I am providence : the life and times of H.P. Lovecraft

1439 Pages·2013·6.4 MB·English

by  Sunand T. Joshi

I Am Providence
I Am Providence
The Life and Times of
H. P. Lovecraft
S. T. Joshi
Hippocampus Press
————————
New York
Copyright © 2013 by S. T. Joshi
Published by Hippocampus Press
P.O. Box 641, New York, NY 10156.
http://www.hippocampuspress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without the written permission of the publisher.
Hippocampus Press logo by Anastasia Damianakos.
Cover design by Barbara Briggs Silbert.
First Ebook Edition, 2013
EPUB Edition ISBN: 978-1-61498-077-3
Kindle Edition ISBN: 978-1-61498-078-0
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Joshi, S. T., 1958-
I am Providence : the life and times of H.P. Lovecraft / S. T. Joshi. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Complete in 2 volumes.
In 1996, S. T. Joshi's H.P. Lovecraft: a life was published. The edition was
abridged by more than 150,000 words. This new version I am Providence: the
life and times of H.P. Lovecraft restores every word of Joshi's original
manuscript. The text has been revised and updated in light of the new
information on Lovecraft that has emerged since 1996—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-9824296-7-9 (alk. paper)
1. Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937. 2. Authors, American—20th
century—Biography. 3. Fantasy fiction—Authorship. 4. Horror tales—
Authorship. I. Title.
PS3523.O833Z72 2010
813'.52—dc22
[B]
To
Kenneth W. Faig, Jr
Donald R. Burleson
and
David E. Schultz
Preface
I don’t imagine that the publication of so large a biography of H. P. Lovecraft
needs a defence today: his ascent into the canon of American literature with the
publication of the Library of America edition of his Tales (2005), and,
concurrently, his continued popularity among devotees of horror fiction, comics,
films, and role-playing games suggest that Lovecraft will remain a compelling
figure for decades to come. What may perhaps require some justification is my
decision to issue this unabridged version of a biography that I wrote in 1993–95
and that was published in truncated form in 1996. In the nearly fifteen years
since that time, a surprising amount of new information about Lovecraft—his
life, his work, and his milieu—has emerged, necessitating some significant
revisions in various portions of this book. Foremost in this regard must be cited
Kenneth W. Faig, Jr, who with others has dug even deeper than before into
Lovecraft’s paternal and maternal ancestry. Other research by Steven J.
Mariconda, David E. Schultz, T. R. Livesey, Robert H. Waugh, and any number
of others has resulted in changes both large and small. I believe I have also
benefited from the pertinent criticisms of a number of reviewers of the truncated
edition.
A reader of the earlier version might ask: Exactly what is new about this
edition aside from the bare addition of more than 150,000 words? In all humility
I am now unable to answer this question in any detail. My pruning of the version
I wrote in 1993–95—comprising more than 500,000 words—was on the level of
both individual words, phrases, and sentences and some entire sections. One
gauge of the kind and degree of omissions can be gauged by the number of
footnotes in the trimmed and the full version; to choose a chapter at random,
Chapter 14 in the earlier version had 75 footnotes; the current version has 98. In
this version, therefore, I am even more determined to specify the documentary
basis for my assertions.
In the past decade and a half, important publications by and about Lovecraft
have made the biographer’s life much simpler, at least in terms of citations. Far
and away the most significant in this regard is Peter Cannon’s exemplary
compilation of memoirs of Lovecraft, Lovecraft Remembered (1998), a volume
so close to definitive that it scarcely ever need be done over again. I have some
small quibbles with Cannon’s selections: for example, I wish he had not included
the truncated version of Sonia Davis’s memoir of her husband, successively
edited by Winfield Townley Scott and August Derleth, and had included the first
of Muriel Eddy’s memoirs rather than a later one; as a result I have cited these
(and a few other) items from sources other than Lovecraft Remembered.
The most radical development is the extensive publication of Lovecraft’s
letters, especially to important correspondents such as August Derleth, Robert E.
Howard, and Donald Wandrei. And yet, because the Arkham House edition of
Selected Letters (1965–76) is still the most widely available and convenient
compendium of Lovecraft’s letters, I have in general cited it even in cases where
it has been superseded by these later editions.
I have not cited any specific editions of Lovecraft’s fiction, essays, or poetry.
In terms of the fiction, Barnes & Noble has issued for the first time a collection
of all Lovecraft’s original fiction (2008); but the first printing was marred by
many typographical errors. As of this writing, I have received a promise from
the in-house editor that these errors will be corrected (perhaps, however, not all
at once), so that subsequent printings of the volume should be definitive. The
book is, of course, not annotated, and readers interested in the background
behind Lovecraft’s stories might wish to consult my three Penguin editions
(1999–2004), along with such volumes as From the Pest Zone: Stories from New
York (2003).
Lovecraft’s essays are now conveniently gathered in Collected Essays
(2004–06; 5 vols.), and his poetry in The Ancient Track: Complete Poetical
Works (2001).
I would like to repeat the many friends and colleagues who have, over the
past thirty years, materially aided me in my research on Lovecraft. Among those
who actually knew or corresponded with Lovecraft, I can thank Frank Belknap
Long, J. Vernon Shea, Donald Wandrei, Robert Bloch, Mrs. Ethel Phillips
Morrish, and Harry K. Brobst; sadly, all but the last of these are no more.
Among students and scholars, I have learnt most about Lovecraft’s life and work
from the three individuals to whom this book is dedicated—Kenneth W. Faig, Jr,
David E. Schultz, and Donald R. Burleson; but other individuals, such as Dirk
W. Mosig, Steven J. Mariconda, Peter Cannon, J. Vernon Shea, George T.
Wetzel, R. Boerem, Scott Connors, Richard L. Tierney, Matthew H. Onderdonk,
Fritz Leiber, M. Eileen McNamara, Donovan K. Loucks, Stefan Dziemianowicz,
T. E. D. Klein, Perry M. Grayson, Scott D. Briggs, Marc A. Michaud, Sam
Moskowitz, Robert M. Price, A. Langley Searles, and Richard D. Squires should
not be overlooked. I am most grateful to Donovan K. Loucks for assembling the
photographs for this book
The John Hay Library of Brown University remains the chief repository of
Lovecraft manuscript and printed material, and its Lovecraft Collection is now in
the capable hands of Rosemary Cullen. She and her staff have allowed me
unprecedented access to its bountiful documents.
As in so many of my recent projects, I am sincerely grateful to David E.
Schultz for his customary care in the design of this book, and to Derrick Hussey
for his courage and confidence in publishing it.
—S. T. JOSHI
Seattle, Washington
June 2009