Pulp Respectable
He has been called the king of the weird, the Copernicus of the horror story, the heir to Poe; Stephen King cites him as a major influence. He died penniless, his work almost entirely published in cheap pulps and seemingly destined to fade into oblivion.
But now, with a Library of America edition of his stories, H.P. Lovecraft has gone respectable and attained the recognition that eluded him during his lifetime. Lovecraft is not the first pulp author to gain entry into the canon of American literature as Hammett, at least, preceded him. However he is the first Weird Tales author* - a writer of fantasy/horror/science fiction (and Lovecraft worked in all three genres) - to make the list.
In the latest issue of The Weekly Standard Michael Dirda has an insightful little appreciation of Lovecraft, including some cvery high praise:
*I'm discounting TennesseeWilliams, even though his first appearance in print was in Weird Tales, because he's not chiefly remembered as a writer of pulp fiction.
But now, with a Library of America edition of his stories, H.P. Lovecraft has gone respectable and attained the recognition that eluded him during his lifetime. Lovecraft is not the first pulp author to gain entry into the canon of American literature as Hammett, at least, preceded him. However he is the first Weird Tales author* - a writer of fantasy/horror/science fiction (and Lovecraft worked in all three genres) - to make the list.
In the latest issue of The Weekly Standard Michael Dirda has an insightful little appreciation of Lovecraft, including some cvery high praise:
No full understanding of modern literature is possible without taking into account an exceedingly peculiar, self-educated, semi-recluse from Providence named Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
*I'm discounting TennesseeWilliams, even though his first appearance in print was in Weird Tales, because he's not chiefly remembered as a writer of pulp fiction.
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