Who was H.P. Lovecraft? - A General Summary

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (b. 1890-d. 1937) was an American horror writer responsible for the "Cthulhu Mythos" and various short stories. He is often compared with Edgar Allan Poe, another well known American writer who exercised the craft of writing into the realm of horror.

Lovecraft worked with elements of psychic possession, unspeakable evils, mythic realms where time and space are irrationally displaced and insanity from evils that cannot be comprehended by human rationality. This unique style is dubbed "cosmic horror," which blends elements of horror and science fiction.

Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Sarah Susan Phillips, had ancestry that can be traced back to George Phillips who arrived in Massachusetts in 1630. Lovecraft's father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman for Gorham and Co. Winfield Lovecraft eventually died of paresis. Sara Phillips died of a nervous breakdown in a similiar fashion, in Butler Hospital on March 24th, 1921. After the death of his father Lovecraft was raised by Whipple Van Buren Phillips, his grandfather and his two aunts.

Although sick and lonely as a child, suffering numerous illnesses throughout his life, Lovecraft was a very bright child who recited poetry at the age of two, reading at the age of three and writing at the age of six or eleven. It is easy to see that young Lovecraft's roots in working with language would help him write the tales he would be well known for today. His first story, "The Noble Eavesdropper," was written around 1896. Lovecraft's interest in the weird and gothic were fostered by his grandfather who had a love for such tales.

By the age of sixteen, he wrote for the Providence Tribune on the area of astronomy. Lovecraft turned in stories for the magazine Weird Tales from 1908 to 1923. Writing unfortunately did not garner Lovecraft too much income, let alone recognition. He died on March 15, 1937 in Providence, Rhode Island in total obscurity. This obscurity lasted until the next decade when Lovecraft's work began to receive recognition in thanks to Arkham House Publishing, which continues to publish Lovecraft's texts today.

Lovecraft has also gone through several pseudonyms, something that is not uncommon among writers. Among them are Lawrence Appleton, John J. Jones, Ames Dorrance Rowley, and Edward Softly.

This has been just a general summary of Mr. Lovecraft. I will be going over more specific details on his life as time goes on. His life seems to parallel with the childhood of Edgar Allan Poe, whose childhood involved both parents dead yet taking facination with stories of the macabre at a very young age. Poe was a hero of Lovecraft's, so it comes to no surprise!

- Kristopher