The Private Lives of Authors: H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in 1890 on August 20th. As a child growing up in Rhode Island, US, he was a keen reader and it soon became clear that he was something of a prodigy. At the age of three Lovecraft would recite poetry, and by six was writing his own. After the early death of his father, and Lovecraft’s frequent illnesses kept him from school, his grandfather took on partial responsibility for the boy’s education. He encouraged his reading, and even sparked his interest in the darker themes of fiction by introducing him to gothic horror tales.

Lovecraft as a child c.1899

As he was absent from school for a lot of the time due to sickness, Lovecraft was able to read much of what he liked and became fascinated with the sciences with a particular focus on astronomy. He was undoubtedly a strange child who grew into an odd adult, but what else can you expect from such a creative and abstract thinker?

In 1926 Lovecraft himself wrote:

“I am essentially a recluse who will have very little to do with people wherever he may be. I think that most people only make me nervous – that only by accident, and in extremely small quantities, would I ever be likely to come across people who wouldn’t.”

Lovecraft as a young adult c.1915

As a young child Lovecraft suffered horribly with night terrors. His vivid and terrifying dreams would cause him paralysis upon waking and would have him lie terrified in sweat-soaked sheets, unable to move or scream.

His night terrors would plague him in to adulthood, but despite the horrors he experienced in his dreams he would use them in his writings. He dreamed of nightmarish creatures which he named “nightgaunts”, which later appeared in his books. Nightgaunts were described as faceless human-esque beings, thin and black with a penchant for tickling their victims into submission.

In a letter written in 1918 he noted:

“Do you realise that to many men it makes a vast and profound difference whether or not the things about them are as they appear?… If TRUTH amounts to nothing, then we must regard the phantasma of our slumbers just as seriously as the events of our daily lives…”

Lovecraft’s lack of schooling meant he never managed to fulfil his dream of being a professional astronomer. He was fascinated by science, and the universe, but his lack of schooling meant this was kept as a hobby only. He wrote a few pieces for The Scientific Gazette from 1899 but never managed to become the scientist he wanted to be. He attributed much of his love for astronomy to books left behind by his late maternal grandmother, writing here in 1915 to a friend:

“My maternal grandmother, who died when I was six, was a devoted lover of astronomy, having made that a specialty at Lapham Seminary, where she was educated; and though she never personally showed me the beauties of the skies, it is to her excellent but somewhat obsolete collection of astronomical books that I owe my affection for celestial science. Her copy of Burritt’s Geography of the Heavens is today the most prized volume in my library.”

Despite his creatively disturbing and highly intelligent mind, his work never became published or recognised widely while he was alive. Even throughout his illness, Lovecraft’s scientific mind was always working, recording each progression of his cancer as he suffered. He died of malnutrition due to the cancer of his small intestine affecting his appetite, and digestion, among other things.

Not until after Lovecraft died in 1937 did his work ever become published and widely regarded as some of the most influential horror works of all time.

Every year groups of enthusiasts observe the anniversaries of Lovecraft’s birth and death at Ladd Observatory, and at his grave site. Providence City Council designated “H. P. Lovecraft Memorial Square” and installed a commemorative sign at the intersection of Angell and Prospect streets, near the author’s former residences in 2013.