Almost unknown during his lifetime, like many classic writers, today Lovecraft Howard Phillips has become a cult figure. He became famous both as the creator of the whole pantheon of deities, including the popular ruler of the worlds Cthulhu in the media culture, and as the founder of a new religion. But no matter how great the contribution to literature made by Howard Lovecraft, the writer's books were published only after his death. Now the biography of the author of many stories in the horror genre has overgrown with mystical details. His solitary lifestyle is one of the myths created after the death of the writer.
Lovecraft Howard: childhood
The future author of Call of Cthulhu was born in 1890. The name of the writer's hometown is Providence, which translates as "providence." It will be placed on his gravestone in the form of a prophecy: I am providence ("I am providence"). Since childhood, Lovecraft Howard suffered from nightmares, the main characters of which were terrible monsters, who later migrated to his works. One of the works, Dagon, is such a recorded dream. Researchers of the writer's work note that this story was an example of continuity in the works of the author. In "Dagon" you can see the rudiments of future works.
Grandfather, the owner of the largest library in the state, where little Howard spent most of his time, had the greatest influence on the writer. There he discovered the Arabian "Tales of the 1001 Nights", which greatly influenced his work, giving rise to one of the characters - the author of the book "Necronomicon" Abdul Alhazred. But most of all young Lovecraft was interested in astronomy; his works were even published in scientific journals. As a schoolboy, he wrote his first story in the horror genre - “The Beast in the Underground”, after which he became famous as a poet.
Leitmotifs of Howard Lovecraft
With increasing popularity, Lovecraft began to correspond with other science fiction writers. He was especially close to the author of Conan the Barbarian, Robert Howard. Their works have much in common: the same ancient gods, magic rituals and manuscripts are found. A strong influence on the writer had the work of Bosch. In 1927, he published a work on the supernatural, in which he analyzes the origin and development of a new literary trend: horror stories.
He describes the formation of Gothic prose, arguing that the human consciousness hides behind ignorance, so as not to go crazy with the inability to realize all the complexities and interconnections of the world. The author builds the plots of his works on the basis of the premise that the features of human perception of reality have no significance for higher beings and other biological forms. This leitmotif first appears in Dagon, after which it is reflected in the most popular story written by Howard Lovecraft - The Call of Cthulhu, as well as in the novel Shadow over Innsmouth.
Call of Cthulhu
Lovecraft Howard contacted some scholars with the Masonic Order and the occultist Aleister Crowley. The reason for this was his work, including a whole pantheon of ancient gods, described in stories and short stories. The mythology created by the writer was called “Myths of Cthulhu”: in honor of the deity who first appeared in the story “Call of Cthulhu”, which is neither the most important nor the most terrible in the pantheon. It was it that earned the greatest popularity among admirers of such a master to depict horrors as Howard Lovecraft. Reviews of his books, especially with the presence of this character, are mostly enthusiastic, they arouse interest in the work of the author.
Howard Lovecraft: Author Books
What other works of the writer are popular to this day? You can safely say that the majority. Each reader finds for himself something attractive and exciting in the various works of Lovecraft. But we can distinguish among them several major masterpieces:
- One of the best is the story "Whispering in the Dark" - about the alien race of intelligent mushrooms. He is part of the Cthulhu Myths and echoes the other works of Lovecraft.
- “Color from other worlds”, which the author himself considered his best work. The story tells of a family of farmers and the terrible events that happened to her after a meteorite fall.
- The Ridges of Madness is a novel, one of the central works in which Cthulhu mythology is present. For the first time, the alien race Elders (or Elders) is mentioned in it.
- “Shadow from timelessness” is another story about an extraterrestrial civilization that captured the mind of earthlings.
Lovecraft's Legacy
The mythology created by Howard Lovecraft inspires Stephen King, August Derlet and other famous modern writers, famous for their "creepy" works. Lovecraft characters appear in computer games and movies. He himself is called Edgar By the 20th century. Based on several books, including The Dunwich Horror, a board game was invented about the awakening of Ancient Evil. The image of Cthulhu is replicated in popular culture, even an unconventional religious organization, known as the “Cult of Cthulhu”, has been created. Although it is difficult to say, a writer of such popularity would be glad if he survived to the present day. There is no doubt only that the work of Lovecraft will be relevant for a very long time.