Lovecraft Howard Phillips: literary heritage

Almost unknown in life, 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 Cthulhu, the ruler of the worlds popular in media culture, and as the founder of a new religion. But no matter how great the contribution to literature that Howard Lovecraft introduced, 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 secluded lifestyle is one of the myths created after the writer's death.

Lovecraft Howard: Childhood

The future author of "Call of Cthulhu" was born in 1890. The name of the writer's hometown is Providence, translated as "Providence." It will be placed on his tombstone in the form of a prophecy: I am providence ("I am Providence"). Since childhood, Lovecraft Howard suffered from nightmarish dreams, the main characters of which were terrible monsters, later migrated to his works. One of the works, Dagon, is such a recorded dream. Researchers creativity of the writer noted that this story was 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 made by the grandfather, the owner of the most extensive library in the state, where little Howard spent most of his time. There he discovered the Arabian "Tales of 1001 Nights", which strongly influenced his work, giving birth to one of the characters - the author of the book "Necronomicon" Abdul Alhazred. But most of all young Lovecraft was interested in astronomy, his works were even printed in scientific journals. As a schoolboy, he wrote his first story in the horror genre - "The Beast in the Dungeon", after which he became famous as a poet.

The leitmotifs of Howard Lovecraft

With the growth of popularity, Lovecraft began to correspond with other science fiction writers. Especially close he came up with the author of Conan the Barbarian, Robert Howard. Their work in many ways overlap: there are the same Ancient gods, magical rituals and manuscripts. Strong influence on the writer had creativity Bosch. In 1927 he publishes a work on the supernatural, in which he analyzes the origin and development of a new literary trend: stories in the genre of horrors.

He describes the formation of Gothic prose, arguing that the human consciousness is hiding behind ignorance, so as not to go mad from the inability to realize all the complexities and interrelations of the world. The author bases his stories on the basis of the premise that the features of the human perception of reality have no significance for higher beings and other biological forms. This motif for the first time appears in the "Dagon", then it is reflected in the most popular story, written by Howard Lovecraft - "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 Occultist Alistair Crowley. The reason for this was his work, including the whole pantheon of the ancient gods, described in stories and stories. The mythology created by the writer was called "Myths of Cthulhu": in honor of the deity, first appeared in the story "Call of Cthulhu", which is neither the most important, nor the most terrible in the pantheon. It was it who deserved the greatest popularity among admirers of such a master of portraying horrors, like Howard Lovecraft. Reviews of his books, especially with the presence of this character, mostly enthusiastic, they evoke interest in the creativity of the author.

Howard Lovecraft: author's books

What other works of the writer are popular to this day? You can safely say that the majority. Each reader finds for himself something attractive and exciting in the various works of Lovecraft. But we can distinguish among them several major masterpieces:

1. One of the best is the story "Whisperer in the Dark" - about an alien race of intelligent mushrooms. He is part of the "Myths of Cthulhu" and echoes other works of Lovecraft.
2. "Color from other worlds," which the author himself considered to be his best work. The story tells of the family of farmers and the terrible events that occurred with her after the fall of the meteorite.
3. "Ridges of insanity" - a novel, one of the central works in which the mythology of Cthulhu is present. It first mentions the alien race of the Elders (or the Elders).
4. "The shadow of the timeless" - another story about an extraterrestrial civilization that captured the mind of earthlings.

Lovecraft's Legacy

Mythology, created by Howard Lovecraft, inspires Stephen King, Augustus Derleth and other famous contemporary writers, famous for their "eerie" works. Lovecraft's characters appear in computer games and movies. He is called Edgar By the 20th century. Based on several books, including "The Horror of Dunwich," a table game was invented about the awakening of the Ancient Evil. The image of Cthulhu is replicated in mass culture, an even non-traditional religious organization known as the Cult of Cthulhu has been created. Although it is difficult to say, a writer of similar popularity would be happy to live to this day. There is no doubt only that the work of Lovecraft will be actual for a very long time.