I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft, Volume 1

I Am Providence #1

by S.T. Joshi

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born to a well-to-do family in Providence, Rhode Island. As a child, he revealed remarkable precocity in his early interests in literature and science. Ill-health dogged him in youth, rendering his school attendance sporadic; and in 1908 he experienced a nervous breakdown that rendered him a virtual recluse for several years. In 1914 he discovered the world of amateur journalism and began slowly emerging from his hermitry. He wrote tremendous amounts of essays, poetry, and other work; in 1917, under the encouragement from W. Paul Cook and others, he resumed the writing of horror fiction, and his career as a dream-weaver began anew. In 1921 Lovecraft met his future wife, Sonia H. Greene, at an amateur journalism convention. It was at this time that he began expanding his horizons, both geographical and intellectual: he traveled widely, from New England to New York to Cleveland; and he absorbed such literary and intellectual influences as Lord Dunsany, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Arthur Machen. In 1924 he and Sonia decided to marry, and Lovecraft moved to New York to pursue his literary fortune. But, as the first volume of this biography concludes, his metropolitan adventure would be bittersweet at best. S. T. Joshi's award-winning biography H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (1996) provided the most detailed portrait of the life, work, and thought of the dreamer from Providence ever published. But that edition was in fact abridged from Joshi's original manuscript, and this expanded and updated two-volume edition restores the 150,000 words that Joshi omitted and, in addition, updates the texts with new findings.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Lovecraftian, Horror, History, Weird Fiction

563 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2013

About the author

Sunand Tryambak Joshi is an Indian American literary scholar, and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors. Besides what some critics consider to be the definitive biography of Lovecraft (H. P. Lovecraft: A Life, 1996), Joshi has written about Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, Lord Dunsany, and M.R. James, and has edited collections of their works.

His literary criticism is notable for its emphases upon readability and the dominant worldviews of the authors in question; his The Weird Tale looks at six acknowledged masters of horror and fantasy (namely Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Dunsany, M. R. James, Bierce and Lovecraft), and discusses their respective worldviews in depth and with authority. A follow-up volume, The Modern Weird Tale, examines the work of modern writers, including Shirley Jackson, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein and others, from a similar philosophically oriented viewpoint. The Evolution of the Weird Tale (2004) includes essays on Dennis Etchison, L. P. Hartley, Les Daniels, E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, David J. Schow, Robert Bloch, L. P. Davies, Edward Lucas White, Rod Serling, Poppy Z. Brite and others.

Joshi is the editor of the small-press literary journals Lovecraft Studies and Studies in Weird Fiction, published by Necronomicon Press. He is also the editor of Lovecraft Annual and co-editor of Dead Reckonings, both small-press journals published by Hippocampus Press.

In addition to literary criticism, Joshi has also edited books on atheism and social relations, including Documents of American Prejudice (1999), an annotated collection of American racist writings; In Her Place (2006), which collects written examples of prejudice against women; and Atheism: A Reader (2000), which collects atheistic writings by such people as Antony Flew, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, Gore Vidal and Carl Sagan, among others. An Agnostic Reader, collecting pieces by such writers as Isaac Asimov, John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert Ingersoll, Corliss Lamont, Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Westermarck, was published in 2007.

Joshi is also the author of 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, Stephen L. Carter, Annie Dillard, Reynolds Price, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Guenter Lewy, Neale Donald Walsch and Jerry Falwell, which is dedicated to theologian and fellow Lovecraft critic Robert M. Price.

In 2006 he published The Angry Right: Why Conservatives Keep Getting It Wrong, which criticised the political writings of such commentators as William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, David and Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving and William Kristol, arguing that, despite the efforts of right-wing polemicists, the values of the American people have become steadily more liberal over time.

Joshi, who lives with his wife in Moravia, New York, has stated on his website that his most noteworthy achievements thus far have been his biography of Lovecraft, H. P. Lovecraft: A Life and The Weird Tale.

Reviews

[P.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A walking paradox


The first half of this authoritative biography of Lovecraft, covering the years 1890 to 1924, offers invaluable information on the history of highly atypical Lovecraft family. Cross-checking a staggering amount of sources, Joshi puts the light on the history of dime novels, amateur journalism, pulp magazines, introduces the reader to HPL's circle of friends and penfriends, his countless hobbies (Roman & Egyptian antiquity, astronomy, poetry, railways, colonial architecture & 18th century in England and New England,...) and allows you to assess their significance in HPL's life and writing.

So far, 'I am Providence' makes a magnificent job at foreshadowing how meaningful some events were on further stages of HPL's life, confronting contrasting points of view and giving appropriate coverage of themes & stories along the way.

