H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, by S. T. Joshi.
I used to have a rather condescending biography of Lovecraft
by L. Sprague de Camp; after I read this more understanding and complete study
of “the gentleman from Providence” I sold de Camp’s book. Sunand Tryambak Joshi
is a name that will appear several times in this Inventory connected with
Lovecraft; his enthusiasm for weird tales and atheism makes him distinctively
insightful into Lovecraft and his worldview. While Joshi’s atheism and
anti-conservative bias (he wrote a book called “God's Defenders: What They
Believe and Why They Are Wrong (2003), an anti-religious polemic
against various writers including C. S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, William
F. Buckley, Jr., William James,” and others, and The Angry Right:
Why Conservatives Keep Getting it Wrong) make him a rather bitter and
provocative figure, his enthusiasms for Lovecraft and his work makes his
scholarship secure. As a passing note, why, when atheists denounce religion,
are they so drawn to the dark side of belief rather than to a neutral kind of
philosophy? I suppose they see it as a metaphor of rebellion against faith, but
if they truly thought the universe was not good, they should see that it is not
evil either. It just IS. The only dramatic tragedy therein would be not
realizing this; instead atheist fiction seems to focus on the injustice and
cruelty of the Universe, which, if there really is no higher moral basis
against which it can be judged, itself means nothing. And yet humans (even
atheists) continue to act as the mythopoetic beings that they are, as if such
concepts as kindness, beauty, and sacrifice have meaning! And that’s what I
have to say about … er … this book.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Biography. Literary. Soft Cover.
The Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, Edited and with an
Introduction by S. T. Joshi.
A clutch of Lovecraft’s classic tales, annotated and illustrated
with many photos and reproductions of artwork that inspired Lovecraft and were
inspired by him. Most notable is the lengthy “At the Mountains of Madness.”
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Short Stories. Annotated. Horror. Softcover.
More Annotated H. P. Lovecraft, Annotated by S. T. Joshi and
Peter Cannon.
Another selection of Lovecraft’s work, annotated and
illustrated with maps and artwork, including Lovecraft’s own sketches of Mythos
creatures. Outstanding of course is the formative “The Call of Cthulhu”.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Short Stories. Annotated. Horror. Softcover.
The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror
and the Macabre, Introduction by Robert Bloch.
This Del Rey book (1982) is an anthology of sixteen of Lovecraft’s
most famous tales put into one handy reader. Its cover consists of the
‘tapestry’ by Michael Whelan that was cut up for the covers of the paperback
reprints of the time. It used to be Mike’s.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Anthology. Horror. Softcover.
The Transition of H. P. Lovecraft: The Road to Madness.
Introduction by Barbara Hambly.
Twenty-nine tales of terror that Lovecraft wrote on his way
to becoming the master of the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’, they include a variety of
apprentice work, including Dunsany-type fantasy and science fiction. Includes
the Gran Guignol of “Herbert West, Reanimator”. If the 1982 anthology from Del
Rey was ‘the best’, this Del Rey book must be … ‘the second best’, let’s say.
Barbara Hambly was the author of the Lovecraftian fantasy of “The Darwath
Trilogy” from the early 80’s, which I used to have – mainly for the cover
picture by David Mattingly of a wizard drinking a beer in a modern kitchen.
Illustrations by John Jude Palencar.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Anthology. Short Stories. Horror. Softcover.
Supernatural Horror in Literature, by Howard Phillips
Lovecraft.
A Dover reprint, with a cover with a picture from the movie
“Kwaidan”, of all things. “A 28,000 word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and
achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s
and 30s. The essay was researched and written between November 1925 and May
1927, first published in August 1927, and then revised and expanded during
1933–1934. Lovecraft's essay ranges widely, but he first examines the
beginnings of weird
fiction in the
early gothic
novel. As a guide
for what to read in the early gothic he relied partly on Edith Birkhead's 1921 historical survey The
Tale of Terror, and he was also able to draw on the expertise of the great
many experts and collectors in his circle. The bulk of the essay was written in
New York City and thus Lovecraft had access to the resources of the city's
great public libraries and also to the collections of his friends, and thus he
was able to read widely and obtain obscure and rare works. His survey then
proceeds to outline the development of the supernatural and the weird in the
work of major writers such as Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe. Lovecraft names as the four
"modern masters" of horror: Algernon
Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, M. R. James, and Arthur Machen. In addition to these masters,
Lovecraft attempts to make the essay an encompassing survey, and thus he
mentions or notes many others in passing.” – Wikipedia.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Essay. Supernatural Literature. Softcover.
The Necronomicon and The Dunwich Cycle: Where the Old Gods
Wait; Series Editor Robert M. Price.
Volumes issued by Chaosium Books, with a smidgen of Lovecraft
and a huge body of other writers. They are themed: ‘Necronomicon’ features
stories involving that forbidden book and ‘Dunwich’ has stories connected to
“The Dunwich Horror”.
Ranking: Keepers.
File Code: Short Story Anthologies. Horror. Softcovers.
Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H. P.
Lovecraft, by Andrew Migliore and John Strysik.
How can you put the shadowy and indescribable up on the
screen? But people have tried, with rather spotty success. Chockful of artwork,
movie stills, and interviews, this is an excellent summation of Lovecraftian
cinema up until 2006. Even films with the most tenuous connections with
Lovecraft are considered.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Film. Reference. Softcover.
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, by S. T. Joshi and David E.
Schultz.
A detailed guide to his life, his work, and his associates. “This
encyclopedia is an exhaustive guide to many aspects of Lovecraft's life and
work, codifying the detailed research on Lovecraft conducted by many scholars
over the past three decades. It includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged
entries on Lovecraft and presents extensive bibliographical information. The
volume draws upon rare documents, including thousands of unpublished letters,
in presenting plot synopses of Lovecraft's major works, descriptions of
characters in his tales, capsule biographies of his major colleagues and family
members, and entries on little known features in his stories, such as his
imaginary book of occult lore, the Necronomicon. The volume
refers to current scholarship on the issues in question and also supplies the
literary, topographical, and biographical sources for key elements in
Lovecraft's work. As Lovecraft's renown continues to ascend in the 21st century,
this encyclopedia will be essential to an understanding of his life and
writings.” – Google Books.
Ranking: Essential.
File Code: Reference. Literature. Softcover.
