Letters with Donald and Howard Wandrei and to Emil Petaja

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

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 David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi. In addition, a rare interview of Donald Wandrei is included, along with poems, essays, and stories by Petaja.

Genres: Nonfiction

556 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2019

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

[luciddreamer99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there is something dry about reading someone else's letters, even someone interesting, these letters offer a unique look into the life of H.P. Lovecraft and a few of his correspondents. I can't help but think that Lovecraft showed more of himself to Robert E. Howard, as the letters to the Texas author are longer than the ones to the people here, but it doesn't mean he didn't value the Wandreis as friends. My theory is that Lovecraft saw Howard, the creator of Conan, as a contemporary, letting his passions about various subjects fly freely in their letters. This volume is recommended for any fan of Lovecraft who wants to know a little more about him.