I have actually learned a lot about Howard's work as a reviser & ghostwriter and was genuinely nonplussed seeing how HPL ended up writing weird fiction! It certainly wasn't to be taken for granted until he was past 30 and even later! Also, I find it downright mind-boggling how the man from Providence is at the same time the genuine offspring of a prim, staid, conservative, "socially prejudiced" New England family and how he himself wields a devastating aptitude for parodying, poking fun at his literary opponents with his fierce parodies, and at himself & at his quirks with his disarming (and delightful) self-derision. Turns out the invalid recluse can be a perambulating socializer :)


Related works :

A short biographical essay by Houellebecq:
H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life

Collections of works by Lovecraft:
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft

Inspirations:
Selected Tales
The Night Land


Living in New York in the first half of the 20th century:
The Promised Land


Arcane soundtrack recommendations:

Cryo Chamber : Lovecraft-themed albums
Phlegethon - Phonothek
Azathoth - Cryo Chamber
Antarctica - The Great Old Ones

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

The work behind this Lovecraft biography must have been colossal, and for that alone, it deserves respect. On the other hand, we can ask ourselves whether the quantity of details provided is necessary to understand the existence of the author of Providence.
The best way to approach this massive work is to skim through it occasionally when you have a few minutes to kill, and you will unscrupulously skip the passages that add nothing or almost nothing.

[Sergi Oset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Com encarar una mínima nota de comentari d’una obra tan extensa i detallada com és aquest primer volum de “Yo soy Providence”? Difícil, molt difícil, poder fer justícia al treball ingent de Joshi en voler afrontar una tasca d’aquesta magnitud (ciclòpia, diria, per aproximar-me a uns dels termes usats habitualment per l’autor referenciat), però se’n surt, amb escreix. “I’m Providence” és un artefacte analític de costura fina, molt fina. Detallista fins a l’extrem, filat amb informacions que actuen de forma líquida, tornant a fer-se presents quan cal contraposar-les amb diversos fets i situacions. El millor, a parer meu, és que el biògraf apareix quan cal per afirmar o desmentir certes informacions, però també és capaç de mantenir-se en un segon pla, com si fos un apuntador dels fets que es van desenvolupant i que fa sentir al lector com a part integrant dels esdeveniments quotidians, els fracassos, les esperances (i petites ambicions) del Mestre, al mateix temps que, assistim al seu creixement i desenvolupament.
“Yo soy Providence” (aquesta primera part) permet contrastar molta informació apareguda en anteriors biografies, també ampliar, acotar i corregir dades que es donaven per certes i, que, en alguns casos, es descobreixen com a dubtoses i fins i tot falses.
“Yo soy Providence” repassa, de forma exhaustiva, els antecedents familiars, la infantesa, adolescència, la formació en arts i ciències, les amistats, els primers relats publicats, la implicació extensa amb l’associació de periodisme amateur, les camarilles, les influències i fòbies literàries i s’atura quan el seu matrimoni entra en crisi (inevitable). Situa a Lovecraft com a home disconforme amb el temps que li ha tocat viure, l’examina en profunditat i posa al descobert els seus prejudicis i contradiccions. Joshi aconsegueix, separar, però també encaixar, l’home de l’escriptor i del mite (amb les seves carències i virtuts) i el situa a l’epicentre d’uns esdeveniments, de vegades banals i d’altres cabdals, que portaran a H.P. Lovecraft, a la immortalitat després de la seva mort (cosa que probablement hauria trobat ridícula i impensable) i a situar-lo a una escala molt per damunt de la insignificança que ell atorgava a la importància de l’home dins de la relativitat del cosmos.
“Yo soy Providence” m’ha acompanyat en la major part de l’últim any. A estones relegat a un segon pla per deixar pas a lectures més curtes, però sempre l’he tingut present. S’ha anat convertint en una mena de vell amic al qual sempre volia tornar per escoltar de la seva boca una nova sortida excèntrica, absurda o massa seriosa. Aquesta sensació com de buit que m’ha quedat en retirar de forma definitiva el llibre de la tauleta de nit sé que només desapareixerà quan pugui adquirir la segona part.
Per acabar, agrair, a Aurora Dorada, l’esforç i valentia que ha hagut de significar la traducció i edició d’aquesta obra indispensable.

[Michael Kuehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 563 pages, including notes, this is only volume one of the mammoth two volume biography of the master of Weird Fiction, Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937). The amount of detail is astounding, and I can only imagine the hours of research author S.T. Joshi committed to this project. Aided immensely by the hundreds if not thousands of letters written by Lovecraft during much of his life, Joshi chronicles a year to year -- sometimes it seems as exhaustive as a month to month -- life story. And Joshi does proceed chronologically, grouping the years into more or less clearly defined periods in Lovecraft’s life, mostly around his evolving literary and philosophical phases.

