EOD
One of the
e-newsletters
I get is about search engines. A recommendation was for a biography
website,
which I found wanting, since I looked up HPL; according to its very
brief
entry, he wrote about astrology. I contacted the editor about
this,
who mentioned that he “was a charter member of the Esoteric Order of
Dagon
many many years ago... (seriously! :-)” His name is Chris Sherman, for
those of you whose memories go back that far. It would be interesting
to
learn if Lovecraft devotees share certain occupations in common as well
as what has become of erstwhile EOD members.
Meetings
and
Conventions
The
Providence
Journal-Bulletin for 8 April (p. B-01) carried a story about an HPL
graveside tribute. There were various ceremonies and a few people had
duded
up. The article arrestingly states: “It's fun to "contact" Lovecraft,
said
a man nearby. He was with a group that described itself as the local
chapter
of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. He declined to give his real name, but
said his "EOD name" is Frater Nekromanteia.The
group, which wore hoop earrings in lips and eyebrows, believes that
"old
ones have not died, but can be reawakened."” That is not you, Ben
Indick,
in disguise, is it? *** There's a report on Necronomicon
2001 *** Evelyn C. Leeper and Mark R. Leeper have a Millennium
Philcon report that includes a description of two panels about him:
“H.P. Lovecraft in the 21st Century” and “Hidden Lovecraft - Mythos in
Popular Culture.”
Name
If Howard Lovecraft was a hobbit, his name would be Ponto Goodbody
of Frogmorton. This is according to the Hobbit
Name Generator. And if you don’t believe me, then my name isn’t
Mungo
Sandybanks.
Genealogy
The
1890 New York City telephone directory has “Lovecraft Frederick A.
jeweler,
26 Union sq. E. manager, 173 Fifth av. & v. pres. 5 Beekman, h 49
W.
32d” The 1889-91 Mt. Vernon, NY telephone directory has a George
Lovecraft,
with a dual occupation of “nursery; sexton” and living at 66 South 5th
Avenue, Mount Vernon, NY; an 1870 census has a “George” living in the
township
of Eastchester. Another with the same first name appears in the Louisiana
Census, 1810-90; according to the 1860 federal census he was living
in New Orleans, which was some 70 odd years before HPL visited. There
are
several hits under the Rochester, NY directory, 1888-1891: widows
Althea
and Eleanor G.; Elizabeth and Joshua E., who are associated with Joseph
Lovecraft & Son, the occupation of which is barrel-head
manufacturing;
bookkeeper George E.; and Sidney J., “planing [sic] mill.”
William,
Joseph, and John F. of Rochester are listed in the 1840 United
States
Federal Census, with a Joseph listed in the 1870 Federal Census
Index for Illinois as living in the township of 9 W. Chicago. Is
this
the “J.F. Lovecraft” who is listed in issues of the Scientific American
for being among the top 15 sellers of subscriptions (12 Jan 1856, p.
141
and 9 Jan 1858, p. 141)? The prizes in both instances was monetary.
More
interesting is the same journal for 13 May 1854, p. 276, which under a
column headed “New Inventions” has a segment that begins, “J. F.
Lovecraft,
of Rochester, N. Y., has taken measure to secure a patent for an
improvement
in the feed motion of buzz and panel saws in mills. . .” and goes on to
describe the working; perhaps there is some connection with Sidney J.
and
the “planning mill.” (I was able to locate the Scientific American
information thanks to the online images supplied by the Cornell
University
Library.) *** I do not recall if it was mentioned that “S.” Lovecraft
was
a bugler on his discharge from the Union Army. *** Besides August
Derleth,
another Wisconsin connection with HPL was a “Geo E Lovecraft,” listed
as
having married 20 Nov 1890 in the county of Racine. *** The following
three
entries come as a result of a search on the Newspaper
Archive. At its annual meeting the Villa Site and Improvement
Company elected F. A. Lovecraft as secretary, according to the New
York
Times, Tuesday, 14 November 1882. *** The same Times of 11
September,
1895 (p. 8) reported the suicide in St. Louis of Will R. Palmer, who
was
brother to A. M. Palmer, manager of a theatrical company then
presenting
Trilby
(the one with Svengali). In closing the obituary, the paper notes that
this was the third suicide from A. M. Palmer’s “forces” in two years,
the
first being Frederick A. Lovecraft. I wonder the where, the
circumstances,
and did HPL know about this. Was this Frederick the same who was listed
as a jeweler in the city directory (above), or perhaps a son who in
some
way was attached to the thespian group? *** The Manitoba Morning
Free
Press of New York (Saturday, 31 March 1894) refers to a judge
committing
to probate a “Lovecraft will.”
