A must-have classic that every Lovecraft fan and collector will love. Another excellent edition in the Knickerbocker Classic series, The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft collects the author's novel, four novellas, and fifty-three short stories. Written between the years 1917 and 1935, this collection features Lovecraft's trademark fantastical creatures and supernatural thrills, as well as many horrific and cautionary science-fiction themes, that have influenced some of today's writers and filmmakers, including Stephen King, Alan Moore, F. Paul Wilson, Guillermo del Toro, and Neil Gaiman. Included in this volume are The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Call of Cthulhu, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Colour Out of Space, The Dunwich Horror, and many more hair-raising tales. The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed. Complete and unabridged, this elegant edition contains a comprehensive introduction providing the reader with enlightening information on the author's life and works.
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.
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
That is the opening paragraph of "The Call of Cthulhu", and it is the perfect encapsulation of Lovecraft's style of horror. It's not about jump scares or gore, it is about our smallness in the universe, and the unease and uncomfortableness that inspires. Cthulhu, and the many other, less famous Lovecraftian Gods, aren't just scary monsters, they're personifications of the vast uncaring cosmos, the mere sight of which is enough to drive Lovecraft's characters to madness. All of that is wrapped up in this really beautiful edition, no less.
With all that said, there is one big problem with Lovecraft's writing. HP Lovecraft is one of those tragic authors who died alone and penniless, his works only rising to prominence after his death, within his own lifetime they were only published in niche sci-fi and pulp magazines. This means he never had an editor, some of his stories didn't even get a second draft, and boy does it show; it's honestly infuriating how so many of them could've been so much more compelling with just a few brief edits. In "The Colour out of Space" you're effectively told how the story ends right at the very start, "At the Mountains of Madness" is one of Lovecraft's longest stories, but really, really doesn't need to be, its filled with dull, repetitive descriptions that make the most incredible things sound mundane, if I had taken a shot every time he described the scary "Cyclopean masonry" I would've been lying intoxicated on the floor before reaching the end of page 3. Because of this, I definitely wouldn't recommend trying to read these in chronological order, cherry pick the best ones ("The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth" are my two personal favourites) and skip the rest.
Even in his best stories, Lovecraft has a distinctive style that takes some getting used to, a little like Tolkien, I suppose. I would personally recommend reading this on an atmospherically dark night right before you go to sleep. Sweet dreams.
Reading the entire body of work of Lovecraft took me just under a month, reading a bit every day because I couldn’t stomach more than the tiniest bit per day. Previously I had only read 3-5 of his most popular stories and had actually had quite enjoyed them. And seeing the link between those Lovecraft stories and the work of authors who cite Lovecraft as an influence was interesting because you can clearly feel the same kind of vibes in both. I even deemed some stories as having a Lovecraftian vibe in some of my reviews, totally oblivious as to Lovecraft’s true colours. I then found out what an awful racist Lovecraft was and that it’s very apparent in his work and was surprised because I hadn’t seen any sign of it in the stories I had read. I decided to finally sit down and read through the entire compendium of his work that I’ve owned for YEARS untouched and truly see for myself. And once I started I quickly regretted my decision. Clearly the stories I had already read had been picked to be parts of various anthologies because they were the least offensive. The majority of his stories are just downright filled with racism and racist talk and it is truly appalling and sickening. There’s so many of them that I couldn’t even finish becauseI was so offended by what was being said. I had originally rated it 2 stars as a whole because that’s what adding all my individual ratings and dividing by the total gave but I honestly just can’t stomach the thought of giving this mans work more than the lowest rating.
I really don't like dnfing books. But I just couldn't be bothered with this one. I knew HP Lovecraft was really racist going into this, but I wasn't ready for how apparent his racism would be in his writing. The most obvious example of this was the name of the cat in "The Rats In the Walls", but there were also so many stories where humans cross breaded with creatures and created these horrible monstrosities. And of course white people were always the victims. His writing also just didn't suit my tastes. It was just too verbose and pretentious for me. I really wanted to finish this, especially because there were some stories I enjoyed and so many people whose work I do enjoy were inspired by Lovecraft, like Guillermo Del Toro and Niel Gaiman, but I just couldn't.
Having played Cthulhu inspired games for some time now as well having come across many references to Lovecraft's mythos in other media I thought it was about time to actually read his stories. I was warned about the author's racism which was extreme even for his time and while it was not present in every story, some were very difficult to read due to it, but that should not come as a surprise. Most stories being written as a kind of report on the situation after the events is also a somewhat odd story telling style for horror. It takes away some of the tension.
