*NB Please refer to the above post FIRST for the first half of this HPL bio I have entitled "THE EARLY YEARS" before proceeding.
HOWARD PHILLIPS LOVECRAFT (AUGUST 20 1890 – MARCH 15 1937) CONTINUED...
ADULTHOOD
From 1908-1913 HPL lived an almost reclusive existence, restricting himself to personal letters, some astronomical pursuits with further endeavours into chemistry and archaic verse but no additional story writing, whilst maintaining his long held preferences of dining on candied foods as opposed to more nutritional foodstuffs combined with the absence of any exercise. During these years of isolation, he also developed an unhealthy association with his mother who apparently, still suffering from her husband’s death, developed a love-hate relationship with her son.
By 1912 his enthusiasm for Chemistry and Astronomy began to wane somewhat due to a certain lack of understanding of mathematical principles. Conversely his interest in literature began to increase with renewed vigour and included anything from well-known authors such as Shakespeare, HG Wells and Jules Verne to the Gothic novelists like Walpole and Radcliffe. Perhaps unfortunately, in March 1912, his first piece of published verse “Providence In 2000AD” appeared in the pulp magazine “The Argosy” with other pieces to follow that would be regarded by today’s standards as blatantly racist but by the values of the day quite acceptable within HPL’s Anglo-Saxon Protestant world. In the following year, HPL gained further notoriety, attacking Argosy contributor Fred Jackson for his sickly love stories, an event that consequently caused something of an ongoing literary battle between the magazine’s loyal fans and HPL.
It was at about this time that the United Amateur Press Association, a group of US amateur writers who produced their own magazines, took an interest in HPL’s activities requesting he join the group, which he promptly did in 1914. HPL appeared to revel in providing editorial assistance to less experienced writers with his input extending to the Providence Amateur Press Club in addition to archaic verses, social commentary and still some articles on astronomy.
In 1915 he began his own magazine, “The Conservative” (1915-1919) that focused on 2 of his main interests, the use of archaic English and a continuance of his perhaps somewhat small-minded racial views. In November 1916, his earlier work “The Alchemist” was printed in the “United Amateur”, his first published work of horror followed later by his earlier piece "The Beast in the Cave". Encouraged by his peers, HPL wrote 2 new stories in 1917 entitled “The Tomb” and “Dagon” as he began compiling a few more of his weird tales, although none of these new works of fiction would be printed until around 1920 as during this same period his essays and poetry still remained his predominant literary output.
In 1919 HPL’s mother, her mental and physical well-being worsening, suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to Butler Hospital. During this period, HPL continued to write stories, a number of which were increasingly influenced by author Lord Dunsany’s so-called mythological dream world. In fact, HPL’s tendency to employ his own nightmares as a basis for some of his earlier tales during this period as he progressed towards what would become known as his dreamland stories and poems like “Whiteship” and “The Cats Of Ulthar” marks a certain literary shift away from his more Poe-inspired macabre tales. It also signifies perhaps a more obvious adoption of the concept of a “cosmic” philosophy in his fictional work, which purports that humanity is essentially irrelevant in the overall context of the universe, a theme that would become even more implicit in later works. In fact his blending of horror elements with an underlying cosmological viewpoint give rise to the genre he created, namely “cosmic horror”, an area lying somewhere between horror and science fiction.
On May 24, 1921, following a previously bungled operation, HPL’s mother died and whilst initially shattered by his loss, he soon attended a journalist convention in Boston where he met widowed New York businesswoman Sonia H. Greene. During their courtship over the next couple of years, HPL continued to write his dreamland series featuring one of his major characters and HPL’s fictional alter ego Randolph Carter. This period also heralds his increasing workload as a revisionist that encapsulates both the editing of other author’s works as well as ghostwriting several stories in addition to, not unsurprisingly, a continuation of his voluminous correspondence.
