00:00:05:04 - 00:00:09:01 Andrew Leman Welcome to Voluminous the letters of H.P. Lovecraft. 00:00:09:05 - 00:00:14:07 Sean Branney In addition to classic works of Gothic horror fiction, HPL wrote thousands of fascinating letters. 00:00:14:13 - 00:00:18:21 Andrew Leman In each episode of the show will read and discuss one of them. I'm Andrew Leman. 00:00:18:21 - 00:00:22:22 Andrew Leman And I'm Sean Branney. Together, we run the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. 00:00:23:14 - 00:00:34:08 Andrew Leman For today's letter, I chose one written on March 17, 1921, to Sarah. Susan Phillips Lovecraft. H.P. Lovecraft own mother. 00:00:34:13 - 00:00:37:01 Sean Branney Well, let's hear it. 00:00:37:04 - 00:01:00:23 Andrew Leman Thursday, March 17, 1921. My dearest mother, I was glad to receive your letter of Sunday and must thank you exceedingly for the reviews. Apples and beautiful picture of the Taj Mahal, which reminds one of the fabulous Oriental edifices in Lord Dunstani's tales. Just now I am taking a breathing spell before plunging into a fresh sea of bush work. 00:01:01:09 - 00:01:21:16 Andrew Leman He has sent a new rush order, which ought to bring in a considerable sum, but I shall not begin it tonight. One needs a fresh start to cope with his impossibilities. He enclosed in his order a new circular about himself and his work with a new picture, which looks almost human. I think I will send it out for you to see, asking that you return it eventually. 00:01:22:06 - 00:01:48:07 Andrew Leman The fellow has improved an aspect and certainly has a formidable sounding list of lecture subjects, but is, if possible, worse than ever as a poet. He is humanity's prime enigma, sublimely inscrutable. My trip of a week ago was a brilliant success. I can scarcely recall another time so enjoyable in years. The old green tie I used is not a bright green, but it fills the technical requirements. 00:01:48:18 - 00:02:10:02 Andrew Leman I would not have worn a bright one in public even had I possessed it. I found that others followed the same course. None of the visitors had on anything in the least Irish or conspicuous. The journey to Boston was pleasing and uneventful, and the sunny nature of the day made it even more delightful than the trip of last month, when clouds hung overhead and slush and covered the ground. 00:02:10:12 - 00:02:35:14 Andrew Leman The landscape was spring like enough to attract the artistic eye, and I beheld many in agreeable rural scenes. The train and accommodation rolled from village to village. Arrived at the South station. I took subway and car to Allston and were soon the now familiar 20 Webster Street. The house was decorated with streamers of green paper in honor of the departed Celtic Saint and the presiding hostesses. 00:02:35:14 - 00:03:06:18 Andrew Leman Meadamen Miniture and Sawyer and W.V. Jackson were attired in green habiliments with green paper ribbons incorporated in their coiffure. Ere long the house began to fill with guests, more or less verdured for the occasion, though not conspicuously so. They were, for the most part, persons who might have described before, although several new faces visible. The new recruit, Dr. Joseph Homer and beardlet was present and he proved to be a man of more learning and philosophical insight than I had suspected at the conference. 00:03:07:04 - 00:03:28:06 Andrew Leman He is an agnostic and an admirer of Samuel Butler, and I think that Galpin and I can make quite an amateur of him before we are through. His ideas are for the most part, exactly like ours. In point of numbers, the gathering was the largest save the conference and it would be impossible to catalog all present. Fortunately, 20 Webster is an immense house. 00:03:28:20 - 00:03:54:21 Andrew Leman The delegates were finally seated in a circle around the principal parlor, and the assemblage placed in charge of Mrs. Annie Cross Ellis, who called for literary contributions in order of seating, beginning with the venerable Mrs. K.L. Brown, the lady who was in Providence last December. At her right, contributions were rather mediocre till Nelson Glaxier Morton was reached, but he furnished some comic verses, which, in my humble opinion, formed the cleverest bit of light rhyme. 00:03:54:24 - 00:04:19:06 Andrew Leman Amateur Adam is seen for a long time. I felt then that he would win the prize, whatever it was. And he did. It was a green pasteboard "shtove poipe" hat, part of the sort which Hibernians are popularly supposed to wear on St Patrick's Day. The next Contribution of merit, a dialect playlist, was presented by an elderly lady, a mrs. Choate, who was formerly a professional reader or reciter. 