Geography
The
Quabbin Reservoir is one of the walks discussed in Fodor’s Short
Escapes Near Boston (1999).
Law
In
the case Hogan v. DC Comics (48 Federal Supplement 2d 298; 26
January
1999), which deals with copyright infringement, one piece of evidence
was
the use of the name “Gaunt” appearing in the work of both plaintiff and
defendant. The latter stated it was “a derivative of the name of a
bat-like
creature called a ‘nightgaunt’ that appears in the literature of
science
fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft” (p. 307). The case was decided for the
defendant.
Art
I
came across this Italian site
advertising the book The Cosmical Horror of H.P. Lovecraft: A
Pictorial
Anthology. It includes material associated with illustrators,
cartoonists,
and directors. *** At a SoHo
art show Jason D'Aquino had a thumb-nail pencil drawing of him in
October,
according to the New York Times. *** Said to be homage to “The
Dunwich
Horror,” an ink-and-acrylic by Jesse Bransford was at an art show in
Atlanta.
*** Black Lake Art
states his influence. *** Admitting to an HPL influence among
several,
tatooist Don Ed Hardy had a 40-year retrospective of his work in Santa
Monica from December 1999 to January 2000. *** According to the New
York Times, an October art show by “Spunky” included
“thumbnail-size
portraits of people like Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft” (19
October
2001, p. E39).
Comics
What
if his entities were real? This is the basis of
Lovecraft by Keith
Giffen and Enrique Breccia, who have based their story on a screenplay
being developed by director John Carpenter. There is an interview
with Giffen under "Interviews." *** Reportedly listing Lovecraft as an
influence, Uzumaki (in Japanese meaning “spiral,” a thing of
horror
in the story) is a manga by Junji Ito.
Movies
Beyond
the Wall of Sleep
stars make-up man and actor Tom Savini. *** Director of Mimic
(based
on a story by Donald A. Wollheim), Guillermo Del Toro has new movies, The
Devil's Backbone and Blade II. He’s so fond of HPL that he
wants
to do At the Mountains of Madness, which he described as "my
epic
horror film," the equivalent of director James Cameron’s Titanic.
Two circumstances favor him. One is the benevolent fallout of the movie
The
Lord of the Rings, and the other, more directly practical, is the
clout
that should accrue to him from the commercial success of his new
movies.
I would have preferred another choice than ATMOM, for I side with the
Gothicists
rather than the science fictionalists.*** The Terrible Old Man
premiered
at the 6th annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in October 2001. ***
Shades
of Innsmouth! In this Stuart Gordon piece a couple is kidnapped by fish
people from a town that had earlier sold its collective soul to Dagon.
The Variety review of Dagon, Sect of the Sea
compliments
this “grisly coastal chiller combining horror and humor” for, among
other
things, its “strong atmospherics” that make for “an enjoyably mindless
ride.” (Jonathan Holland, 17 December 2001, p. 37) *** The Second
Century
of Cinema: The Past and Future of the Moving Image (State
University
of New York Press, 2000) by Wheeler Winston Dixon contains an essay on
film versions of HPL.
Television
On
the ABC 6 News of Providence (station WLNE-TV) “Satanism expert” Edmund
Pierce was interviewed about HPL on 4 March.
Writings
An
excerpt from Notes on the Writing of Weird Fiction (as it
appeared
in Marginalia) is available from Gale’s electronic Student
Resource
Center. *** The inimitable Forrest J Ackerman has a reproduction of a handwritten
note (from a book or magazine?) to him from HPL, who calls him
“acutest
of critics.” Since HPL called him a number of names, I wonder if this
was
the honeymoon phase, before the attack on CA Smith; or was it sarcasm?
