The life of H.P. Lovecraft, although short, was
filled with tragedy, personal loss, and professional failure. His 47 years of
life is often looked upon as a dreary and uneventful existence, however his life
has been the subject for literary study in over a dozen works. Two prominent
biographical works include the 1975 book “Lovecraft: A Biography” by L.
Sprague De Camp and S.T. Joshi’s “Lord of A Visible World” (2000). Much of
his life is recorded autobiographical in his own letters, now collected in the
four volume "Selected Letters".Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island, a descendant of British ancestry and a well to do industrialist family. Lovecraft was an exceptionally intelligent boy from birth, reading at age 4, writing at 6, learned Latin at 7, also an intense interest in science, chemistry and astronomy around 12. He studied history, mythology, poetry and languages. His literary inspiration was Edgar Allan Poe. Also he had a love for detective, science fiction and horror pulp magazines. His father Winfield Scott Lovecraft, was a traveling salesman, but suffering from a nervous breakdown in 1893 he spent his remaining 5 years in a mental hospital and died of syphilis. His mother Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft was traumatized by her husband's death and suffered from a mental breakdown. Howard's grandfather died in 1904, forcing his family to leave their huge Victorian home on 454 Angell St. to 598 Angell St.|
He attended Hope Street High School, where he had many friends. He achieved his first printed articles in astronomy for the Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner and the Providence Tribune from 1906-1908, and continued to write fiction. Howard himself also suffered from a nervous breakdown in 1908, causing him to withdraw from school after only 3 years. He became a hermit and quit writing for a time, destroyed all of his early tales except those now published "The Beast in the Cave"(1905) and "The Alchemist"(1908). He attempted several correspondence courses in 1912.
He then emerged and became an amateur journalist for the United Amateur Press Association and the National Amateur Press Association. Although he still struggled in the literary world he had managed some success with these tales and others were to follow. He achieved one of his best known works in the magazine "Home Brew's": "Grewsome Tales" in which he published "Herbert West: Reanimator" in 1922 as a six part series. On May 24, 1921, Howard's mother died. In 1923 the popular science and horror pulp magazine "Weird Tales" was founded. In this he published many stories such as "The Rats in the Walls" in 1923. He married Sonia H. Greene in 1924 although they later separated. During this time he lived with his two aunts in Providence.
During the last ten years of his life he traveled from Quebec to Charleston to St. Augustine but in his later life Lovecraft lived in secluded poverty and suffered from malnutrition; he then was afflicted with cancer of the intestine. He entered the hospital on March 10, 1937; he then died on March 15.
Due to publishers like Derleth and Wandrei, who founded Arkham House publishing Co. preserved his works and published them worldwide.