Like others familiar with Lovecraft’s Weird Tales, I fashioned an image of the man, his character, from his work and the little I knew about him from brief bios scattered throughout the extensive publications of his stories and long fiction. Simply put: an enigmatic recluse. Nothing, however, prepared me for the real Howard Phillips Lovecraft -- a strange, brilliant, many-faceted man. And although he had his reclusive periods, as he was generally, by his own words, a nervous, unwell man, Lovecraft did travel a bit among a few other states nearest his beloved home in Rhode Island, primarily to attend gatherings of amateur writers.

Lovecraft was by and large self-taught in biology, anthropology, geology, philosophy, and physics. Perhaps his favorite subject of study, and the genesis of his literary philosophy, cosmicism, was astronomy. Through his study of astronomy, Lovecraft came to view the infinite cosmos as cold, dark, and thoroughly disinterested in the folly of man. His reliance and belief in science and its methods caused him to disavow any religious beliefs, and this pessimism was fostered further by the writings of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

By my thirteenth birthday I was thoroughly impressed with man’s impermanence and insignificance, and by my seventeenth, about which time I did some particularly detailed writing on the subject, I had formed in all essential particulars my present pessimistic cosmic views. The futility of all existence began to impress and oppress me; and my references to human progress, formerly hopeful, began to decline in enthusiasm. HPL [124]

I can’t begin to summarize or even hint at the fascinating story here that was Lovecraft’s life -- and this is only volume 1 which ends in 1924. There are thirteen more years to go in volume 2. It is a shame that so many of his contemporaries outlived him by so many decades.

Some reviews I read recommend this biography only for the researchers and the diehard Lovecraft fanatics; but much of the sections of unimportant detail [unless, of course, you are a researcher or fanatic] can easily be glossed over without compromising the narrative flow. There is so much interesting information here, about his life, about the genesis of some of his most famous stories, that anyone who is a fan of the Weird Tales and the man.

[Lucio · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Io Sono Providence” di S.T. Joshi compone il ritratto di Howard Phillips Lovecraft a partire da ciò che resta di lui: le sue lettere, le sue opere narrative e poetiche, le testimonianze di chi lo conobbe e una manciata di fotografie. Oltre alla sua vita, l’opera mostra come lo scrittore abbia maturato la sua visione dell’uomo, del mondo e dell’universo e di come l’abbia trasposta in simboli che sono tutt’ora attivissimi nell’immaginario collettivo.
Ma se in superficie è una compilazione di informazioni, estratti e ipotesi che in un primo momento può apparire arida, con il procedere della lettura rivela in filigrana un’anima più complessa.
A darle l’acqua della vita sono tre contrasti. Uno, il più ovvio, è quello tra il mito nato attorno allo scrittore e la realtà della sua persona, che si rivela ora commovente, ora affascinante, ora rivoltante e nel complesso molto più sfaccettata, sorprendente e umana dell’immagine che ci ha consegnato la leggenda. Il secondo è il contrasto interno, quasi donchisciottesco, tra Lovecraft e i tempi in cui visse lamentandosi di appartenere a un’epoca e a una classe che credeva estinte.
Il terzo è nel rapporto tra Lovecraft e il suo biografo. Tra i tanti meriti dell’opera, il più grande è forse quello di far reagire l’uomo che era stato Lovecraft con la nostra sensibilità presente, con la quale sarebbe altrimenti incompatibile. S.T. Joshi, americano di origine indiana, media tra noi e gli aspetti più controversi dello scrittore (uno su tutti, il razzismo che ereditò dalla famiglia) con obiettività, sangue freddo e mente aperta, invitandoci a capirlo più che a giudicarlo, giustificarlo o censurarlo.
Mi chiedo quanto abbia giocato la somiglianza tra le vite dei due uomini, che si sono ritrovati entrambi, in modi e per ragioni molto diverse, a essere stranieri in terra straniera.

[Patrick.G.P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and exhaustive account on the life and times of H.P.Lovecraft. Having recently read L.Sprague De Camp's fine narrative of Lovecraft's life, this work proves almost encyclopedic in comparison. Interesting to read what new facts have come to light since Camp's 1975 book. Joshi's account is somewhat dry at times but the subject matter always proves endlessly fascinating.
A goldmine for Lovecraftian scholars and fans. A must!