Criticism
The
Secret Life of Puppets
by Victoria Nelson has a chapter about him; it might be a reprint of
the
article she had in Raritan. In March at Brown University she
lectured
on him. *** “Tributo a Lovecraft” by critic Christopher
Domínguez
Michael appeared in Letras Libres (1/1/2000).
Influence
The
movie Before Night Falls received a best actor Oscar
nomination.
It was based on the autobiography of Cuban dissident author Reinaldo
Arenas,
about whom fellow writer Juan Abreu wrote in Reinaldo Arenas: A
Memoir
of 1974. The first chapter of this book is reprinted in the fall
2001
issue of Michigan Quarterly Review. So much for the
bibliographical
antecedents. Abreu wrote about Arenas hiding out (from the state) in
sewers.
“When I went to see him early in the morning, he would emerge as if
from
a page by Lovecraft; who, incidentally, is one of his favorite
authors.”
(p. 673) *** According to a New York Times book review (11
Nov.)
of fantastic short stories, Stranger Things Happen by Kelly
Link,
in one case “Miss Rhode Island turns out to be a squidlike entity out
of
H. P. Lovecraft.” *** He and William Faulkner are the influences of
Michael
Vance, who has written “Light’s End” stories. *** Caitlín Kieran
refers both to him and Algernon Blackwood in a Publisher’s Weekly
interview (12/03/01). *** No doubt thanks to Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s
Stone, a French translation of Colin Wilson’s The Philosopher’s
Stone (called
La Pierre Philosophale) was reviewed in the new
year’s first issue of Le Figaro, a major French language
newspaper;
the book was called a “signifiant hommage” to HPL. *** “Rick Wadholm's
Astronomy
is a Cthulhu Mythos story set at the end of WWII.” (Magazine of
Fantasy
and Science Fiction (August 2001)) *** Ray Bradbury has received
star
2,193 on Hollywood Boulevard and his book Fahrenheit 451 will
be
the focus of a month long reading campaign in Los Angeles.
Publishers
There’s
a petition on the homepage of “The H.P. Lovecraft Archive” to stop Carroll
& Graf Publishers from marketing the Derleth posthumous
collaborations
as HPL’s.
Contemporaries
“Donald
Wandrei and Family: An Inventory of Their Papers at the Minnesota
Historical
Society” offers some good descriptions of the papers’ contents. There’s
also a fair amount about Howard, with much less about other family
members.
Wandrei is accounted one of the forgotten
Minnesotans according to the
Brainerd Daily Dispatch. *** Long
Memories. No, not Frank Belknap, but Amelia
Reynolds Long, once of whose works produced the shivery Fiend
Without
A Face, which terrorized me when I saw it at the show in 1958. A
website tribute to her has biographical information, a list of her
short
fiction, mystery novels, and poetry, an account of a visit to her
written
by former Ofian Chet Williamson, and more. *** The Auburn
Journal for 26 March states “Plans for creating a memorial to
the
late Clark Ashton Smith cleared a major hurdle Monday when the Auburn
City
Council voted unanimously to give its blessing to the idea.” A boulder
on Smith’s property is to be moved to a park downtown and have a plaque
put on it.
“The Cats of Ulthar”
“It
is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no
man may kill a cat.” This would be an appropriate epigraph for the
document “The Domestic Cat and the Law: A Guide to Available Resources.”
Review:
The
Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography by Charles P. Mitchell
(Greenwood
Press, 2001).
What
makes a Lovecraft film? Charles P. Mitchell thinks he knows. Films
reviewed
are considered either faithful to an HPL story or inspired by him.
