H.P. Lovecraft: A Biography

I remember reading this soon after discovering Lovecraft, and it really pissed me off.It is the most judgemental biography I've ever read.You might be thinking L. Sprague de Camp went after Lovecraft for his notorious racism, but that isn't what he harps on. No, this author criticizes Lovecraft for writing too many letters, and never learning to type.That really is my main memory of this book; De Camp bitching about how Lovecraft could have written more fiction and finished novels if he hadn't w [...]

Lovecraft es mi actor favorito de todos, sin importar el género literario, el estilo o el periodo al que pertenezcan. Desde esa vez que cayó en mis manos una vieja edición de "El horror de Dunwich" de Alianza ya no tuve remedio. Empezar a leerlo y empezar a amar el efecto que sus letras le producián a mi joven imaginación fue una sola cosa. Hoy en día, muchos años después, ésta devoción sigue presente, y me atrevo a decir que se ha incrementado. Después de haber leído toda su obra de [...]

At times I underestimate my love for H.P.Lovecraft and his bibliography.Since I was a teenager his works have meant extremely much too me, and I have read and re-read his tales numerous times.Up until now I actually only knew the most basic facts about his life (!), which I had learned fromvarious forewords in his collections.L.Sprague De Camp's book is a massive tome and I must say I enjoyed every sentence in it immensely! It was truly exhilarating learning more about Grandpa Theobald and I reg [...]

Lovecraft was kind of a mess. This was the first biography I'd read about the author, and so it was a surprise to find that it was not entirely the most accurate.The book itself is well-written and very detailed in describing the life of Lovecraft, while sprinkling in snippets from his various stories. It certainly helped to align the biography with the body of his work, though at times it feel like it was disjointed.We get a little mention of Lovecraft's racism, but it does seem that de Camp is [...]

This biography of Lovecraft's helped me put in perspective a writer we are prone to idealize. HPL was a profoundly flawed person with countless shortcomings in life; De Camp's portrait of the man is brutal at times and, though he misses the magic and romance of Lovecraft's romanticized vision of the world and his life decisions, this kind of tough love is indispensable for a devout HPL reader and aspiring writers of strange fiction.

Der Name H.P. Lovecraft ist seit einem Jahrhundert immer noch in aller Munde, obwohl viele seine Werke geschweige denn sein Leben kennen, aber jeder verbindet das Horror-Genre mit seinem Namen. L.Sprague de Camp, selbst einer der legendären Gestalten, die die SF und Fantasy-Genres Anfang des Jahrhunderts geprägt haben, hat sich mit dieser Biografie an eine der komplexesten Persönlichkeiten der amerikanischen Literatur gewagt.Er leistet mit dieser Biografie gleichzeitig eine Werkschau des Love [...]

Read this in 2007 or thereabouts. Camp is extremely critical of Lovecraft which makes me wonder why he wrote this in the first place. The man had his faults, much of it influenced by the circumstances of the time, and they should not be glossed over. Camp though goes overboard, acting like those faults were exclusive to Lovecraft and nobody else. My overall impression is that Camp wishes he could have been there to advise Lovecraft and guarantee him more success than what he enjoyed in his time. [...]

This was loaned to me by the horror-fantasy writer and, now, GoodReads author, Larry Santoro. I'd read most everything by Lovecraft that had ever been published--well, at least his fiction and his book about the craft of horror writing, not his newspaper science articles, poetry or amateur fandom pieces--over the years and had long been interested in knowing it the stories about his eccentricities--so compatible with the character of his writing--were true. Conclusion: he was much less bizarre t [...]

H.P. Lovecraft inspired many a conspiracy theorist with his ominous tales of the Ancient Ones and the persistent references to some sort of "Them" in his short stories and novellas. This biography is lively and interesting, which is to be expected considering the author, L. Sprague De Camp, produced some memorable science fiction and fantasy himself. Lovecraft was a strange bird, and his writing reflected that. Unlike Poe though, whose life was seemingly intertwined with his tragic, forboding ta [...]

I would put this book at 4 stars for the overall research and possibly the growth of the author with regards to his feeling about Lovecraft at the end of the book. Especially maybe the last paragraph or 2. He states clearly at the beginning that he wasn't really into Lovecraft and Derleth had been the one who was going to write a bio but never did. I did not enjoy so much though the author's nitpicking and critiquing Lovecraft when I doubt he has written anything better. He just goes on and on t [...]

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This biography is much derided due to de Camp's overreach in his psychological analysis of Lovecraft, and this criticism is justified, but I encourage fans to read it just the same. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.This biography has quite a few good qualities which in my estimation more than outweigh it's shortcomings. For one thing de Camp does not let Lovecraft off the hook when it comes to his racism and chauvinism. I also appreciated de Camp's willingness to describe Lovecraft [...]

Bad biographies are never so-called for a lack of good style and grace in the prose. Any life, be it one of near-mythic intrigue or of the most hum-drum ordinariness, is still a life; still strange, complex, simple, distant and familiar all at once, and even the worst prose stylist will have difficultly diminishing that if they can recognise what made the life they write of so significant. Bad biographies, in other words, are the ones that are disinterested in their own subject.H. P. Lovecraft's [...]

I finally finished L. Sprague De Camp's "Lovecraft: A Biography."For years a friend had told me that he saw great parallels between me and Lovecraft in terms of our lifestyles, neuroses, and biographies. I knew him to be correct to some extent, but until I read this book I had no idea just how much Lovecraft and I have in common. Indeed, there were times where I started to get bored, and ask myself, "Why am I even reading this? I know exactly what's going to come next. This is like a biography o [...]

