H.P (Bloody) Lovecraft: A Brief look on the works and life of the "Master of Horror"

Heres to a brand new year! I hope some of you know this man but well if you really didnt know him, then read on!

Howard Phillips Lovecraft

It’s unnatural to note that people have this hunger for fear inducing literature and movies. Monstrous creature, paranormal events, unspeakable devilry and even plunging into the world of madness and terror caught our utmost attention from the early conception of stories until it reach its current state today. Strangely enough, instead of averting these damnable stories, we fell in love to this like it is an amorous lover...well, a lover with fangs, claws and probably ghastly face that only his mother will love.

All our utmost love for horror and dark fictions tales often times connected to brilliant minds of literature. These are the classic stories by the master story teller Stephen King whose creation makes the horror genre escalate into a new level. And of course, no one can totally argue how Edgar Allan Poe put a strong foundation for thriller and blood chilling tales who made him acquired the title “Master of Macabre”.

Nyarlhotep

And yet, to my dismay it seems the fandom of horror genre of today didn’t even have the opportunity to recognize this one author whose works may not went to mainstream audiences like King’s Carrie or any contemporary writers yet certainly his propensity and strange imagination makes him the only writer who become the greatest name in supernatural fiction after Poe.  His name might be fanciful for horror but be warned: Howard Phillip Lovecraft’s tales are not for the feeble hearts and most importantly in mind.

On August 20, 1890 at Providence, Rhode Island, H.P Lovecraft was born in a very unlikely environment. Both of his parents are diagnosed of psychological ailments and after some years, the couple who bore him will meet their final curtain because of this. Though parentless, Lovecraft childhood is still become magical because of his grandfather whose story telling arouses his dormant zeal towards stories and tales. Like most of the brilliant minds, he is never been a popular kid but he possess intelligence regarding history, linguistic, inorganic chemistry and even astronomy. His adeptness to these areas will later on manifest to his creative pursuit as a writer.

At the young age of 8, he begins writing short horror stories yet his style is still puerile but the gleaming promise is absolutely present there.

During his adulthood, Lovecraft continues his reclusive lifestyle. He finally found a circle of friends through the clubs that he joined and yet his peculiar way of life as a jobless and non-existing romance to the opposite sex never wavers. At 31, his stories finally made into circulation and for the first time his works begun to be published in professional magazines. By the time that he is already 34, he became a full pledge contributor to a now defunct magazine called Weird Tales that publish various science and strange fictions. Even though he is now living his dream as a writer, H.P Lovecraft never had the self confidence to further promote his work and therefore it never reached its commercial fame unlike his contemporary.

Although Lovecraft died at the age of 43 without hitting any glamorous moment and acknowledgement to his works (count the fact that his earning from being a writer and editor is hardly enough to support himself), his tales however begun to bloom in an instant after his death and become one of the most memorable tales that will shook the foundation of sci-fi/horror genre.

Cthulhu

Lovecraft’s claimed to fame work comes in the form of a pseudo – myth tales that remarkably doesn’t just stick to hideous creatures of doom; he also pushes the story towards a psycho/fantasy hybrid tales like no other. The short story entitled “Call of Ctulhu” engross the readers and grab the attention of the critics with the grotesque narration of how a slumbering monster  who is actually one of the eldest being in the universe will be awaken only to bring the doom and horror to mankind. Often times, Lovecraft kept the description of his masterpiece monster in a nearly non-descript fashion for the mere sight of it is quite enough to drive the protagonist into inhuman madness.

However, the names of this “beyond words” monstrosity such as the terrifying Yog Sothoth, Nyarlhotep the Dark man and the mother monster of horror literature Cthulhu  strike such amalgam of horror and wonder  to those devotedly admired the works of Lovecraft thus making a huge cult like following among the fan of the genre.

These stories continue to pile up its series until it becomes a compilation which will be lately known as the “Cthulhu Mythos”, a collection of an immensely creative mythological origin of the infamous Ctulhu, a gigantic anthropomorphic god (known for its aquatic and squid like appearanceCosmic Horror that only Lovecraft gave justice and attention.

)  and his acolyte that planning to wake up its slumber to terrorized and defile mankind. This kind of tales that always put man in a inescapable supernatural horror gave birth to a philosophical like genre called

Yog Sothot

Notable in every Lovecraft tales are the vast realms of the ancient world and civilization colliding with supernatural world of Far Realm, an imaginary universe that beyond the walls of the universe. It also incorporates the rich flavors of odd science (which is the backbone of his dark tales like Re-Animator and Cool Air). He also wrote some the best far flung horror stories about the murkiest and unknown realms of the dream world (Beyond the Walls of Sleep and The Dreams in the Witch House). With prolific imagination on his disposal, he even created the infamous “Necronomicon” in his stories which foretold a damnable fictional book that amasses otherworldly chants to summon an apocalypse by calling forth Elder gods from the far realm.

Later on, some of his opus magnus will make their way into the silver screen during the early days of 70’s and 80’s and some of them become cult classic like the Herbert West: Re-Animator, a cruel and insanity inducing tales that entice the avid fans of Frankenstein. Also, some of his story also gain their first TV treatment through Rod Sterling’s Night Gallery, a weekly program that considered to be the precursor of the most popular horror/sci-fi  TV series The Twilight Zone.

H.P Lovecraft might not lived for a bit longer for him to witness how his works grew into a classic yet not totally best seller level but the legacy he made to scare, thrill and struck us in awe is already enough for him to be acknowledge as one of the least known but nevertheless the greatest pen that make us all fall in love all over again to the grotesque beauty of horror genres.