Mitchell
usually shows a fine knowledge of the field, though I take issues both
with his explanation of the Cthulhu Mythos and its notorious “misuse of
magic” quote, and in the case of The Manitou where there is no
connection
made between it and Henry S. Whitehead’s “Cassius,” whose genesis after
all was suggested by HPL. He drags in a lot of horror movies that seem
doubtful in their linkage—Night of the Living Dead? He credits
the
Stephen King-acted part of Creepshow (where King becomes a
plant)
as being a variant of “The Colour Out of Space”—what about William Hope
Hodgson’s “A Voice in the Night”?Though
he includes obscure films new to me, I think he omits some: for
example,
The
Prince of Darkness—though he quotes its director, John
Carpenter—and
Le
Cas Howard Phillips Lovecraft which, while a documentary, seemed
worth
at least a nod. On the other hand, he makes his points on some films to
which I had not firmly considered Lovecraftian.
Each
film is rated from one to five stars, and there is a list of “key
Lovecraft
ingredients” preceding a list of the cast and a summary of the film,
with
analysis. Other sections are “performance,” “fidelity to Lovecraft,”
and
“representative quotes” from the movie. His is the knowledge of a movie
buff; “Pier Angeli . . . died of an overdose while making the film [Octaman
(1971)]” (p. 17). Mitchell has done his and other people’s homework,
for
he talks about edited out parts of films, as in the 1958 Caltiki,
the
Immortal Monster, which I haven’t seen in decades. When warranted
he
mentions an obscurity (to me) like the HPL- inspired The Big Fish.I
don’t agree with several of his justifications, and at times he
recognizes
the weakness of his contention; he considers that Castle Freak
was
taken from “The Outsider,” then admits “but the entire structure of the
film is almost the antithesis of The Outsider” (p. 56); and
“Although
an unqualified success, The Dunwich Horror has a number of blemishes as
well” (p. 86). Other comparisons seem shaky, as “The drone dog [in Phantoms]
… is reminiscent of the Hounds of Tindalos” (p. 168). Nor would I find
evidence that a tentacular beast is ipso facto inspired by
HPL’s
imagination. Some judgment calls are questionable; of the three films I
have seen in the Quartermass series, the best, Five Million Years
to
Earth, seems closer in spirit to HPL than Enemy From Space,
the one chosen to receive full-length treatment.
Even
where some background information should persuade me, as about The
Crimson
Cult, (e.g., “the picture had been originally titled Witch House”
(p. 66)), it is called into question by the accompanying credits
supplied
in this book that state the movie was “based on the novella Dreams
in
the Witch-House.” This is wrong (as proved by the original review,
with absence from the credits, in Variety), for like The
Farm,
it does not include any mention of HPL; while there has been a
tradition
of speculation about the connection between the film and the novella,
this
is not proof, which is not to deny that at least The Farm is an
unacknowledged Lovecraft adaptation, as based on the movie’s story and
viewing.
A
pronouncement about The Haunted Palace argues “the idea,
however,
of having a rattlesnake nesting in the kitchen of any abandoned
building
in New England is totally ludicrous” (p. 131); but there are such
serpents
in this region. However, he makes a hit with his remark that in The
Resurrected the change to the name of “Ash” (from “Dr. Allan” in The
Case of Charles Dexter Ward) is appropriate, “considering that
Curwen
had just been raised from his own ashes” (p. 180). (Mitchell also feels
the same as me about the greater faithfulness of the film to its text
in
comparison with other Lovecraft adaptations.) One curious typo I
noticed
is a reference to “Massachusetts residents who wanderi around” (p. 142).
There
are four appendices, of which the first treats three foreign films,
giving
them a paragraph apiece. The Japanese is based on “The Shadow Over
Innsmouth,”
the Chilean on “Pickman’s Model,” and the French(?) on several tales.
The
other appendices review amateur Lovecraft films, his television
presence,
and stories by him and others that the author believes should be made
into
films.
This
book could start any number of arguments about what makes a Lovecraft
film.
Little(?) Sam Perkins
Sez I
Mailing
116
Ben:
The longer people are dead, the more likely they will be forgotten—or
become
legendary. Derleth is the latter, so I took a greater interest in his
letters
to you than if he had remained alive. Thanks for publishing them; I
think
he comes across in them both favorably—as in concern for other
writers—and
humanly, not the obnoxious ego attributed to him.