Fascinating. There's a reason why this is the standard text on the man.Impeccably reasearched, written by a writer who came in as Lovecraft went out, this is a commentary on two men: Howard Philips Lovecraft, and L. Sprague DeCamp. Lovecraft was a fascinating, complicated man, who lived an intense life on paper, and DeCamp is not sparing with his opinion of the man. It is a picture of the 20s from the point of the view of the 70s.It's also a story of an insane racist. HPL is a little hard to tak [...]

L. Sprague de Camp is not universally liked as a biographer. I have heard a lot of negative comments from the Robert E. Howard crowd in that respect. That said, and without having ever read any other biography penned by him, I did not dislike his Lovecraft.As a follower of Lovecraft's writing for quite a few years, especially his Cthulhu Mythos, I thought reading his biography would give me some more insight into his writing. Lovecraft was definitely a weird duck, as if his output didn't reveal [...]

lovecraft was an amazing character and his story is fascinatinga related anecdote: when i was originally reading this book i accidentally left it in a coffee shop and didn't realize until i was some distance away in my car(it was at this point in my life i caught a glimpse into the potentiality for mental imbalance inherent in my psyche)i eventually realized what i'd done and raced back to the restaurant, it was a carrow's, at top speed to retrieve the booki went to the booth i had been sitting [...]

Une biographie très complète réalisée grâce à de nombreuses entrevues avec les amis et correspondants de Lovecraft, mais aussi en se basant sur ses lettres, qui sont régulièrement citées. On apprend à voir l'évolution d'un grand artiste, convaincu de rester à jamais un inconnu, vivant dans l'isolement la tristesse d'un mode de vie duquel il était difficile de se détacher. La rédaction de chaque histoire/poème est racontée dans le détail, et on y voit aussi les commentaires de L [...]

A rather bizarre abridgment (of only 30 pages-- one might fairly call this rather a revision, and given the number of repeated passages still present (which de Camp claimed to have excised in this abridgment), the book could have stood another, further, "abridgment"), with an equally bizarre conclusion: the "professional" writer ought to "keep himself in good physical trim," know something about copyright law, and practice his shorthand. Then he will be healthy, wealthy, and wise to his dying da [...]

This is the first biography on Lovecraft that I have read and it's hard to imagine a better job being done. In terms of judging the book (versus judging the subject which is an entirely separate matter), I found it an absorbing, thoughtful and scholastically impeccable read. Lovecraft made for a fascinating subject and while he is often portrayed (rightfully so) as a thoroughly dislikable man, he shows an almost miraculous turnabout in the later years of his life. The book's closing ten pages ap [...]

This is one of two biographies i read on HP Lovecraft. Aside from the expected chronological account of his life, de Camp offers some of his personal insight about Lovecraft, his life, and his writing.Since this is the first biography written on him, you got to hand it to de Camp, who compiled letter upon letter and undertook the daunting task of organizing one of the worlds most prolific epistolaries and his writings and come out with a pretty decent biography. However, the biography is laced w [...]

This biography is only so-so. When I read it there wasn't a lot of biographical information about Lovecraft (this was well pre-internet, even pre-PC), so there was nothing to compare it to. De Camp, for whatever reasons, had a lot of goofy notions about Lovecraft's personal life that he drew not from knowledge, but by interpreting a lot of Lovecraft's writing and a lot of hearsay. He also seemed to have some kind of ax to grind. I always thought most of de Camp's fictional output was only so-so [...]

An enjoyable read, as you would expect from the pen of Sprague de Camp. The life of Lovecraft, a sad, but informative tale. Interestingly, a little of Sprague de Camp comes through. He uses Lovecraft's misfortunes and attitudes to warn himself and his readers of the perils of life. I also got the feeling that Sprague de Camp would have liked to give Lovecraft a big shake, and tell him to stop whining and preening, and do something with his life. Write for money, and work at it, and stop pretendi [...]

Во многих отношениях замечательная книга - де Камп пишет о Лавкрафте с большим уважением, но совершенно без пиетета, не пытается затушевать его заблуждения, провалы, но и на его ошибках не зацикливается. Значительная часть книги написана чуть ли не словами самого ГФЛ (широк [...]

Disappointing. I'm not a big fan of de Camp in the first place, so this was a tough read. For one, it's pretty rambling and all over the place. For two, de Camp likes to continually remind his reader that he really doesn't like Lovecraft's writings all that much (which makes me wonder, why did you write this?). Also, he belabours some of Lovecraft's racist overtones (which would have been quite common in that day and age) into the ground. Finally, he has some of the most purple prose I've ever r [...]

I guess I'm just not a fan of biographies. I've read some of HPL's stories and I really enjoyed them so I figured why not learn about the man himself? the book was interesting but rather dry.overall the thing that impressed me the most was that HPL practically did a 180 on his belief system, which gives me hope that people can actually change. anyway if you're interested in his stories, I suggest "The Outsider" and "The Colour Out Of Space". they're probably my favorites but there are definitely [...]

I found this in my college library while doing a report for a literature class. I think I kept it signed out the entire time I was enrolled, and considered keeping it. Read it countless times. 20 years later, I find this in the bargain section at Barnes and Nobles. Like finding gold.

A brilliant writer, but barely hidden in the text is his racism. Play racism bingo and you'll be a winner by page 20.

Wonderful biography -- captures the heartbreak, the horror, and the triumph of a most extraordinary man!

The more I learn about Lovecraft the man, the harder it gets for me to enjoy his work. Rarely has such a disgusting, pathetic creature existed I think.