# H. P. Lovecraft
**H. P. Lovecraft** (Howard Phillips Lovecraft, August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of weird fiction, born and died in [Providence, Rhode Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/providence-rhode-island), whose stories, published mainly in the magazine *Weird Tales*, helped create a genre combining science fiction, fantasy, and horror[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html) • [2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1). He is commonly regarded as the leading author of supernatural fiction of the twentieth century, and is distinctive among writers in having both a large popular following and a growing academic reputation[3](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/h-p-lovecraft-encyclopedia-9780313016820/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | August 20, 1890, Providence, R.I.; March 15, 1937, Providence, R.I.[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html) |
| Occupations | Short story writer, novelist, poet, and essayist; also ghostwriter and revisionist under pseudonyms including Lawrence Appleton, Houdini, Ward Phillips, and Lewis Theobald, Jr.[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html) |
| Signature tale | "The Call of Cthulhu", first published in *Weird Tales*, February 1928[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) |
| Novellas | *At the Mountains of Madness* (cut in *Astounding*, February 1936; restored in book form, 1939) and "The Shadow Out of Time" (cut June 1936; restored 1939)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) |
| Critical essay | *Supernatural Horror in Literature* (*The Recluse*, mid-1927; revised in *The Fantasy Fan*, October 1933 – February 1935; book, 1945)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) |
| Posthumous rescue | *The Outsider and Others* (Arkham House, 1939), containing all his major works except *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) |
| Canonization | Library of America lists "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", *At the Mountains of Madness*, "The Shadow Out of Time", and "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" among his key works[5](https://www.loa.org/writers/118-h-p-lovecraft/) |
## Life
Lovecraft spent his life anchored in Providence, where he was born and where he died at the age of 46[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html). His return to writing came through the amateur journalism movement, in which he recommenced his literary activity after joining the United Amateur Press Association in 1914; that connection brought him into contact with [Clark Ashton Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/clark-ashton-smith) and others, and much of his early fiction was produced in connection with it[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) • [6](https://www.hplovecraft.com/life/biograph.aspx). In the summer of 1917 he returned to fiction itself, writing "The Tomb" and "Dagon" in quick succession[6](https://www.hplovecraft.com/life/biograph.aspx).
**Marriage.** On March 3, 1924, Lovecraft married Sonia Haft Greene, a Russian Jew seven years his senior whom he had met in her Brooklyn apartment in 1922[6](https://www.hplovecraft.com/life/biograph.aspx).
## Works and publishing history
Lovecraft's fiction appeared primarily in the pulps, above all *Weird Tales*[2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1). The first appearances of the central tales trace the arc of his mature decade: "[The Colour Out of Space](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-colour-out-of-space)" in *Amazing* (September 1927); "The Call of Cthulhu" in *Weird Tales* (February 1928); "The Dunwich Horror" (April 1929); "The Whisperer in Darkness" (August 1931); "The Dreams in the Witch-House" (July 1933); *At the Mountains of Madness*, cut in *Astounding* (February 1936); *The Shadow over Innsmouth* (1936); and "The Shadow Out of Time", cut in *Astounding* (June 1936)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). The two cut novellas were restored in book form in *The Outsider and Others* (1939)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
His major critical essay, *Supernatural Horror in Literature*, a survey of the historical roots of his kind of fiction, first appeared in *The Recluse* in mid-1927, was revised for serialization in *The Fantasy Fan* from October 1933 to February 1935, and was published as a book in 1945[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
**Revision and ghostwriting.** Alongside his signed fiction, Lovecraft worked as a ghostwriter and revisionist under numerous pseudonyms. The Library of Congress authority record lists Lawrence Appleton, Houdini, John J. Jones, Humphrey Littlewit, Gent., Henry Paget-Lowe, Ward Phillips, Richard Raleigh, Ames Dorrance Rowley, Edgar Softly, Edward Softly, Augustus Swift, Lewis Theobald, Jr., Frederick Willie, and Zoilus among his alternate identities[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html).
