cover next page >
Cover
title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject
publication date: lcc: ddc: subject:
An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
Joshi, S. T.; Schultz, David E.
Greenwood Publishing Group
0313315787
9780313315787
9780313016820
English
Lovecraft, H. P.--(Howard Phillips),--1890-1937-Encyclopedias, Authors, American--20th century-Biography--Encyclopedias, Horror tales, American-Encyclopedias.
2001
PS3523.O833Z459 2001eb
813/.52
Lovecraft, H. P.--(Howard Phillips),--1890-1937-Encyclopedias, Authors, American--20th century-Biography--Encyclopedias, Horror tales, American-Encyclopedias.
cover next page > < previous page page_i next page >
Page i
An H.P.Lovecraft Encyclopedia < previous page page_i next page > < previous page page_ii next page >
Page ii
Howard P.Lovecraft, First Vice-President U.A.P.A. (Courtesy of the Brown University Library.)
< previous page page_ii next page > < previous page page_iii next page >
Page iii
An H.P.Lovecraft Encyclopedia S.T.Joshi and David E.Schultz
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
< previous page page_iii next page > < previous page page_iv next page >
Page iv
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Joshi, S.T., 1958–
An H.P.Lovecraft encyclopedia/S.T.Joshi and David E.Schultz. p. cm.
Includes bibliographic references (p.) and index.
ISBN 0–313–31578–7 (alk. paper)
1. Lovecraft, H.P. (Howard Phillips), 1890–1937—Encyclopedias. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography—Encyclopedias. 3. Horror tales, American—Encyclopedias. I. Schultz, David E., 1952– II. Title. PS3523.O833Z459 2001
813′.52—dc21
[B] 2001023841
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2001 by S.T.Joshi and David E.Schultz
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001023841
ISBN: 0-313-31578-7
First published in 2001
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
< previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page >
Page v
To Dirk W.Mosig, pioneer and friend
< previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vi next page >
Page vi
This page intentionally left blank.
< previous page page_vi next page > < previous page page_vii next page >
Page vii
Contents
Preface
Chronology
Abbreviations and Short Titles The Encyclopedia
General Bibliography
Index
ix
xiii
xix
1
309 313
< previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page >
Page viii
This page intentionally left blank.
< previous page page_viii next page > < previous page page_ix next page >
Page ix
Preface
During the past three decades, scholarly work on H.P.Lovecraft (1890–1937) has expanded exponentially in every phase of research. Building upon the early efforts of George T.Wetzel, Matthew H.Onderdonk, and Fritz Leiber, such scholars as Kenneth W.Faig, Jr., and R.Alain Everts revolutionized the understanding of Lovecraft’s life, while Dirk W.Mosig, Donald R.Burleson, and many others examined his tales, poems, essays, and letters with perspicuity and precision. It was inevitable that these endeavors—resulting in numerous capable general studies of Lovecraft,1 the first comprehensive Lovecraft bibliography,2 the foundation of the journal Lovecraft Studiesas a forum for scholarly research, the preparation of textually accurate editions of Lovecraft’s stories, and, as a culmination, the publication of an exhaustive biography and an equally exhaustive collection of memoirs of Lovecraft3—would result in a marked rise in Lovecraft’s literary recognition as a writer, thinker, and man of letters.
And yet, much of this research is scattered heterogeneously in small-press or academic publications, many out of print and inaccessible. It is in the hope that a gathering of widely dispersed information on Lovecraft will engender even more penetrating scholarship and also provide Lovecraft’s many devotees with the tools for a more informed appreciation of his work that the present volume has been assembled.
In a compilation of this kind, the chief focus must be upon Lovecraft’s literary work. For every such item, we have supplied (1) the word count; (2) the date of writing, as well as can be ascertained; and information on (3) its first publication; (4) its first appearance in a volume by Lovecraft; and (5) its appearance in textually corrected or annotated editions. Lovecraft is best known for his tales of horror and the supernatural; accordingly, the compilers have provided detailed plot synopses of every fictional work—stories, sketches, collaborative works, “revisions” or ghostwritten tales—written by Lovecraft from the age of seven until his death. Only brief critical commentary is supplied, since we feel it is not
< previous page page_ix next page > < previous page page_x next page >
Page x
our place to enforce our own judgments or evaluations upon readers. Instead, we have devoted our commentary to relatively concrete matters: the literary or biographical sources for the tales, as frequently noted by Lovecraft himself in letters or other documents; relations between a given tale and others written earlier or later; particular features of a tale that require elucidation. At the end of every entry, we supply citations to books or articles (arranged chronologically) discussing the work in question. For books, only the year of publication is cited except in the case of small-press items, where we also supply the publisher. It should be noted that many general studies of Lovecraft treat individual tales, sometimes in considerable detail. The reader is referred to the bibliography at the end of the volume for such studies.
Other bodies of Lovecraft’s work—essays, poetry, and letters—must perforce be treated less comprehensively than his fiction. Not all essays or poems have received separate entries, but only those that are of particular significance and have engendered discussion by scholars. As every poem by Lovecraft is now included in the recently published edition of The Ancient Track: Complete Poetical Works(2001), we have not cited this volume in any of the entries on Lovecraft’s poems. The entries on fictional characters in Lovecraft’s tales are quite brief, since the story synopses provide a better means for discussing their actions and functions. Lovecraft deliberately downplayed the role of human characters in his tales. His “cosmic” perspective saw the human race as a tiny and insignificant element within the infinities of space and time; late in life he actually wrote, “the only ‘heroes’ I can write about are phenomena” (SL 5.19). This approach, however, produces difficulty in a reference volume of this kind, since the roles of many characters are quite minimal. Nevertheless, we have attempted to supply brief entries on these figures, with the exception of real individuals (e.g., Albert Einstein) mentioned in the stories. (This itself causes some difficulty with such a work as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,a historical novel that utilizes real figures from history performing manifestly fictitious actions. None of these characters has been listed.) In some cases, members of a family are presented in a single omnibus entry, and their names appear in boldface. Life dates for a character are supplied whenever this information appears in the story. Many of Lovecraft’s characters (including the first-person narrators of several important tales) are unnamed. Since their roles are often quite important and thus warrant discussion, we address them under the entry “Narrators, Unidentified,” where they are grouped alphabetically by story title. Invented species (e.g., the fungi from Yuggoth in “The Whisperer in Darkness” or the multitude of bizarre creatures featured in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath) are not listed; their roles can be ascertained in the story entries. Lovecraft’s colleagues, and the authors who influenced him, have been the subject of much diligent research on the part of scholars. We have written entries on many individuals who knew Lovecraft, even if only by correspondence; very obscure correspondents, about whom almost nothing is known, are excluded. Lovecraft apparently was influenced by a wide array of writers in the domain of supernatural fiction, but separate entries are provided only for such major figures as Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Dunsany, Arthur Machen, and Algernon