Ken:
You note that you got to visit the Samuel Mudd House. On the other
side,
I went to the Dry Tortugas recently and got to see Samuel Mudd’s cell,
a stone chamber compensated by windows that offer a good view of the
ocean
which surrounds Fort Jefferson. Mudd was never officially cleared of
suspicions,
and to this day descendants such as news correspondent Roger Mudd work
to have his conviction overturned.
Derrick:
Thanks much for taking notes about the Lovecraft conference. I enjoyed
reading about it and was spurred to several reflections. Some of the
interpretations
are stretchers, such as Cthulhu’s reassembly of itself representing
correlated
contents. Yours may be the only record of events in existence, since
the
proceedings were not published. *** Who is James A. Anderson? I
disagree
with him a lot. Is the title “The Rats in the Walls” as peculiar as he
suggests? While it is arresting to consider that Delapore “becomes a
cannibalistic
rat-man” (shades of Brown Jenkin) rat-her than a degeneration into a
rat,
I’ve always imagined that he became something like a prehistoric
forebear,
something ape-like. This has a scientific credulity. Moreover, the idea
of interbreeding with rats is not supported by the chisel marks that
came
“from beneath” (a line that adds a wonderful bit of frisson),
unless we have to assume a race of anthropomorphic rodents already
established
and able to use tools. Yet, I find myself wavering. One reading not
mentioned
is that the present-day rats and much of the action is the fantasy of a
madman. As to Pickman (in “Pickman’s Model”) learning that he is a
monster,
I suspect that this was not a self-discovery, for witness his painting
where a changeling child is seated at a table with a human family.
John:
It was great to be able to read in one place all of King’s comments on
HPL from
Danse Macabre. I used to go through the book, looking for
these, and voila, plus your own enjoyable annotations. I like a
lot of what you said. But you are uncharitable to take as a given that
Lovecraft’s reputation is an obstacle to SK, “if just in King’s own
eyes.”
Also, I don’t think “Cool Air” is a poor example among Lovecraft’s
stories
to demonstrate the theme of immortality. *** To expand on what you said
about horror as opposed to terror stories, with Bloch shifting to
horror:
a majority of horror stories could be classed as crime stories, since
they
concern bodily harm—and at best psychological harm—to the characters.
That
a criminal is given supernatural powers does not stop him from being
one.
*** I’ve read the Tennessee Williams story “The Vengeance of Nitocris”
in The Pulps and I suspect it is Lovecraftian only if Egyptian
gods
are considered so.
Ben
S.: I looked at your “hpl-eod.tripod.com” page. When can readers expect
to see articles, interviews, reviews, etc.? *** The surname “Coffin”
(as
in “Goburro Coffin”) is not rare. Looking in a database, I’ve
discovered
over 3600 hits for just authors. The first name is a totally
different
story. *** It may be a tribute to HPL’s story-telling ability to wonder
what did happen afterward. Perhaps that would water down the effect of
the story. As in real life, there is no ending until one’s death. ***
The
idea for a new format or themed mailings is worthwhile, but getting
cooperation
from Ofians is like herding cats. *** Your beloved Hellboy may
become
a film starring Ron Perlman and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who may
be doing At the Mountains of Madness. Interesting, what?
David
S.: How do you determine that approximately “160” letters were written
to Smith by HPL? Mathematics? Seeing the letters themselves? A list of
receipts by one of the pair? *** A major reason for his New York
exile—which
you write about in your splendid introduction—was his failure to break
with his childhood, which was twined round Providence. Then, again, I
wonder
what would have happened if his aunts had chosen to move to New York.
Perhaps
he would have reconciled himself much better to his new address. We
will
never know. *** I anticipated that this collection (From the Pest
Zone)
would be the few stories in which New York was the setting, but
no. *** There’s a contradiction when you call “The Shunned House” “the
best of Lovecraft’s New York stories,” but later state “Cool Air” is
“the
most successful of Lovecraft’s New York stories.” There’s a delicacy of
distinction here that I am missing. *** While Derleth may have been
fond
of “In the Vault,” so were others, as witness its anthology
appearances,
one of which was very early, 1941 in The Other Worlds—and my
intro
to HPL!
