#david e. schultz

[kalitera-stin-erimia]

"As shown above, the pseudomythological elements to which Lovecraft referred were only part of the fictional background of his stories. They were never the subject of his stories, but rather part of the background against which the main action occurred. That is to say, Lovecraft did not write about Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Necronomicon , or any of the other places or creatures or books found in his stories. The subject of his stories was typically the small place that man occupies in an uncaring cosmos, and his fictional creations were only part of the means by which he sought to demonstrate that.

For instance, "The Shadow out of Time" is not strictly about the Great Race (or any of the elements from Lovecraft stories alluded to within it) , although their history forms a large and significant part of the story. The story is about Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee’s breakdown in his conception of reality and his place in it; and therefore, of necessity, our place in the universe. Lovecraft is saying that we tend to look at the world and ourselves in a very narrow way. If we looked beyond ourselves—or, as in this story, if we are forced to look beyond—we may not be able to comprehend or bear the significance of what really exists. The horror in the story is that Peaslee is not in total control of his life; everythign he knew prior to his realization that the Great Race once occupied a significant though unknown part of our past has been shattered. Worse still, we find we are actually more akin to the Great Race than we might suspect; especially because we both have reason to fear the unknown elder race hinted at in the story.

Likewise, At the Mountains of Madness (1931) —Lovecraft's version of a "dinosaur egg" story—is an analysis of the reaction of a group of men to the discovery of an ancient, alien race that predates humanity and that once occupied the earth. There has been no record of their existence, save strange allusions in a book not taken very seriously. The men discover the book was correct, and to their horror they discover that the ancient race was not entirely dead; they themselves are responsible for freeing the Old Ones from their icy prison. The focus of the story is Prof. Dyer's musings about the significance of their discovery. It would have a startling effect on our thoughts regarding our place in the history of this planet.

In other words, Lovecraft's stories are about people, not exotic monsters from strange places. His stories address how we might be affected by knowledge of such things, but they are not about those things. The unfortunate fact is that the majority of Lovecraft's imitators, under the tutelage of August Derleth, have tended to write only about the monsters."

- Who Needs the "Cthulhu Mythos"? by David E. Schultz, published in Lovecraft Studies #13

[weirdletter]

H.P. Lovecraft: Letters to Family and Family Friends (2 Volumes), edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, Hippocampus Press, 2020. Cover art by David C. Verba, cover design by Daniel V. Sauer, info: hippocampuspress.com.

H.P. Lovecraft is not usually thought of as a “family man,” but he was in fact very close to his mother (until her death in 1921) and especially to his two aunts, Lillian D. Clark and Annie E.P. Gamwell, with whom he shared living quarters for much of his adult life. This volume includes, for the first time, the complete and unabridged correspondence—amounting to more than 450,000 words—written by Lovecraft to his mother and aunts. It provides unprecedented glimpses into the most minute details of his daily life and is therefore unlike any other letters Lovecraft ever wrote. Especially during his trying years in New York (1924–26), Lovecraft looked to his aunts as a source of stability and sympathy while his marriage was disintegrating. He tells of his frequent meetings with members of the Kalem Club; his fruitless attempts to find a job; his extensive travels in the region in search of antiquarian havens; and, of course, the details of his relations with his wife, Sonia. After he returned to Providence, Lovecraft continued to write letters to his aunts on his many trips up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from Quebec to Key West. This two-volume set also includes letters written to family friends such as Marian F. Bonner, Mayte E. Sutton, and others, as well as previously unpublished letters written by Lovecraft’s grandfather, Whipple V. Phillips, to his grandson in the 1890s. As with previous volumes in this series, all the letters have been meticulously edited and annotated by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz.

[weirdletter]

Letters with Donald and Howard Wandrei and to Emil Petaja, edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, Hippocampus Press, 2019. Info: hippocampuspress.com.

A new edition of all the correspondence between Lovecraft and future Arkham-House co-founder Donald Wandrei, augmented here with 120 new pages of Lovecraft’s letters to Howard Wandrei and Emil Petaja. Large portions of this volume were previously published as Mysteries of Time and Spirit: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei, out of print now for many years.