It is quaint from a European's perspective how two hundred (now three hundred) year old houses are described as positively ancient or the man's obsession with the word "cyclopean" when describing any kind of disturbing old masonry which gives me the sense he did not understand its meaning (or its meaning is now different from the early 20th century English).
Having said that, I can easily see how it inspired a kind of genre with some (certainly at the time) unique twists to more traditional monsters and found it a surprising good read for the most part despite its obvious flaws. Certainly something fans of Lovecraftian horror should give a try even if they might want to pass over some of the stories in his oeuvre.
Am besten genießt man das Werk in kleinen Happen. Einerseit wegen der Langatmigkeit des Schreibstils andererseits wegen dem Rassismus, wenn man da empfindlich reagiert. Ich weiß nicht, was es war, aber einige Geschichten in Verbindung mit dem Schreibstil sorgten dafür, dass ich am Ende des momentanen Satzes nicht mehr wusste, was davor gekommen war. Als hätte ich nichts zuvor gelesen. Ich bin schon leicht am verzweifeln gewesen. Die Geschichten folgen öfter mal einer Formel und wenn man das einmal sieht, werden sie noch langatmiger. Die, die das Muster brechen, fallen dafür umso mehr auf.
What i enjoyed most about this book were the stories in which Lovecraft directly touches upon the disenchantment of the world. It is indeed sublime to see how Lovecraft handles the death of passion and metaphysichs, which obviously sets his writings to be a founding text of horror, fantasy, and the supernatural.
I think most people will easily note the impact Lovecraft has on mostly all thing related to cosmic and alien terror. I even noticed the effect his writings have on games like Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, and movies like the thing. The effect these tales have on modern horror literary fiction is impossible to overestimate.
Also, i think most of Lovecraft's writings show a very good use of mystery, this guy knows what to show to the readers and what to hide from them.
My main problem with the books was the tiring repetition i found in some of the tales, and the fact that most of the novellas, and longer stories felt too long, the tales are really rich in ideas, but the execution wasn't always as good as the ambition. Still, the tales are mostly worth it, and i also had an easier time going through the book because i already read some of the longer novellas, it is also worth noting that i listened to some stories via YouTube which was really fun!
For the record, these are the stories I liked:
The beast in the cave, the alchemist, beyond the wall of sleep, the statement of Randolph Carter, the tree, the picture in the house, the temple, facts concerning the late arthur jermyn and his family, the outsider, the moon bog, Azathoth, the rats in the walls, imprisoned with the pharaohs, cool air, the call of Cthulhu, the sliver key, the case of charles dexter ward, the Dunwich horror, the whisperer in darkness, at the mountains of madness, the shadow over innsmouth, the thing on the doorstep, the evil clergyman, the shadow out of time.
I read: - The Beast in the Cave - Dagon - Nyarlathotep - The Call of Cthulhu - History of the Necronomicon - The Dunwich Horror - At the Mountains of Madness - The Shadow over Innsmouth
Conclusion: Cool stuff! It's not always "well written" and there are some weird undertones of anxiety over racial purity and the corrupting influence of foreigners, but the fascinating mix of science, madness and alien horror more than make up for it. I think my favourite was "The Shadow over Innsmouth" but "Mountains of Madness", "Dunwich Horror" and "Call of Cthulhu" also had some unforgettable moments.
I'm unsure what to think of this one. While there were more than a few very interesting stories, I could feel that H.P. Lovecraft's writing style hasn't aged well. I will admit that I skipped a couple of short stories that I just couldn't get into. Some of them just felt like they were long for the sake of being long. It's a hard read.
This book is the first of H.P Lovecraft's literature I've ever properly read. Have heard a lot of his works from movies, videogames and other literature but never actually read the actual stories.
When if comes to who I would recommend his literature for, then I'd say everyone from teenager to adult. The stories are basically what one would find in a lot of horror from the 1980's to present date. Yet, no offence to those who do, but if you liked 'Transformers: The Last Knight' or similar ADHD-movies, then pretty much all of H.P. Lovecraft's literature is probably not for you. His stories are highly detailed and to some extent slow paced with moderate amounts of action or horror.
If you're planning on not reading the entire book or any of it at all and just giving the one star rating because you heard that H.P. Lovecraft made some racist remarks in his stories. Then I'd recommend actually trying to read it all because compared to how much literature he's made, there are actually very few racist remarks in comparison. I think in total there are probably less than ten occasions where that occurs in the entire book, one where even it's likely intentionally done to point out that one of the characters is a fool by acting racist.
Keep in mind that most of this was written long ago when times were different too. It's far more worse writing the script to something like the TV-show 'Lovecraft Country - 2020' in the more recent time, which by my opinion is extremely racist against white people.
