Лавкрафт. Я — Провиденс. Книга 2

I Am Providence #2

by S.T. Joshi

Говард Филлипс Лавкрафт.
Эксцентричный затворник из Провиденса. Смелый путешественник. Отец современного сверхъестественного ужаса. Создатель бога Ктулху, магии оккультного "Некрономикона" и одновременно атеист. Автор самиздата. Последний джентльмен 20-го века. Добрый друг с отличным чувством юмора. Расист и женоненавистник. Верный муж. Соавтор-бессребреник. Дилетант и видный редактор. Парадоксальный мыслитель. Человек науки, не закончивший школу. Кошмарный писатель и графоман. Изысканный мастер литературы ужасов. Все эти противоречивые мнения в чем-то правдивы. И для того, чтобы исследовать жизнь и составить полное впечатление о личности и эпохе Лавкрафта, и написана эта биография.

Перед вами расширенная и обновленная двухтомная версия монументальной биографии, получившей премию Брэма Стокера и Британскую премию фэнтези. "Книга 2" охватывает период жизни Лавкрафта с 1925 по 1937 год.

Дополнительный раздел описывает влияние Лавкрафта на современную культуру - с 1937 по 2010 год.

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

800 pages, Hardcover

First 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]

The Writer Out of Time

The second part of S.T. Joshi's thorough biography of writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft, covering the events from 1925 onwards.


In this book, you discover the hows and whys of HPL's unhappy marriage with Sonia Greene. You also come to witness heartwarming moments among Lovecraft's club of friends, one meeting another along the road.

Then, you follow Lovecraft in his joyous voyages as he travels almost yearly (on a budget) to visit friends and correspondants, state capitals and old literary sites, visiting Poe's haunts, among others!


Lovecraft and Frank Belknap Long Sparring in Brooklyn On July 11, 1931

But all is not rosy in there, mind you. You are told all you need to know about the dire times faced by the writer, whose best short stories and novels faced rejection time and again, causing him to have a frugal train of life indeed, and many a lingering doubt about his literary merit as a writer of weird fiction.

Overall, S.T. Joshi gives ample detail about HPL's body of work, including his poetry, travelogues, essays, parodies, even his manifold revisions and ghost-writing work legacy, but also about the history of their publication and eventual public recognition, always providing important material as regards the maturation of his philosophical views at the same time.

I warmly recommend the two tomes for everyone interested in becoming acquainted with the man behind the myth—or is it the mythos? :)

-----

RELATED WORKS:

First half of I Am Providence:
I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft

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:
Poe's Selected Tales
The House on the Borderland


Works inspired by Lovecraft:

- Ridley Scott's Alien

- John Carpenter's The Thing

- SCP websites (fictional organization and collaborative fiction project)
http://www.scpwiki.com/

- Bloodborne (a 2015 videogame from the creator of the Dark Souls series)

- The unnerving Eldrazi creatures in Magic: the Gathering, especially in the Eldritch Moon extension.


Living in New York in the first half of the 20th century:
Journey to the End of the Night
The Promised Land

Curious parallels with Tocqueville about the specificities of New England in the history of the United States of America:
Democracy in America


Arcane soundtrack recommendations:

Phlegethon - Phonothek
Azathoth - Cryo Chamber
Antarctica - The Great Old Ones

At the End of a Breath - God Body Disconnect

One Hour of Dystopian Music - Cryo Chamber

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter XX
A Non-Supernatural Cosmic Art

Lovecraft never succeeded in invoking such a haunting atmosphere of insidious decay as in “The Nightmare at Innsmouth”; the reader can almost smell the stifling fishy stench, see the physical deformities of the inhabitants, and sense the slow decay of an entire city in this vibrant and evocative prose. Once again, the author weaves a narrative that progresses from the first word to the last without a single false note to a cataclysmic conclusion, which, as we have already noted, simultaneously focuses on the pathetic fate of a single human being while powerfully suggesting the future destruction of the human race. The cosmic and the trivial, the past and the present, the internal and the external, the self and the other are intimately interwoven.

[Hugo Negron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this right after completing the first volume so I combined my review for both:


An exhaustedly researched biography of HP Lovecraft. S.T. Joshi crafted probably the definitive bio on the weird fiction writer, who is rightly seen as a master of American horror next to Poe. This volume (part one of two) does an amazing job of bringing Lovecraft to vivid life, presenting new information as well as dispelling many myths. Yes, he was reclusive, depressed, idealizing a more “gentlemanly” 18th century past, loathing the mechanistic present, and a periwig wearing racist to boot. However, with the death of his mother (who had projected a love/hate relationship with her son) and through the many amateur writing groups of the day (which he would participate in and also lead – a very interesting piece to read about!), Lovecraft began to mature in thought and manner, developing a vast circle of friends, fans, and correspondents of such loyalty that few people of a more outgoing nature could ever match.

A recluse? He travelled throughout the East Coast, FL, and Quebec, staying with and accommodating many a friend and correspondent, touring places of antiquarian interest, hanging out with groups of fellow writers in a variety of clubs and organizations, and even finding time to become briefly married.

An unfaltering atheist, he believed in a universe where man’s insignificance was exposed to the unmentionable and uncaring horrors that lurked beyond. It’s ironic in a way that a man who did not believe in God would end up creating a cosmic mythology of extraterrestrials who found their way to Earth, foolishly worshipped by humans as deities. Even back in his day, as he became a well-known writer in amateur publications and circles, he would weave such detail between realistic settings and his horrors that fans would write to him asking if his creatures were real or if the Necronomicon (a book of evil he created in his tales that could summon these monsters) actually existed!

