Product Review

When Peter Cannon wrote this study in 1989, H. P. Lovecraft's critical reputation was by no means as secure as it is today. Cannon emphasizes the greatness of Lovecraft's fictional output, fusing it with details of Lovecraft's correspondence, biography and philosophy to form a cohesive whole. Beginning with Lovecraft's childhood and early years, through his involvement with the amateur journalism movement, Cannon elucidates Lovecraft's early writings of the late 1910s and early 1920s; here, he identifies six prominent themes which together formed Lovecraft's unique worldview: the past, the sea, below, beyond, dreamland, and decadence. Then, Cannon approaches Lovecraft's mature fictional output, examining stories geographically, in terms of a "sense of place". The insights Cannon offers are as provocative today as they were when originally published.