The actual book itself compared to the price which was about $30 when I bought it, is by my opinion way above the average quality one would expect for that price. It has a proper hard-back cover, book-ribbon and the biding method that's been used for the pages seems to be way more quality work than the average glued in pages one would find in a typical paperback book at the same price. The text is printed in average size letters and the pages are not too thin despite the book having over 1075 pages.
Weighing at around one kilo, the book might be a bit heavy, but I didn't really notice the weight that much while reading it held up for even longer periods of time.
Based on the overall quality I'm going to buy the 'Complete Sherlock Holmes' which is published by Rock Point too.
This was a long one. First started reading it during lockdown, got about halfway through, some things happened so I set it down for years. Picked it back up again a month or so ago and I have been chipping away at it until now. Lovecraft's most eminent quality is his rich and descriptive vocabulary - I was hooked on his stories on the premise of his language alone. If you want to expand your own vocabulary, Lovecraft is more than a good place to start. Concerning his stories, most are hits and some are misses, especially in the prior half of this compendium. Stories flow chronologically, so you can track his growth as an author. His very early writings, while still filled with eloquent descriptions, fail to grasp the reader with their stories, or even if they do, they often end as very banal and ridiculous pieces (see: "The Beast in the Cave"). However, that is to be expected - these are "Complete Tales", not assorted writings. His most famous writings still hold up: The Dunwich Horror, The Thing on the Doorstep, At the Mountains of Madness, Dagon, The Shadow over Innsmouth and a very special mention to his only "novel" The Case of Charles Dexter Ward as the one that truly stuck with me. Adding to this, even though he is known as an author of cosmic horror and an writer who kickstarted an eponymous genre, I wouldn't call his works horror - or at least, they weren't very horrifying or scary to me. Horror and cosmic elements, sure; but most of these read as faux-autobiographic journals of a person's descent into madness or a report on harrowing happenings in some place or other. That is not to say these elements falter; in fact, the beings that he conjures up in his mythos are very far out there. On an ending note, this has been quite a journey that I'm glad I went on; plus, the hardcover edition that I own looks marvelous and has a special place in my library.
LITERATURE in PUNK ROCK - Book #61 ------------------------ ALBUM: Cacophony (1988) BAND: Rudimentary Peni https://youtu.be/QPl-psljxPU?si=5Dm1V... BOOK: The Complete Tales of HP Lovecraft -------------------------- British Anarcho-Punk fans were taken-aback with incomprehensible, cosmic horror from Rudimentary Peni’s follow-up album to their acclaimed Death Beach (1983). The band which emerged as an iconic force of early London anarcho-punk fettered behind the scenes. In the mid-80s songwriter/bassist Grant Matthews received a cancer diagnosis. Many years of hiatus from treatment and recovery led to a shift in songwriting. The lyrically leftist-politics of Matthews became something anew under guitarist Nick Blinko: witty, warped and macabre. Rudimentary Peni’s second album, Cacophony (1988), is an ambitious (experimental) tribute to the life and writing of HP Lovecraft. The thematic, literary departure of Rudimentary Peni arose from Blinko’s introduction to Lovecraft from a fellow musician during the band’s hiatus. The album is a dense, ambitious audio accompaniment of the Lovecraftian experience (eldritch, cosmic horror) eclipsed in mono-maniacal genius; unbeknown, at that time, Blinko’s schizoaffective disorder. -------------------------- The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft collects the author's novel, four novellas, and fifty-three short stories: written between the years 1917 and 1935. Finished 10/28/2023. Happy Halloween!
Lovecraft is an evil genius. I was pleasantly surprised that these sci-fi-adjacent tales from 100 years ago could still send consistent shivers down my spine.
The central conceit of his horror is this: what if the universe is blasphemously unaligned with Christia cosmology’s attempts at ordering it, and instead full of evil and horror? What if knowledge of the universe is not progress but a curse?
It’s chilling stuff. It evokes the dizzying idea of an infinite and random atheistic universe and then goes further to a deliberately malevolent one. There are gods in the universe, and they are evil.
I read five of these stories, in this order: - The Shadow out of Time: a great deep-time thriller. Psychological horror about identity and history. - The Haunter of the Dark: a great classic monster trope with a Lovecraftian twist. A light-abhorrent aberration that trades blood for evil knowledge. - At the Mountains of Madness: similar to Shadow out of Time, but a little less compelling for me. Except for the part that reveals the juicy, despair-inducing origin of humanity. - The Color out of Space: a monster story that resists tropes. Terrifying because the monster does not follow any recognizable laws of nature or predictable patterns of behavior. So palpably alien. - The Call of Cthulhu: oh yeah. Squid guy.
