Collected Essays 2: Literary Criticism

by H.P. Lovecraft, S.T. Joshi (Editor)

Lovecraft's writings in the realm of literary criticism are unfailingly acute and cover a surprisingly wide range. Besides his authoritative early essay on "The Literature of Rome" (1918), other works condemn free verse and simple spelling, and devote attention to neglected poets. Discovering weird fiction as his chosen field, he produced such scintillating essays as "Lord Dunsany and His Work" (1922) and "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1927), along with essays on Frank Belknap Long and Clark Ashton Smith. Late in life Lovecraft codified his grasp of weird literature by writing such trenchant pieces as "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction" (1933) and "Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction" (1934). One of his last writings, "Suggestions for a Reading Guide" (1936), is a comprehensive discussion of world literature.

H. P. Lovecraft has belatedly received world renown as the twentieth century s premier author of supernatural fiction; but during his lifetime he wrote far more essays than stories. This edition gathers Lovecraft s complete nonfictional output for the first time, arranged in broad thematic groupings. S. T. Joshi, the world's leading authority on Lovecraft, exhaustively annotates all texts, also providing critical and bibliographical notes.

Genres: Lovecraftian, Essays

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

— Wikipedia

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although Lovecraft never considered himself a literary critic, there is an array of literary wisdom in this volume. Despite the majority of these essays primarily focusing on poetry, essays like ‘Literary Composition’, ‘Notes on Weird Fiction’, ‘Notes on Writing Weird Fiction’, and ‘Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction’, possess exceptional guidance and earnest direction for the aspiring writer of prose. ‘Supernatural Horror in Literature’ and ‘Suggestions for a Reading Guide’ are two worthy essays to further one’s library. In short, this volume is very insightful. I highly recommend it.

[Ethan Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, S. T. Joshi deserves praise for editing this volume. It contains valuable notes on the publication history of each essay and notes on the numerous allusions made by Lovecraft that will prove obscure for most readers. If you have an interest in Lovecraft's critical writings, this is the volume to read.

That said, the quality of the essays collected here is mixed. I was most interested in Lovecraft's descriptions of prescriptions for the genre of weird fiction. Weird fiction, for Lovecraft, is really a modern development of the wonder tale, one that he wishes to raise to heights of literary seriousness. Weird fiction aims to confront realistic and sympathetic characters with circumstances that evoke a numinous mood of wonder, awe, and terror. The goal of the weird tale--Lovecraft sometimes seems to suggest that this is the only way for what we now call science fiction to be "serious"--should be to instill this mood in the reader. Lovecraft helpfully describes the writing process that he uses to evoke this mood.

Lovecraft's other essays, especially those on poetry, are often tedious. He describes the techniques of forgotten pulp poets and vituperates against the utter lack of all artistic value in...T. S. Eliot. Further, although Lovecraft's style can work well enough in his tales--even adding at times to their oddness and horror--in his essays, it is merely turgid and difficult to read.

[Arthur B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovecraft's opinions on literature and poetry are often quite doctrinaire; the most insightful essay here - and, indeed, the only one which has not aged rather poorly - is Supernatural Horror In Literature, which has been so widely reprinted and recirculated that there's little need to get this volume solely to read it.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of Lovecraft's literary criticism, including his groundbreaking work on horror fiction "Supernatural Horror in Literature" . My personal favourites were his essays on weird fiction and suggestions and a reading guide are excellent

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fun thing about this books is it’s written in chronological order, you can see HPL’s tastes and opinions evolve from startlingly juvenal and bad into the sorts of thoughts you would expect from a fully formed master of his craft.

[Cecelia Hopkins-Drewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful compilation of essays for research purposes. valuable reprinting of material that would otherwise be difficult to access.