Lovecraft Howard Philips: literary heritage

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Virtually unknown in his lifetime, like many classic writers, today Lovecraft Howard Phillips has become a cult figure. He became famous both as the creator of a whole pantheon of deities, including the ruler of the worlds of Cthulhu, popular in the media culture, and as the founder of a new religion. But no matter how great was the contribution to literature that Howard Lovecraft made, the writer's books were published only after his death. Now the biography of the author of many stories in the horror genre has acquired mystical details. His solitary lifestyle is one of the myths created after the death of the writer.

Lovecraft Howard: Childhood

The future author of The Call of Cthulhu was born in 1890. The name of the writer's hometown - Providence, is translated as "providence". It will be placed on his tombstone in the form of a prophecy: I am providence ("I am providence"). Since childhood, Howard Lovecraft suffered from nightmares, the main characters of which were terrible monsters, which later migrated to his works. One ofworks, "Dagon", is such a recorded dream. Researchers of the writer's work note that this story has become an example of continuity in the author's works. In "Dagon" you can see the beginnings of future works.

The greatest influence on the writer was his grandfather, the owner of the most extensive library in the state, where little Howard spent most of his time. There he discovered the Arabic "Tales of 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 work was even published in scientific journals. As a schoolboy, he wrote his first horror story, "The Beast in the Dungeon", after which he became famous as a poet.

Leitmotifs of Howard Lovecraft

As his popularity grew, Lovecraft began to correspond with other science fiction writers. He became especially close to the author of Conan the Barbarian, Robert Howard. Their works have much in common: there are the same Old Gods, magical rituals and manuscripts. The work of Bosch had a strong influence on the writer. In 1927, he published a work on the supernatural, in which he analyzes the birth and development of a new literary movement: horror stories.

He describes the rise of gothic prose, arguing that human consciousness hides behind ignorance so as not to go crazy from the inability to realize all the complexities and interconnections of the world. Plots of theirThe author builds his works on the basis of the premise that the peculiarities of human perception of reality have no meaning for higher beings and other biological forms. This leitmotif first appears in "Dagon", after which it finds its reflection in the most popular story written by Howard Lovecraft - "The Call of Cthulhu", as well as in the story "Shadow over Innsmouth".

Call of Cthulhu

Lovecraft Howard was contacted by some researchers 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 novels. The mythology created by the writer was called "Myths of Cthulhu": in honor of the deity that first appeared in the story "The 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 of depicting horrors as Howard Lovecraft. Reviews of his books, especially with the presence of this character, are mostly enthusiastic, they arouse interest in the author's work.

Howard Lovecraft: author's books

What other works of the writer are popular to this day? We can safely say that the majority. Each reader finds something attractive and exciting in the various works of Lovecraft. But there are several main masterpieces among them:

1. One of the best is the story "Whisperer in the Dark" - about an alien race of intelligent mushrooms. It is part of the Cthulhu Mythos and echoesother works of Lovecraft.
2. "Color from other worlds", which the author himself considered his best work. The story tells about a family of farmers and the terrible events that happened to them after the meteorite fell.
3. "The Ridges of Madness" is a novel, one of the central works in which the mythology of Cthulhu is present. It first mentions the alien race Elders (or Elders).
4. "Shadow from timelessness" - another story about an extraterrestrial civilization that captured the minds of earthlings.

Lovecraft's Legacy

The mythology created by Howard Lovecraft inspires Stephen King, August Derleth and other famous contemporary writers famous for their "creepy" works. Lovecraft's characters appear in computer games and movies. He himself is called the Edgar Allan Poe of the 20th century. Based on several books, including The Dunwich Horror, a board game about the awakening of an Ancient Evil was invented. 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 whether a writer of such popularity would have been happy if he had lived to this day. There is no doubt that Lovecraft's work will be relevant for a very long time.