What caused the death of Winfield Scott Lovecraft father of H. P. Lovecraft?

The death certificate listed general paresis as the cause of death for Winfield Scott Lovecraft which is a term synonymous with late-stage syphilis.

Why did H. P. Lovecraft move from New York back to Providence in 1926?

H. P. Lovecraft moved back to Providence in 1926 after losing approximately thirty pounds due to discomfort and a burglary in his single-room apartment near Red Hook.

When did H. P. Lovecraft first articulate the philosophy known as cosmicism?

H. P. Lovecraft first articulated the central theme of cosmicism in 1921 but did not fully incorporate it into fiction until five years later.

H. P. Lovecraft: the story on HearLore

Q: Who did H. P. Lovecraft marry on the 3rd of March 1924?

H. P. Lovecraft married Sonia Greene on the 3rd of March 1924 and relocated to her Brooklyn apartment at 259 Parkside Avenue.

Q: How did H. P. Lovecraft's political views change during the Great Depression?

H. P. Lovecraft became a socialist influenced by the increase in socialism's political capital during the 1930s while maintaining opposition to Soviet Marxism.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on the 20th of August 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His father Winfield Scott Lovecraft suffered a psychotic episode in a Chicago hotel during April 1893. Medical records from Butler Hospital state that Winfield was doing and saying strange things for a year before his commitment. He spent five years in the institution before dying in 1898. The death certificate listed general paresis as the cause of death, a term synonymous with late-stage syphilis. Young Howard lived with his mother Susie and maternal grandparents Whipple Van Buren Phillips and Robie. Whipple became a father figure to the boy who was already proficient at reading by age three. Grandfather Whipple encouraged young Howard to appreciate literature and English poetry. He also told original weird tales involving winged horrors and deep moaning sounds. These stories likely originated from Gothic novelists like Ann Radcliffe or Matthew Lewis. The family home held a large library containing classical literature and scientific works. Whipple's business ventures began suffering a downturn around 1900. He was forced to let go of hired servants leaving only four people in the house. A catastrophic failure occurred within months of Whipple's death in spring 1904. The family moved to a small duplex later that year due to financial ruin. Lovecraft called this period one of the darkest times of his life. He remarked in a 1934 letter that he saw no point in living anymore. His scientific curiosity prevented him from committing suicide despite these thoughts.

Lovecraft published his first non-self-published poem titled Providence in 2000 A.D. in a local newspaper during 1912. This work envisioned Americans of English descent being displaced by immigrants. In 1913 he wrote a critical letter to Fred Jackson about Argosy magazine. Lovecraft described Jackson's stories as trivial effeminate and coarse. He argued that Jackson's characters exhibited delicate passions proper to negroes and anthropoid apes. This sparked a nearly year-long feud between the two writers. John Russell often replied in verse to Lovecraft's criticisms. Edward F. Daas head editor of the United Amateur Press Association invited both men to join. Lovecraft joined UAPA in April 1914. He became chairman of the Department of Public Criticism in late 1914. He used this position to advocate for archaic English language usage over modern American slang. In mid-1915 he was elected vice-president of UAPA. Two years later he became president. World War I began while he served in leadership roles. Lovecraft published multiple criticisms of the American government regarding its reluctance to protect England. His first short story The Alchemist appeared in the main UAPA journal in 1916. W. Paul Cook encouraged him to write more prose fiction. Soon afterwards he wrote The Tomb and Dagon. The Tomb was greatly influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's style. Dagon is considered his first work displaying concepts known today as cosmicism. Beyond the Wall of Sleep followed in 1919 as his first science fiction story.

Lovecraft married Sonia Greene on the 3rd of March 1924 and relocated to her Brooklyn apartment at 259 Parkside Avenue. She thought he needed to leave Providence to flourish. Her family connections helped prevent him from serving in the Rhode Island Army National Guard after a failed attempt to enlist. Lovecraft gained weight due to his wife's home cooking. He acquired intellectual friends through what became informally known as the Kalem Club. Core members included Henry Everett McNeil James Ferdinand Morton Jr. and Reinhardt Kleiner. Edwin Baird editor of Weird Tales accepted many stories including Under the Pyramids which was ghostwritten for Harry Houdini. Sonia moved to Cleveland on the 1st of January 1925 leaving Lovecraft alone in a small apartment at 169 Clinton Street near Red Hook. This location came to discomfort him greatly. His single-room apartment was burgled leaving him with only the clothes he wore. He lost approximately thirty pounds by 1926 when he left for Providence. During this time he wrote The Horror at Red Hook and He. In the latter narrator states that coming to New York had been a mistake. He found horror and oppression instead of wonder. He also wrote Supernatural Horror in Literature which later became one of the most influential essays on the subject. A weekly allowance from Greene allowed him to move to working-class Brooklyn Heights. He eventually returned to Providence in 1926.

