H.P. Lovecraft – Biography

The Biography of H. P. Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft was a writer notable for creating horror fictions, novels and novellas, and short stories.

Synopsis
The city of Providence in Rhode Island graced the birth of Lovecraft on August 20, 1890. In the year 1923, some of his stories were purchased by The Weird Tales horror magazine. Chief among his stories that was released by Weird Tales in 1928 was “The Call of Chthulhu”. The central idea of this story has been found in other similar tales. Towards the end of his life, he worked as an editor and as a ghostwriter in order to make a living. March 15, 1937 marked his death in the same city that graced his birth. However, his creativity has been a gift of longevity for him in the art of horror fiction.

Early Life
The fantastical horror fiction versatile writer H. P. Lovecraft was given the name Howard Phillips Lovecraft at birth in the year 1890 in the Providence, Rhodes Island. His childhood was strange being marked with tragedies that are unfitting for a child. This was traced to the severe mental condition of his traveling salesman father when he was at the tender age of 3. His father was found to have a mental disorder derived from untreated syphilis. In 1893, his father was hospitalized as a patient in Province’s Butler Hospital and he remained there till he passed away in the year 1898.

As a child, Lovecraft was always ill. This made him substitute most of his school hours for sickbed at home. He became engrossed in the works of literature covering many areas in plethora of texts. He grew a strong attraction for the work of Edgar Allan Pole and had a strong motivation to become an astronomer. In his teenage, he got an admission to Hope High School but his pursuit of diploma was terminated due to the fact that he experienced a nervous breakdown. Lovecraft developed a habit of reclusion for many years. He did most of his scholarly work such as studying, reading, and writing into the dead night and used the daytime to sleep and stay indoors. At this period, some of his works on astronomy found their publications in several newspapers.

Career Life
In his early career days, in the year 1914, Lovecraft enrolled in the United Amateur Press Association as a potential journalist. It was a year after that he launched his self-created magazine called The Conservative. Therein, he published many essays and other literary pieces. Although, there was record of him during fiction earlier on, his focus on writing stories became more nurtured in the year 1917. Lord Dunsany’s writings and those of Edgar Allan Poe influenced most of Lovecraft’s early work. Dunsany himself had already gained significant reputation as an Irish writer of tales of fantasy and horror at this time.

In the year 1923, Lovecraft had his first remarkable success in the domain of Literature when Weird Tales horror magazine purchased his stories. A year after that, he had his marriage with Sonia Greene. They resided in the city of Network for two years after which they divorced. Bearing to the termination of his marriage, Lovecraft found his way back to Rhodes Island and commenced work on some of the stories that lifted him to the pinnacle of success. In the year 1928, “The Call of Cthuluh” was released in The Weird Tales horror magazine, and it perhaps depicted an incontestable truth that Lovecraft had a unique creative power in the creation of horror stories that seemed out of this world.

Lovecraft brought his audience to the awareness of superhuman beings that would cause massive destruction to the human race. The central idea of this masterpiece has since then reappeared in other related stories that are collectively classified as the “Cthuluh mythos”. Clearly, the stories that constitute the Cthuluh mythos are birthed from the philosophical ideals of Lovecraft. Original statements of Lovecraft that expressed the fundamental principle upon which his stories were built were released in an American Heritage Magazine. Lovecraft was quoted, “all of my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and emotions have no validity or significance in the cosmos-at-large”.

His Legacy and Death
In his end days, it was hard for Lovecraft to make a living. He had to work as an editor and as a ghostwriter to have some of the basic amenities of life. In all of this, he was also battling Cancer. On March 15 1937, Lovecraft lost his life to cancer in Providence, Rhode Island. There are more than sixty stories in his name and a few novel and novellas was also added to the list. Popular among these works is The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Lovecraft dealt was greatly felt by some of his devoted followers, colleagues with whom he had collaboration and acquaintanceship, and aspiring writers who looked up to him. Among his friends, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei partnered together to make Arkham House publishing company for the promotion and preservation of Lovecraft’s works.
Lovecraft had more recognition and more merits after his demise than he did in his lifetime. He has been a motivational source for writers like Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Peter Straub. His stories as also served as the ultimate reference material for the creation of variety of films. Films like “Hunters of the Dark (2011)” and “Cthuluh (2007)” are testimonials of the fact of this inspirational nature of Lovecraft’s works. Published in the American Heritage Magazine, Stephen King gave a valid description of Lovecraft’s legacy as he stated, “Now, the time has given us some perspective on his work, I think it is beyond doubt that H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale”.
Lovecraft’s legacy is a perennial one that has left a permanent signature on the heart of classic horror tale.