Then, in 1924, the couple conducted a “secret marriage”, much to the chagrin of his 2 aunts, who it has been surmised, may not have otherwise approved of his liaisons with a “Non-Yankee Jewish Tradeswoman”. Initially things went well for the newlyweds in New York, with HPL selling several stories including the classic “Rats In The Wall’ to recently founded Weird Tales magazine and Sonia running a successful millinery business. However, soon Sonia’s business experienced financial troubles and her health declined, forcing her to take stock in rest homes, whilst HPL’s career as a writer and now revisionist didn’t prove particularly profitable, forcing him to search for regular work. Sonia later moved to Cleveland to start a new job, leaving HPL to continue in a city he began to very much despise. In fact several of his stories written during this period like “The Horror at Red Hook” and “He” strongly reflect a dislike for a New York populated by foreigners where one’s future aspirations are quickly destroyed.
In early 1926, with his discontent growing, HPL accepted an offer from his 2 aunts to return to Providence, Rhode Island who subsequently barred Sonia from coming and setting up a business there, presumably in deference to her background. HPL, doubtlessly with some degree of regret, acquiesced to his aunt’s demands essentially ending the marriage, with an official divorce concluding in 1929.
In contrast his return to Providence also realised his most productive period as a writer. Between 1926 and 1927 he wrote his dream-inspired classic "The Call of Cthulhu”, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, "The Colour Out Of Space”, his longest novel “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” and an historical piece “Supernatural Horror In Literature” amongst others. The Dream-Quest novel in a sense marks his transition, as one of the last of his dreamland series, to the development of his own interpretation of a “cosmic” vision as witnessed in his famous work "The Call of Cthulhu”. As a point of clarification, the subsequently named “Cthulhu Mythos” often associated with HPL, is in fact a term most likely devised by August Derleth following HPL’s death and as such should be considered separate to HPL’s mythology and stories developed over this last period of his life. What Derleth essentially did was to codify or framework HPL’s various mythological elements and fictional New England locations into a more coherent structure that later authors built upon and what is now collectively termed the “Cthulhu Mythos”.
Over the next few years, HPL would continue to develop his cosmic mythology producing some of his best work like “The Dunwich Horror” and “At the Mountains of Madness”, field questions regarding the “authenticity” of his mythical book “Necronomicon”, write more poetry and travel to antiquarian sites along the Eastern seaboard, which included some entertaining travelogues.
However in 1931, HPL received some literary blows including a rejection to publish “At the Mountains of Madness” that appears to have partially discouraged him from producing his own literary work in his final years.
In July 1932, one of his 2 remaining aunts died, a further blow to HPL, although he still continued his revision work and a number of collaborative stories in addition to encouraging many younger writers, as he had done in the previous decade, through his correspondence that now included Conan creator Robert E. Howard (REH) and Robert Bloch, author of “Psycho” and later Fritz Leiber.
After moving for a final time in early 1933 into a cheaper colonial-style home his remaining aunt broke her leg, forcing HPL to revisit his finances, which had been on the decline for some time due to the dwindling of his family inheritance and lack of literary sales. During this time his notoriously frugal nature became even more extreme, causing his insubstantial diet to deteriorate even further, a fact that may well have contributed to his final demise.
During the period 1933-36 HPL continued his revision work, some poetry, collaborations including a sequel to “The Silver Key” that featured Randolph Carter, some travel, correspondence and despite a growing dissatisfaction with the publishing process, some of his best-known work including “The Shadow Out Of Time” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”.
In 1936 the illness of his remaining aunt and the death of REH didn’t exactly help his ailing health and after being diagnosed with cancer of the intestine, he died on March 15, 1937 with burial at Swan Point Cemetery. In more recent times a separate marker stone has been erected that reads:
I Am Providence
Although HPL is best known for his weird fiction or more specifically his “cosmic horror” his vast correspondences, which have been estimated at something approaching 87,500 letters in the last 25 years of his life, also make him one of the most prolific letter writers of the 20th Century.
Since his death, Arkham House and more recently Necronomicon Press from the mid 1970s, have done much to print and publicise the works of HPL. This in combination with the continued development of the "Cthulhu Mythos”, numerous films albeit the vast majority of which are very poor imitations of his original work, many songs including some by Metallica, art works, RPGs (role-playing games), comic books, at times problematic translations into other languages and Lovecraft festivals have all ensured that HPL will continue to be a major influence in the realm of speculative fiction for generations to come.