Back in Providence Lovecraft lived with his aunts in a spacious brown Victorian wooden house at 10 Barnes Street until 1933. He then moved to 66 Prospect Street which became his final home. This period contained some of his most prominent works including The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The former story represents a partial repudiation of Lord Dunsany's influence. He frequently revised work for other authors doing large amounts of ghostwriting. Harry Houdini was laudatory and attempted to help him by introducing him to newspaper syndicate heads. Plans for a book titled The Cancer of Superstition ended due to Houdini's death in 1926. Robert E. Howard began corresponding with Lovecraft after August 1930 when he praised a reprint of The Rats in the Walls. Their vigorous correspondence lasted for the rest of Howard's life. Howard quickly became a member of the Lovecraft Circle. During this time Lovecraft produced work that brought no remuneration. He failed to reply when one publisher inquired about any novel ready for publication. Although he had completed The Case of Charles Dexter Ward it was never typed up. Sonia Greene moved to California in 1933 and remarried in 1936 unaware that Lovecraft never officially signed their divorce decree. In late 1936 The Shadow over Innsmouth appeared as a paperback book with only 400 copies printed. Approximately 200 copies were bound before the publisher went out of business seven years later. His declining psychological state made it impossible to continue writing fiction.

Lovecraft began his life as a Tory likely resulting from his conservative upbringing. His family supported the Republican Party throughout his entire life. He voted for Herbert Hoover in the 1928 U.S. presidential election. Rhode Island remained politically conservative into the 1930s. Lovecraft himself was an Anglophile who admired the British monarchy. He opposed democracy and thought the United States should be governed by an aristocracy. This viewpoint emerged during his youth and lasted until the end of the 1920s. During World War I his Anglophilia caused him to strongly support the Allies against the Central Powers. Many early poems were devoted to then-current political subjects. He published several political essays in his amateur journal The Conservative. He was a teetotaler who supported Prohibition which was one of the few reforms he supported early on. As a result of the Great Depression Lovecraft re-examined his political views. Initially he thought affluent people would solve America's problems but this did not occur. He became a socialist influenced by the increase in socialism's political capital during the 1930s. One main point of his socialism was its opposition to Soviet Marxism. He thought that an intellectual aristocracy needed to be formed to preserve America. In his 1933 essay Some Repetitions on the Times he advocated governmental control of resource distribution. He also outlined the need for fewer working hours and higher wages.

The central theme of Lovecraft's corpus is cosmicism. Cosmicism argues that humanity is an insignificant force in the universe. Despite appearing pessimistic Lovecraft thought of himself as being a cosmic indifferentist. Human beings are often subject to powerful beings but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity. He believed in a meaningless mechanical and uncaring universe. Lovecraft first articulated this philosophy in 1921 but did not fully incorporate it into fiction until five years later. Dagon Beyond the Wall of Sleep and The Temple contain early depictions of this concept. Nyarlathotep interprets the collapse of human civilization as a corollary to the collapse of the universe. The Call of Cthulhu represents an intensification of this theme. In these works Lovecraft expresses cosmicism through confirmation rather than revelation. Lovecraftian protagonists do not learn that they are insignificant. Instead they already know it and have it confirmed through an event. His fiction reflects ambivalent views regarding knowledge itself. Happiness is only achievable through blissful ignorance. Trying to know things not meant to be known leads to harm and psychological danger. Self-knowledge can bring ruin to those who seek it. Those seekers become aware of their own insignificance unable to bear the weight of this knowledge.

Lovecraft was relatively unknown during his lifetime though stories appeared in prominent pulp magazines like Weird Tales. Edmund Wilson sneered in 1945 that the only real horror was bad taste and bad art. However Wilson praised Lovecraft's ability to write about his chosen field with much intelligence. By 1957 Floyd C. Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction said Lovecraft was comparable to Robert E. Howard. He stated that Lovecraft at his best could build a mood of horror unsurpassed. Colin Wilson cited Lovecraft as one of the pioneers of the assault on rationality in 1962. Subsequently Lovecraft began acquiring cult status in the counterculture of the 1960s. Michael Dirda described him as a visionary rightly regarded second only to Edgar Allan Poe. In 2005 the Library of America published a volume of Lovecraft's works selling 25,000 copies within a month. Several scholars including S. T. Joshi confirmed Lovecraft's place in the western canon. August Derleth founded Arkham House with Donald Wandrei to preserve Lovecraft's works after his death. Derleth added to and expanded on Lovecraft's vision creating an entire cosmology complete with wars between Elder Gods and Outer Gods. The first World Fantasy Awards were held in Providence in 1975 with the theme The Lovecraft Circle. Winners received an elongated bust designed by Gahan Wilson nicknamed the Howard until 2015.

H. P. Lovecraft

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New York Years And Kalem Club

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Cosmicism And Forbidden Knowledge

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