Lovecraft and Influence

His Predecessors and Successors

Edited by Robert H. Waugh

Recognized as a major innovator in the weird story, H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an author whose influence was felt by nearly every writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction in the second half of the twentieth century. Considered one of the leading writers of gothic horror, Lovecraft and his work continue to inspire writers today.

In Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors, Robert H. Waugh has assembled essays that are vast in scope, ranging from the Bible through the Edwardian period and well into the present. This collection is devoted to authors whose work had an impact on Lovecraft—Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Dunsany—and those who drew inspiration from him, including William S. Burroughs, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti, and Stephen King.

A fascinating anthology, Lovecraft and Influence will appeal to aficionados of classic horror, fantasy, and science fiction and those with an interest in modern authors whose works reflect and honor Lovecraft’s enduring legacy.

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 210 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-0-8108-9115-9 • Hardback • May 2013 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-0-8108-9116-6 • eBook • May 2013 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Series: Studies in Supernatural Literature

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literary Criticism / General, Literary Criticism / Mystery & Detective

Lovecraft and Influence

His Predecessors and Successors

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Recognized as a major innovator in the weird story, H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an author whose influence was felt by nearly every writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction in the second half of the twentieth century. Considered one of the leading writers of gothic horror, Lovecraft and his work continue to inspire writers today.

In Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors, Robert H. Waugh has assembled essays that are vast in scope, ranging from the Bible through the Edwardian period and well into the present. This collection is devoted to authors whose work had an impact on Lovecraft—Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Dunsany—and those who drew inspiration from him, including William S. Burroughs, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti, and Stephen King.

A fascinating anthology, Lovecraft and Influence will appeal to aficionados of classic horror, fantasy, and science fiction and those with an interest in modern authors whose works reflect and honor Lovecraft’s enduring legacy.

Details

Scarecrow Press

Pages: 210 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜

978-0-8108-9115-9 • Hardback • May 2013 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-0-8108-9116-6 • eBook • May 2013 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Series: Studies in Supernatural Literature

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literary Criticism / General, Literary Criticism / Mystery & Detective

Author

Robert H. Waugh is professor emeritus in the English department at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is a leading Lovecraft scholar, whose books include The Monster in the Mirror: Looking for H. P. Lovecraft (2006) and A Monster of Voices: Speaking for H. P. Lovecraft (2011).

Table of Contents

Contents

Abbreviations
Introduction

Part I: Lovecraft’s Predecessors
Biblical Bits in Lovecraft; Robert M. Price
Queen Anne Is [Not] Dead: Lovecraft and the Augustans; J. D. Worthington
The Shape of Darkness: Origins for H. P. Lovecraft within the American Gothic Tradition; James Goho
Hawthorne’s Influence on Lovecraft; Donald R. Burleson
Hearken . . . I Can Tell You the Whole Story: Monologues and Confessions in the Early Works of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe; Alex Houstoun
Lovecraft’s Debt to Lord Dunsany; Darrell Schweitzer
A Reprehensible Habit: H. P. Lovecraft and the Munsey Magazines; Gavin Callaghan
Green StormRising: Lovecraft’s Roots in Invasion Literature; T. R. Livesey

Part II: Lovecraft’s Successors
What Stays in Lovecraft’s Sieve Once Frank Belknap Long Is Strained Through It; Norm Gayford
From the Cosmic to the Human: H. P. Lovecraft’s Influence on Ramsey Campbell; S. T. Joshi
Lovecraft’s Influence in Science Fiction: The Tides of His Dark Star in the Works of Arthur C. Clarke, Fritz Leiber, and Philip K. Dick; Robert H. Waugh
Reanimator and Exterminator: H. P. Lovecraft and William S. Burroughs; Michael Cisco
Nature’s Other, Ghastly Face: H. P. Lovecraft and the Animal Sublime in Stephen King; John Langan
Easy as Falling Off Logic: A Consideration of Lovecraft and Ligotti as “Weird Realists”; Steven J. Mariconda

Bibliography
Index
About the Contributors
About the Editor

Reviews

This is a volume that may be useful to academics and students who are starting out with Lovecraft. It may be especially useful to advanced university students who are required by their thesis supervisor to pair Lovecraft with another author. I did find some topics neatly summed up and clarified.

— Tentaclii: H.P. Lovecraft Blog”

Awards