The Survivor and Others by H.P. Lovecraft

In 2016, Lovecraft was inducted into the Museum of Pop Culture’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Guillermo del Toro has been similarly influenced by Lovecraft’s corpus. Film director John Carpenter’s films include direct references and quotations of Lovecraft’s fiction, in addition to their use of a Lovecraftian aesthetic and themes. In the field of comics, Alan Moore has also described Lovecraft as having been a formative influence on his graphic novels. He goes on to argue that all works in the horror genre that were written after Lovecraft were influenced by him. As a child in the 1960s, he came across a volume of Lovecraft’s works which inspired him to write his fiction.

Stephen King has cited Lovecraft as a major influence on his works. Lovecraft’s works have influenced many writers and other creators. However, Derleth’s ownership of Arkham House gave him a position of authority in Lovecraftiana that would not dissipate until his death, and through the efforts of Lovecraft scholars in the 1970s. Derleth’s Cthulhu Mythos stories went on to associate different gods with the traditional four elements of fire, air, earth and water, which did not line up with Lovecraft’s original vision of his mythos. The forces of good were supposed to have won, locking Cthulhu and others beneath the earth, the ocean, and elsewhere. While Lovecraft considered his pantheon of alien gods a mere plot device, Derleth created an entire cosmology, complete with a war between the good Elder Gods and the evil Outer Gods, such as Cthulhu and his ilk. He added to and expanded on Lovecraft’s vision, not without controversy. August Derleth founded Arkham House with Donald Wandrei to preserve Lovecraft’s works and keep them in print. For example, he made use of Clark Ashton Smith’s Tsathoggua in The Mound.Īfter Lovecraft’s death, the Lovecraft Circle carried on. This group became known as the “Lovecraft Circle”, since their writings freely borrowed Lovecraft’s motifs, with his encouragement. He did, however, correspond regularly with other contemporary writers such as Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth, who became his friends, even though he never met them in person. While his stories appeared in prominent pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, not many people knew his name. Lovecraft was relatively unknown during his lifetime. Lovecraft is best known for his creation of a body of work that became known as the Cthulhu Mythos.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890 – 1937) was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction.

The Survivor and Others by H.P. Lovecraft