H.P. Lovecraft

In the years following H. P. Lovecraft's death in 1960, few of his friends and admirers were moved to write down their personal impressions. This may have been in part because HPL outlived so many of his colleagues. One can only wonder what intimates such as W. Paul Cook or Robert Barlow might have penned had they not preceded him to the grave. Perhaps others felt they had little more to add to the already ample public record of a successful author. Then, too, the appearance soon after his passing of August Derleth s brilliant critical survey and L. Sprague de Camp's definitive biography seems to have discouraged younger scholars from pursuing Lovecraft studies. Now, in one volume, Peter Cannon has scraped up three hitherto unpublished memoirs, each focused on a critical stage in Lovecraft s career. Though HPL was most comfortable in male society, two out of the three selections are written by women: Clarissa Stone's account of his early literary triumphs, and Leonora Lathbury's memoir of his time in England. Even Robert Pratt's brief view of Lovecraft in his last days spotlights Lyda Arco Long, the outspoken bride of HPL's favourite adopted grandson, Frank Belknap Long. While offering few surprises to the Lovecraft aficionado, these disparate reminiscences amount to an incomparable portrait sure to revive interest in an author unjustly neglected in recent decades.