## The Cthulhu Mythos and cosmic horror
Lovecraft's stories construct an elaborate fictional cosmology[2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1), centered on his imaginary book of occult lore, the [Necronomicon](https://www.edgepedia.org/necronomicon)[3](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/h-p-lovecraft-encyclopedia-9780313016820/). He urged fellow writers to draw on this common background, later labeled the [Cthulhu Mythos](https://www.edgepedia.org/cthulhu-mythos), though he himself never used that label for his own fiction.[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p) Later writers who adopted the background include Lin Carter, Robert E. Howard, [Fritz Leiber](https://www.edgepedia.org/fritz-leiber), Robert A. W. Lowndes, and Manly Wade Wellman; Robert E. Weinberg and Edward P. Berglund's *Reader's Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos* (1969; revised 1973) lists these adopters[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
Critics generally agree on eight central texts of this cosmic horror, and judge *At the Mountains of Madness* and "The Shadow Out of Time" the most accomplished, and the most influential on later science fiction writers[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). John Clute, in *The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror* (2006), suggests that the readerly response to Lovecraftian cosmic horror can be described as "Vastation" (psychic devastation from confronting cosmic horror): a kind of psychic bondage "to the malice of the made or revealed cosmos"[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
## Letters and literary circle
Lovecraft maintained his extensive social contacts mainly by mail from Providence, and was an important figure by correspondence in the careers of many later authors; his correspondence with [Robert E. Howard](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-e-howard) is described as illuminating[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). He also corresponded actively with fans and other pulp writers[2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1). The letters are a primary scholarly resource: S. T. Joshi's *An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia* draws on rare documents including thousands of unpublished letters[3](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/h-p-lovecraft-encyclopedia-9780313016820/).
## Reception and posthumous rise
By his death in 1937 Lovecraft had accumulated a substantial archive of manuscripts published posthumously[2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1). The rescue was carried out by friends and devotees[7](https://www.hplovecraft.com/study/bios/hplalife.aspx), beginning with Arkham House's *The Outsider and Others* (1939), which contained all his major works except *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*; that novel first appeared in book form in *Beyond the Wall of Sleep* (1943)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
**Critical division.** Lovecraft's literary output after his death drew the attention of [Edmund Wilson](https://www.edgepedia.org/edmund-wilson), who harshly rejected both the writer and his admirers; over the following years, authors from [Stephen King](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-king) to [Joyce Carol Oates](https://www.edgepedia.org/joyce-carol-oates) have named Lovecraft as an influence on their work[2](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1). The Library of America's inclusion of his work marks his entry into the canonical library series[5](https://www.loa.org/writers/118-h-p-lovecraft/).
## Scholarship and editions
S. T. Joshi, described as the leading authority on Lovecraft, wrote *H.P. Lovecraft: A Life*, the first full-scale biography in more than twenty years, based on primary sources; it covers Lovecraft's early interests in science, mythology, and literature, his amateur journalism involvement, his pulp-magazine presence, and the posthumous rescue of his work[7](https://www.hplovecraft.com/study/bios/hplalife.aspx). His *An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia* codifies three decades of Lovecraft scholarship, with entries on his works, characters, colleagues, and the Necronomicon[3](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/h-p-lovecraft-encyclopedia-9780313016820/).
The corrected-text Arkham House editions are the standard three-volume set: *The Dunwich Horror and Others* (1963; corrected 1985), *At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels* (1964; corrected 1985), and *[Dagon](https://www.edgepedia.org/dagon-short-story) and Other Macabre Tales* (1965; corrected 1986), alongside the earlier collections *Marginalia* (1944) and *The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions* (1970)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). Small presses, notably Necronomicon Press with Joshi's journal *Lovecraft Studies* and the long-running *Crypt of Cthulhu*, gave a home to early work by modern writers including [Thomas Ligotti](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-ligotti)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p).
## By the numbers
The eight central tales appeared between September 1927 and June 1936. The listed magazine appearances include *Amazing* ("The Colour Out of Space", September 1927) and *Astounding* (the two cut novellas, February and June 1936); the other first appearances are listed above[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). The posthumous book record runs from *The Outsider and Others* (1939) through *Beyond the Wall of Sleep* (1943), *Marginalia* (1944), *Supernatural Horror in Literature* as a book (1945), the corrected three-volume set of 1963–1965 (itself corrected in 1985–1986), and *The Horror in the Museum and Other Revisions* (1970)[4](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p). The Library of Congress record documents fourteen pseudonyms used for ghostwriting and revision work[1](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html).
## References
1. [Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937, Library of Congress Authorities](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017007.html)
2. [Lovecraft, H. P. (1890–1937), Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/lovecraft-h-p-1890-1937-1)
3. [An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia (S. T. Joshi), Bloomsbury/Greenwood](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/h-p-lovecraft-encyclopedia-9780313016820/)
4. [Lovecraft, H P, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lovecraft_h_p)
5. [H. P. Lovecraft, Library of America](https://www.loa.org/writers/118-h-p-lovecraft/)
6. [Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Life of a Gentleman of Providence, H.P. Lovecraft Archive](https://www.hplovecraft.com/life/biograph.aspx)
7. [H.P. Lovecraft: A Life, S. T. Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft Archive](https://www.hplovecraft.com/study/bios/hplalife.aspx)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Fiction writers: novelists and genre › Science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers › Horror writers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license