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't finished this yet since it's rather dense. It's a mixture of biography and literary criticism. So far, my biggest gripe is that Joshi frequently faults Lovecraft's early works' illogical structure or character actions. For Lovecraft's sometimes illogical structuring of a story, a well-written story doesn't always need to answer to logic. Same for characters, and people in general, logic isn't a tool everyone adheres to. In the case of fiction, is it more logical to go out the front door than up the stairs? Sure, but what's more suspenseful for the reader? In the case of reality, is it more logical to listen to the consensus of scientists during a pandemic, or listen to a TV personality, podcaster, or influencer? The answer is evident to some, and not to others. I'd even go as far as to say that some people in reality would go up the stairs or willingly greet the monster in the shadows.

[Carl Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half of a superb biography, written by someone who has done his research into both the Old Gent and the Old Gent's times and contemporaries (not to mention his influences).

S T Joshi, being an acknowledged expert on the Weird in general, is excellently placed to offer objective comment on Lovecraft's -and others- contributions to it. But he's also steeped himself in early 1900s North America, has read as much original material relating to Lovecraft and his friends and family as he could, and has corresponded with -if not interviewed- those folk still extant who actually knew -or knew of- Lovecraft himself. Moreover, and importantly, he's also unafraid to to address Lovecraft's less salubrious side: a dislikeable snobbishness weakly disguising out-and-out racism. (I have to say, however, that, for me, much of the stuff relating to Lovecraft's amateur press activities could have been relegated to the book's notes. I understand it was a big part of his life, but listing and critiquing almost every contribution he made to the field became a little... exhausting.)

Please forgive the cliché, but: if you only read one book about H P Lovecraft, make it this one... and even if you intend to read more than one, make sure I Am Providence is among them.

[Sjoerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 1 finished! Quit an intens read. Now I am filled with Lovecraft facts. I will annoy my girls, friends, colleague and people in the street with it.

I especially liked to learn about the inspiration of the stories and what other people thought of HPL.

[Sergio Armisén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estupendas noticias para los Lovecraftianos de habla hispana, ya que la editorial Aurora Dorada, que yo no conocía hasta ahora, ha decidido publicar el monumental "Yo Soy Providence" de ST Joshi en dos lujosos volúmenes de lore lovecraftiano.

Para los que no lo conozcan, ST Joshi es la máxima autoridad mundial en temas Lovecraftianos. Hasta ahora el lector hispano debía de conformarse con la biografía a cargo de L. Sprague de Camp que, además de ser extraordinariamente difícil de encontrar, es ampliamente superada por el trabajo que nos ocupa. Yo había leido la versión abreviada en inglés "HP Lovecraft: a Life", pero es una maravilla poder leer la obra completa en castellano. Cuando digo que "Yo Soy Providence" es "monumental" no lo digo gratuitamente. Son más de 1500 páginas en dos volúmenes y más de 1500 páginas sobre un personaje, que desengañemonos, fue oscuro en vida. De hecho, en mi opinión, sigue sin ser comprendido realmente.

El mejor antídoto contra esa incomprensión es este "Yo Soy Providence". No estamos hablando meramente de una autobiografía, donde se narren los hitos vitales de este gran escritor. También se puede encontrar un análisis crítico de su corpus literario y de sus motivaciones filosófico-intelectuales que le llevaron a pergeñar una obra tan única y cautivadora. Además Joshi tiene la valentía de abordar los aspectos más desagradables de HPL, en especial su racismo y su ocasional reaccionarismo. Y todo ello evitando, con bastante elegancia, cualquier análisis pseudo-psicológico post-mortem, una trampa en la que caen habitualmente los biógrafos de una figura tan genial como controvertida y mal comprendida. No me atrevería a ir tan lejos como definir esta como la obra definitiva sobre HPL, pero si no lo es, se le acerca admirablemente.

Hay que comentar que, aunque es de alabara y no podremos agradecer suficientemente a Aurora Dorada por atreverse a publicar esta obra, hay un aspecto en el que se podría mejorar en sucesivas ediciones y es la traducción: aunque Carlos M. Pla aborda la tarea con competencia, esta es manifiestamente mejorable. Hay ciertos problemas que son inevitables: cuando hablamos de poesía, de métrica, etc, escrita originalmente en inglés, forzosamente algo ha de perderse. También es natural que sea particularmente difícil verter el particular, y retorcido a veces, estilo personal de escritura de HPL, lleno de anacronismos, expresiones y modismos exclusivos de la lengua británica. Más difíciles de explicar son determinadas traducciones literales ("lengua en boca" por "Tongue in Cheek", "nombre de la casa" por "Household name") y resulta particularmente penoso cuando lo que se traducen son nombres propios ("San Juan" por "St. John" e incluso "Obra de Amor" por "Lovecraft"!). Se trata de errores muy básicos que sólo pueden explicarse por la utilización de algún sistema automático de traducción y una revisión no del todo cuidadosa, lo que ha veces dificulta la lectura del texto. En cualquier caso, son errores fácilmente subsanables y seguro que serán subsanados en posteriores ediciones si, ojalá sea así, son necesarias.