Props to Lovecraft that I don’t actually want to read any more of these until next Halloween.
Finishing up my reading of Lovecraft's horror tales from last October (my "Halloween book"), I skipped the things I read then, but it still follows my recent tendency to read longer books. The new things I read this month are better examples of his later horror science fiction, while those I read last year were mostly more in his earlier Dunsanian fantasy style. The longer tales included in this year's reading were his one novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. and the novellas The Dunwich Horror, The Whisperer in Darkness, At the Mountains of Madness (probably the best introduction to his unique personal mythology), and The Shadow Out of Time. The long story "Herbert West—Reanimator" is close to novella-length as well. Other highlights included "The Statement of Randolph Carter" and "The Call of Cthulhu". The one story which is not in the "weird" genre was his parody "Sweet Ermengarde".
Lovecraft is a must for anyone who enjoys "weird" fiction, although those with "woke" sensitivities should be warned that many of these stories are filled with ethnic slurs and referring to "mongrel" populations — directed as much if not more against non-"Nordic" whites than against Blacks.
An absolutely mammoth book, it took me the best part of a year to read this. Ive been meaning to read HP Lovecraft for a while, so it seemed like a good idea to go through the majority of his works in one go. That said, a lot of the time its quite dense prose, and especially in his earlier stories seemed a lot closer to poetry than any meaningful story which made it a bit hard to get through.
The stories are ordered roughly in canonical order, so its definitely interesting to watch him slowly build up the dreamer and cthulhu mythos, theres a lot of cross referencing and stories existing in the same world. There were some really high points in this book, but also a lot of duds, hence the 4 stars. Highlights of the book include: - The Temple - Under the Pyramids - The Colour out of Space - The Dunwich Horror - At the Mountains of Madness - The Shadow over Innsmouth - The Shadow out of Time
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Terrific showcase of the author's endless, playful imagination with vivid descriptions and thorough world building. It is also a staple of horror literature and has been extended to many other forms of contemporary media due to the open-ended nature of the fictional universe.
As a collection of all of Lovecraft's short stories and novellas, there are also included a few which are less engaging than others. However, the work as a whole is truly a transformative and dream stimulating experience and therefore highly recommended.
There were a few stories here that were really good, but if you read all of them without switching to other books from time to time, you will probably get bored, as Lovecraft becomes very predictible pretty fast. Some stories here are 4/5 for sure, but the majority are pretty underwhelming.
His pacing can be pretty bad and his style way too verbose, especially in the beginning. Read the famous stories first and if you really enjoy them, go read the others as well.
Lovecraft's use of language is very mechanical; it's cold and dense. It's difficult to get used to, but I think the stories themselves, and their importance in pop culture make it a worthwhile read.
There is no denying that H.P. Lovecraft was an incredibly racist man, and it definitely shows in some of his writing. I won't make excuses for him, but I'm willing to put that fact aside and appreciate his literary genius. There are some real gems in this book, but also some duds.
Test recenzia na dnf poličku. Túto knihu mám len na parádu. Prečítala som pár poviedok, musela som uznať, že mi nesedí, keď autor používa rasizmus ako hororový prvok. Určite je to klasika a bez neho by sme nemali fantastiku. Chápem, že to tak v jeho dobe fungovalo, no momentálne nepotrebujem čítať celú knihu, aby som si spravila prehľad o jeho štýle.
The complete tales of Lovecraft is a brilliant book. The horror of it all is that it reminds us that we are completely insignificant as individuals and as a species. This is what is drummed into you throughout each of his stories. Definitely a must read for any true horror fan.
I read enough of this to cover most of the important Cthulhu mythos. After a few, they get a bit repetitive; he's particularly fond of the words "infinitely " and "Cyclopean." I am glad to have finally read the foundational stories.
Reread this earlier in the year because when it comes to cosmic insignificance, Lovecraft is the end all be all.
I’ve DNF’d other lovecraftian authors after putting in the effort to find someone else who could really tell a story like the originator, but he’s just too hard to beat.
I appreciate the mythos that was crafted, and I thoroughly enjoyed the interconnectedness of the short stories and novellas. However, many of the pieces felt repetitive and were weighed down by purple prose.
Iconic American gothicana, following on from Poe, Lovecraft manages to bring a fresh interpretation to the genre, with narrative reference points rooted in the mythical, on narrative scales hitherto unimagined, in the world of short fiction.
Outside of the few anthologized tales, his writing drips with the vilest racism. Even in the few uninfected tales, he’s a pale reflection of a true master like Bierce or MR James.
Complete tales by H.P. Lovecraft. Well, the book is exactly that. Though sometimes a bit racist, that was to be expected, as that is what H.P. Lovecraft was.