If you're vaguely familiar with writer H.P. Lovecraft, you probably picture the aesthetics associated with his name: tentacle monsters, early 20th century New England, Edgar Allan Poe influence, or the Cthulhu Mythos that he created. All of these add to the flavor of his writings, but these elements are just the tip of the Lovecraft Iceberg.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft's work was a direct result of his troubled life. This brief biography of the author, written by S.T. Joshi, describes Lovecraft's early life, riddled with death, illness, solitude, and financial woes, which are themes that repeat throughout his short life.
His work dove deep into the horrors of the human psyche, where mysticism and science, two seemingly disparate concepts, overlap. In his stories, humans probe outwardly into the cosmic realm to find the source of all things unknown and unnatural, only to find the answer much less tasteful, that the horrors we fear originate within us. Knowledge itself is often the subtle yet pervasive antagonist, revealing secrets we only thought we wanted to uncover.
A man of his time, Lovecraft was not ignorant or immune to the zeitgeist of his day. Occasionally in his work, themes that are more sensitive today, like racism, float to the surface. Reading his work chronologically, you can get a sense of some of the troubles he was grappling with in his own life. Although his existence was mostly a reclusive one, he maintained a healthy correspondence with friends and fellow writers.
The genius of his work was mostly overlooked in his lifetime, but his stories are alive and just as potent today as they were a century ago. Visit the H.P. Lovecraft archive, where his entire body of work is collected, and in the public domain (sort of). For a more in-depth look at his individual stories, we strongly recommend the wonderful H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Listening to Chris Lackey & Chad Fifer dig into Lovecraft's work like kids in a candy store helped us get through so many rough days in the office, and inspired Edgardo to buy H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction, which I quickly borrowed and haven't given back to him since.
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