Vamos a por el volumen 2!

[José Ramón · Rating 5 out of 5]

Después de varios años esperando a que esta biografía fuese publicada y traducida al castellano, la editorial independiente Aurora Dorada nos brinda esta bonita edición en tapa dura y a un precio muy ajustado.
En este primer volumen se narra pormenorizadamente la vida de H.P. Lovecraft desde su más tierna infancia hasta su matrimonio con Sonia Greene. Narrado con un estilo muy serio y ortodoxo, S.T. Joshi nos ofrece un apasionado y exhaustivo trabajo de documentación, presentándonos a un escritor que quizás era más diferente de lo que se dejaba traslucir en sus cuentos y relatos. Si bien el racismo del autor sigue siendo algo tan execrable como evidente, Joshi lo contextualiza en una época, lugar y entorno familiar que fueron el caldo de cultivo ideal para muchos de los prejuicios de Lovecraft tanto en su época joven como en la etapa adulta; también desmitifica esa figura de solitario empedernido, mostrándonos a un autor muy sociable, con gran cantidad de amistades e incluso dirigiendo un periódico amateur, pasando por sus ya conocidas intervenciones en la ya famosa revista pulp Weird Tales.
Sin querer dar más detalles sobre la biografía, huelga decir que es imprescindible para amantes del creador del horror cósmico y pionero de la ficción extraña; aunque por momentos su lectura pueda hacerse un tanto farragosa por la ingente cantidad de información que esta incluye, seguro que los fans del autor de Providence disfrutarán enormemente de detalles que a buen seguro desconocían por completo.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

First volume of Joshi's exhaustive biography of Lovecraft. Substantiates the stresses of his upbringing and early eccentricities (and bigotries) on his part. Will largely be interesting to readers wanting to know how he came to write his popular fiction, the better to understand how his background and perspective impacted those works.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful and judicious.

[William Southwell-Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst there are understandably some sections that are a little dry, it's hard to imagine a more thorough and exhaustive biography. Eagerly looking forward to reading the second volume.

[Daniel Marin Conesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,9

[Kristin Towers · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️

Truly, truly — never meet your heroes.
I (and the collective readerhood, thank goodness) will forever choose to separate art from artist in the case of Lovecraft.

All the credit to S.T. Joshi for the thorough research (expanded edition?!) and thoughtful approach to some of Lovecraft’s more insensitive aspects. This book does a nice job of establishing just how annoying Lovecraft must have been as a person, which does humanize him, but doesn’t put him on any undue pedestals.

What took this down a notch for me in star rating was the pacing; there are too many places where the “storytelling” is staccato facts, with not much substance adding to my understanding of Lovecraft as a person in a place in a time. It’s not the entire book, but also was used fairly often and made those sections ripe for super-skimming.

Also, most likely nothing to do with Joshi, my print has an extremely minimal inside margin, which made it hard to read without breaking the spine. Not a great (cost-saving?) publishing choice when your reader has to deal with that for 500+ pages.

Overall, interesting. But I’m going to spare myself (and my love of Lovecraft) from reading Part 2.

[Benjamin Hare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulous, well reasoned, readable, astute, haunting, sad, and illuminating. I can only heap praise upon the head of S. T. Joshi for gracing the world with this work. Within the first five pages I was drawn into the pathos of Lovecraft's history, having only the most vague concept of what I was getting myself into. Mentally, I was unprepared for the depth to which STJ delved into his subject matter. At first overwhelmed, I soon became entranced.

The book is a beast, not only in size, but in the varied analysis STJ brings to bear upon the facts. There is a wealth of literary history and critical analysis included, revealing treasures of pulp fiction history. Joshi talks economics, philosophy, culture, and science as he lays open the written record of Lovecraft's life. Upon finishing the first book my immediate reaction was to reach for the second volume.

Highly recommended for serious fans of Lovecraft's work.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very detailed look into the Life and Times of HPL.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well organized and full of interesting information.

[Joshua Dollins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive biography of Mr Lovecraft more information than one really needs (or wants honestly, I skipped around quite a bit) and this is only volume 1!

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a deeper understanding of the mans work, this would be a great place to start. At 533 pages, this part 1, is a long involved read and well worth the time.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute fantastic biography, extremely rich and detailed in every way.