Mailing
117
Ben:
I have also forgotten that I contributed something in print. I was once
reading a letter to the editor, and found myself agreeing with it. I
discovered
why when I read my name at the end (kind of like “The Shadow Out of
Time”).
R.
Alain: I wonder if Lovecraft’s remark “There’s a Bantu in the woodpile”
was what passed for wit? I forget in what movie in the 1930’s W. C.
Fields
made the same sort of “euphemism” joke (i.e., using highfaluting
words);
to wit, “There’s an Ethiopian in the fuel supply.” Hearers would have
gotten
the actual meaning, since if it had been too esoteric, it wouldn’t have
been understood by a movie audience.
John
G.: I was in England, heading for the Lakes district, when I saw a sign
beside the road that designated the distance to a place called Askham,
and of course I immediately thought of Arkham. An influence? I
understand
that the consensus opinion identifies Arkham with Salem. Also, why
should
the “thing” of “The Unnamable” be a foreshadow of “The Dunwich Horror”?
*** The Arkham of “The Silver Key” could equally well have been
idealized
rather then demonized, so it need not have been a representation of his
state of mind. Yours is a good, enjoyable article.
David
D. You mention the typos in your Servant of the Dragon. I
recently
finished reading George Orwell’s 1934 novel, still in print, Burmese
Days. Seeing that it is a classic and been around a while, you’d
have
thought the typos would have been baked out of it by this time. No. I
found
mis-spelled words, words turned round in a sentence, and other errors.
John
H.: I agree with most of what you say in response to Don B. If one
states
the premise that life surely exists in the universe, and if life exists
there must be advanced civilizations, and that this in turn means there
have been visits to Earth—then I would come back with the equally
possible
scenario that, given visits, we should have met these beings by now.
Otherwise,
we have them coming but refusing to make themselves known. The logic
breaks
down. (“I’ve traveled a trillion light years, but I am not interested
enough
to make contact with the inhabitants.”) *** Don’t be discouraged by a
few
rejections. You have a worthwhile product. *** Thanks for the listing
by
author of stories from Magazine of Horror and other titles. I
was
a subscriber to MOH and remember the kick I got, round ’64,
when
I got my first issue, #13, with the giant spider on the cover, with the
lead-off story by H.F. Scotten, “The Thing in the House.” (There are
some
unfortunate misprints in your list, as under Cahill—the first word
“The”
should be “They.”) *** Scanning this list I recall that I have a
fondness
for Paul Ernst.
Derrick:
In your radio interview you state that “The Shadow Out of Time” was
HPL’s
“last major story.” What does that make “The Haunter of the
Dark”—chopped
liver?
The Pulps
Had
I the ambition, one project I would take on is a survey of folks in
their
eighties, or thereabouts, and ask them to name the pulps they read, for
those that did. Fate threw me together with a gentleman of this age
bracket,
and I did ask him if he read the pulps. What he remembered was not
titles
but characters: the curiously named “Shark Gotch” and his nemesis,
Larsen
of Singapore. I followed up on this and discovered that this character
appeared in Action Stories, 1928. A story about him was written
by Albert Richard Wetjen, who appears in E. Hoffman Price’s Book of
the Dead. The
Vintage Library offers for sale a collection of Wetjen stories, The
White Shark, as well as chapbooks by Price and others.
MacDonald’s
In
Supernatural
Horror in Literature he states “George Macdonald's
Lilith has
a compelling
bizarrerie
all its own.” Ye-es, it is a peculiar work that I have recently read,
with
Christian elements in characters such as Adam and Eve; though
especially
in the earlier parts there are unsettling things, beasts of nightmare,
which reminded me ofThe Night
Land. Chapter with such titles as “The Bad Burrow” give a flavor of
this. But you may gag slightly from the children called “The Little
Ones,”
vaguely like the Ewoks of Star Wars. Lilith
is available online.
Do
the Tcho-Tcho people travel by train?
This
has been the 33rd issue of The Criticaster (Spring,
2002,
mailing 118) by Steve Walker. Published
eventually on the Net as The Limbonaut (no.4).
walker@libserv.ucmo.edu