The Spirit of Revision

by H.P. Lovecraft, Sean Branney (Editor), Andrew Leman (Editor)

H.P. Lovecraft's letters to Zealia Brown Reed Bishop. Introduction by S.T. Joshi. Illustrated.

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

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]

"This matter of early rejection is good discipline for the literary novice; for it helps him learn to accept philosophically a type of incident very frequent in the nascent stages, & never wholly absent even in one's successful later career."-H.P. Lovecraft

First and foremost, I want to thank the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society for making this gem available!

The Spirit of Revision is truly, exceedingly remarkable. Though it has taken me quite some time to finish it, I sincerely believe these letters genuinely deserve to be pondered, savored, and appreciated, in which I am glad I did. The book not only reveals more of Lovecraft’s inmost personality, but each epistle is a flowing spring of perennial advice in the mastery of storytelling and in the educational values of revision. As a writer, I have always longed for a guide to counsel me in the art of writing, and I strongly believe I have found just that in The Spirit of Revision. I highly recommend this to all novice and seasoned writers, and to all Lovecraft fans; it will not disappoint.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cache of previously unknown and unpublished letters of H.P. Lovecraft discovered in 2014 and since edited for publication by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. A fascinating collection, mostly on the topic of Lovecraft's revision work for other authors, but ranging over a vast number of topics of interest to him in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Definitely worth reading for the scholar of H.P. Lovecraft-related matters, and for historians of literature and the period of the 1920s-1930s.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

leads you deeper into Lovecraft's knowledge of the craft of writing. Lovecraft's recommendations for his reading lists are still useful to understand how to write a story. A must read for every fan; easy to find and a reasonable read at a reasonable price. Other Lovecraft letter collections are much thicker and may be harder to find or the price may scare one.

[luciddreamer99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful book of letters into one of Lovecraft's friendships. The letters are an interesting look into Lovecraft's aesthetic philosophy, as well as his revisory process. Lovecraft likely suffered for his art, but truth and beauty, as he saw it, was important to him. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Lovecraft and wants to know a little more about him.