It is safe to say that Donald Wandrei (1908–1987) was one of Lovecraft’s leading correspondents. In 1924 Wandrei came in touch with his literary idol, Clark Ashton Smith, and two years later Smith referred him to Lovecraft. There began a rich, expansive communication in which both sides of the correspondence are preserved largely intact, allowing for an unprecedented glimpse into the life and beliefs of the two authors. Wandrei began as a fiery, cosmic poet in the tradition of Smith, but later took to writing weird fiction. He persuaded Farnsworth Wright of Weird Tales to accept Lovecraft’s seminal tale “The Call of Cthulhu,” just as Lovecraft urged Wright to take Wandrei’s “The Red Brain.” Lovecraft introduced Wandrei to his fellow Midwesterner August Derleth, and after Lovecraft’s death they founded Arkham House to publish the work of Lovecraft and other writers of weird fiction. Lovecraft came to believe that Donald Wandrei’s brother Howard was a weird artist of the first order, and this volume features the letters and postcards they exchanged in the 1930s. Another late colleague, Emil Petaja, was of Finnish ancestry, and Lovecraft’s letters to him are full of discussions into the fantasy fandom of that era along with his later beliefs on politics, society, and religion. As with other volumes of the Letters of H.P. Lovecraft series, this book prints all surviving letters unabridged and with exhaustive annotations by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. In addition, a rare interview of Donald Wandrei is included, along with poems, essays, and stories by Petaja.

[weirdletter]

Lord of a Visible World: An Autobiography in Letters, by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, Second Edition, Hippocampus Press, 2019. Cover art by Daniel V. Sauer, info: hippocampuspress.com.

H.P. Lovecraft’s letters are among the most remarkable literary documents of their time, and they are a major reason why he has become such an icon in contemporary culture. He wrote tens of thousands of letters, some of them of great length; but more than that, these letters are incredibly revelatory in the depth of detail they provide for all aspects of his life, work, and thought. This volume, first published in 2000, assembles generous extracts of Lovecraft’s letters covering the entirety of his life, from childhood until his death. He tells of his youthful interests (poetry, Greco-Roman mythology, science), his childhood friends, and the “blank” period of 1908–13, after he dropped out of high school. He emerged from his hermitry in 1914 by joining the amateur journalism movement, where he became a leading figure and was involved in numerous literary and personal controversies. In 1921 Lovecraft became acquainted with Sonia Greene, whom he would marry in 1924. By that time, he had begun publishing in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. But his marriage was a failure: living in New York, he was unable find a job and found the teeming city so different from the tranquility of his native Providence, R.I. Returning home in 1926, he embarked on a tremendous literary outburst, and over the next ten years wrote many of the stories that have ensured his literary immortality. Lord of a Visible World is a riveting compilation that not only paints a full portrait of Lovecraft’s life, writings, and philosophical beliefs, but features the piquant and engaging prose characteristic of his letters. In this new edition, the editors have updated all references to current editions of his work and also exhaustively revised their notes and commentary.

Contents: Introduction Biographical Notice I. Childhood and Adolescence (1890–1914) II. Amateur Journalism (1914–1921) III. Expanding Horizons (1921–1924) IV. Marriage and Exile (1924–1926) V. Homecoming (1926–1930) VI. The Old Gentleman (1931–1937) Appendix: Some Notes on a Nonentity Glossary of Names Further Reading Index

[cantodogargula]

Os Fungos de Yuggoth, de H P Lovecraft

A genialidade que surge em sonetos

A obra definitiva que precisávamos ter A Editora Clepsidra presenteia seus leitores com Os Fungos de Yuggoth, de H. P. Lovecraft. Obra seminal do autor, nos quais 36 sonetos nunca antes haviam sido traduzidos com tamanho cuidado e crítica, mantendo métrica, ritmo e sonoridade.  Devemos este labor exacerbado ao tradutor e poeta Douglas Cordare, que já assinou outras traduções poéticas da…

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