That many persons have continued to believe so to this day would surely have made the atheist Lovecraft giggle with incredulous joy.
Warts and all, Joshi does an amazing job of detailing all that is known of Lovecraft, through many of the letters written back and forth to his fans and friends. Ever a gentleman, he would never decline a response to any letter of inquiry or request for writing aid, and some of these “lost” letters are still being discovered (the HP Lovecraft Historical Society has announced they have come across a collection of 38 letters from Lovecraft to Zealia Bishop, a client of Lovecrafts, which have never been seen, to be released in a book this year).

Joshi also adds a nice mini-summary to virtually every single work of Lovecraft’s, and writes the biography with such detail and clarity, the reader has to root for Lovecraft, feeling his poverty (he would list out with pride how he could get by eating only twice a day, and surviving a week on just a few cans of beans, cold soup, and the occasional piece of bread or other sundry item, sometimes old and possibly even spoiled) and his frustrations at countless story rejections from official publishing houses, while taking in his obvious enjoyment in his travels and the accolades he received from so many fellow writers and followers. There are also some funny moments, involving editorial clients that Lovecraft endured who obviously could not write a wit! The ending is sad, of course, as Lovecraft did not live past 46, and as you near it, you start to feel as if you are approaching an already known climax in a fictional story that you wish could have been avoided.

If you are a student or fan of Lovecraft’s writing, this is a definitive work you cannot miss.

[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.

[Sjoerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing volume 1 half a year ago, I realized that the stories which would be discussed in volume 2 would be those I haven't read yet. So I put down volume 2 and started reading all stories to fill in the gaps. Because my collection of HPL stories is not chronological I was really missing a lot of them. So half a year later I finally could continue reading the biography, because ever time HPL writes or revises a story, we get a summary and a literary critism.

The political opinions of Lovecraft were my least favorite to read about, because I am not that interested in politics, especially those of another country, especially those of the USA. Although HPL's opinions about how it works in the States do align with what I also think.

I did like his road tripping and ice cream eating contests. Of the latter there were two occurrences.

I am not to sure what I think of the opinions of the writer ST Joshi. While I admire his work in the fields, I do think he does take his own opinions to seriously and really find it strange when he refers to himself, at least one time in the third person. Maybe he should be more tongue in cheek about his own fan boyisms. When reading this book he kept on and kept on dumping on August Derleth, while in my back mind I kept on thinking about the parallels between these two men.

I was also missing the impact Lovecraft had on music, or in the reverse the impact music had on the recognition of Lovecraft. For example, my friends and I came to know Lovecraft the songs of Metallica. The first one was released in 1984 and the second one in 1986.

Why am I saying what I am missing and nothing about the rest of the contents of the book? Well there are is in there, every minute detail, every person who ever received a letter by him, had an appointment with him, saw him walking in the street. And I devoured it.

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of Lovecraft's life, unfortunately marred by some lazy stylistic choices and the occasional typo.

[Braian Cthulhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

La mejor biografía de la historia.

[Sergio Armisén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Segundo volumen de la fundamental biografía de Lovecraft a cargo del máximo experto actual en la materia: el infatigable S. T. Joshi.

El segundo volumen sigue la misma estructura que el primero, como era de esperar, una curiosa mezcla entre autobiografía, apreciación de la filosofía de HPL y revisión crítica de su obra, cubriendo los años más interesantes de su tránsito vital: 1924 a 1937, periodo en el que produjo su ficción más interesante y memorable y donde sucedieron los eventos más destacados de su vida: matrimonio con Sonia Haft Greene y traslado a Nueva York, separación y retorno a Providence y explosión creativa, introducción en el mundo de la escritura "profesional" a través de las revistas Pulp, ampliación de su círculo de amistades (en muchos casos de manera exclusivamente epistolar) y en muchos casos una suerte de "mecenazgo" artístico de jóvenes talentos... así hasta el triste y amargo final.

Especialmente interesante es el último capítulo, donde Joshi glosa las vicisitudes de la obra del autor desde su fallecimiento, en la oscuridad un escritor que jamás vio publicada su obra en "tapa dura" y que no era conocido más allá del pequeño círculo de sus admiradores y los aficionados a la literatura "barata" que se publicaba habitualmente en las revistas "Pulp" hasta ser considerado, hoy en dia, una de las grandes luminarias del génera, quizás solo superado por Edgar Allan Poe. Hay que decir que el máximo artífice de dicha "visibilización", August Derleth, no sale bien parado en la obra: no sé si Joshi tiene algo personal en contra de Derleth -me consta que Joshi trabajó en Arkham House, la editorial creada por Derleth para publicar a, entre otros autores, Lovecraft- pero las acusaciones de "fagocitación" y "bastardización" del legado de HPL son frecuentes.

En cualquier caso, esto es imprescindible para cualquier amante del gran Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second volume of Joshi's exhaustive biography of Lovecraft, detailing the years in which he wrote much of his best-known work and his demise. Particularly notable for documenting how R.H. Barlow was pretty clearly Lovecraft's intended literary executor, and how he was ruthlessly usurped in this role by August Derleth.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about the second volume of Mr Joshi's amazing second volume and conclusion to his mammoth biography of Lovecraft. Other than I am simply amazed at its quality and it has given me a much greater insight and deal of respect of my favourite writer

[Adam Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who needs a social life when you can stay home & read a 1000 page biography of HPL?

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as mr. Lovecraft is concerned, I cannot imagine how these two volumes of biography could ever be surpassed.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rewarding read. Serious and thorough.

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

This and the first volume together make for comprehensive and essential reading for any Lovecraft devotee

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A facinating look into a facinating author.