jog with these tomes (I also have the Stephen King book). They are HUGE, HEAVY, and as top quality as you can get anywhere – plus they are unique – plenty of art not published elsewhere.
Here’s the link:
http://www.centipedepress.com/art/hplart.html
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This was also the day that the young man I loved died in my arms, and thus it has an emotional impact for me. That young man seems truly gone–yet H. P. Lovecraft has never seemed more vibrantly “alive” that he is to-day. He is my ever-Muse, my constant companion and teacher, my brother and my daemon. He continues to inspire so many modern souls. The books that pay homage to his genius as a weird writer continue to be assembled (I’ve just had a wee tale chosen for THE BOOK OF CTHULHU II). And HPL is beautifully alive here at this magnificent eZine. Thank you, Mike, for all you have given us.
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Ah, Mr. Lovecraft. How can I say I miss you when you are the source for much of my work. Perhaps my current academic article, Cthulhu as Memory, is a tribute in itself. You had many flaws, Mr. Lovecraft, but who amongst us hasn’t? I salute you & thank you for my work. I think, perhaps, you were amongst those who inspired my own scientific curosity.
Mst recent Lovecraft reading: Selected Letters Vols I – V; Miscellaneous Writings, & most of his stories.
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I’ve only been able to get my hands on the fifth volume of the selected letters but am looking forward to finding the rest
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they are around – keep looking 🙂
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To me, Lovecraft represents going against the grain of traditional writing. I have always been afraid to write something too “out there” until I started researching Lovecraft. As I wrote in my first essay after starting my research:
“H.P. Lovecraft once said, ‘At night, when the objective world has slunk back into its cavern and left dreamers to their own, there come inspirations and capabilities impossible at any less magical and quiet hour. No one knows whether or not he is a writer unless he has tried writing at night.’ Like Lovecraft, I often find my greatest inspiration in the witching hour. However, once the moon sinks and the sun peeks its pragmatic head over the horizon, I begin to question the strange and curious notions that come to me in the darkness and, more often than not, retreat from these fantasies, returning to what is safe and comfortable. My fear of leaving my proverbial bubble is the very reason I would like to learn and meet H.P. Lovecraft. I would like to investigate the peculiar ideas of Lovecraft and through investigations, learn his motives behind his uniquely macabre concepts of horror.”
Most recent Lovecraftian reading: “The Blade and the Claw” by Hugh B. Cave
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I have always loved that quote, and I find it to be true as well.
‘At night, when the objective world has slunk back into its cavern and left dreamers to their own, there come inspirations and capabilities impossible at any less magical and quiet hour. No one knows whether or not he is a writer unless he has tried writing at night.’
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I attribute or sometimes draw my horror and speculative fiction from H.P. Lovecraft stories and ideas. His ‘alien gods from beyond’ or ‘knowledge man was no meant to know’ has such a broad stroke into the darkness; it’s hard to look away.
Last read book: Alhazred: Author of the Necronomicon by Donald Tyson
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