H.P. Lovecraft

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.