00:04:19:20 - 00:04:48:07 Andrew Leman The best contribution from a purely literary point of view was from Mrs. McMullan. But it was a serious poem and therefore not a popular prize-winner. Interesting in a prosaic way, was the paper of a miss Noyes, a schoolteacher, and one of those who founded the club in 1890. Touching on actual travels in Ireland. No contribution was given by W.V. Jackson, who had nothing Irish on hand and who cannot or thinks she cannot write anything to order. 00:04:48:24 - 00:05:16:15 Andrew Leman By this time, the circle was nearing its end and grandfather Theobald was called upon extracting from my pocket the fatal manuscript. I proceeded to horrify the assemblage with my spectral moon bog, rendered with all the rhetorical effect needed to heighten the terror. Though prefaced by a few impromptu comic remarks from the amount of applause received, I judge that it was not wholly a failure, though probably only about half the company really liked it. 00:05:17:06 - 00:05:38:16 Andrew Leman After me, it came only the chairman herself, Mrs. Ellis, and she read an original story which was absolute be the worst I have ever encountered in amateur journalism. It was hardly more than a collection of later Victorian stock phrases and situations, and for a long time I fancy the intent was satirical on the Order of Leacock's Nonsense novels in Harpers. 00:05:39:06 - 00:06:01:14 Andrew Leman The next day it was the standing joke of the household and laughter was evoked merely by quoting a sentence or two from it. But the audience was admirably polite, and the good lady saw not a single trace of levity in her amused errors. There now followed a period of general discussion during which the affairs of the universe were settled as conclusively as they are always settled at literary complications. 00:06:02:05 - 00:06:26:00 Andrew Leman I Was impressed aknew that the bearded Homer is a find and that he will play an important part in amateur affairs in the future. Our philosophical colloquy drew about us rather a large circle of wide eyed listeners, two or three of whom may have understood some of the words we used. At this point, refreshments were announced and the company divided into small groups, scattered all over the house at sundry small tables. 00:06:26:13 - 00:06:52:10 Andrew Leman Since mine was a united rather than national group, literature rather than amateur politics, formed the topic of discussion. The fair was so well suited to me that I could not have chosen better myself. Cheese sandwiches, stuffed olives and other delicacies agreeable to my palate since I was the only out of town guest and was staying all night, no attempt at observing a time schedule was made and the company did not disperse till 1130. 00:06:52:22 - 00:07:23:07 Andrew Leman The occasion had been a brilliant one and thence forward. My chronicle deals with placid conversations rather than public performances. Mrs. Sawyer retired at once, but W.V. J. And Miss Miniture are like myself, somewhat given to the enjoyment of nocturnal quiet so that the conversation did not terminate till 1:30. Mrs. M. had exhumed an amateur book. I have been anxious for five years to see Ernest A. Edkin's "Amenophra", and the poe-like contents furnished ample material for discussion. 00:07:23:22 - 00:07:47:04 Andrew Leman Thereafter, I retired to the spacious apartment assigned to me, the very room occupied by Houttain last July, and surprising to relate, drifted off into a dreamless and restful slumber from which I did not emerge until 9 a.m.. Friday morning dawned sunny and pleasant, and I arose quite refreshed as I emerged into the inhabited sitting room, I found two gifts awaiting me. 00:07:47:10 - 00:08:12:12 Andrew Leman A copy of Hervey's "Meditations" printed in 1778, which Mrs. Sawyer said she thought I would appreciate on account of my antique tendencies and a large and artistic wall card containing the Jacksonian verses (which I revised in 1916) The River of Life. The verses were professionally purchased by the card publishers, and for him, an excellent professional opening for the authoress. 00:08:12:13 - 00:08:35:07 Andrew Leman A.E.P.G likes them so well that she has ordered another card to give someone as a birthday present. Probably the cards will prove popular. A breakfast to central features were bacon and muffins now appeared and was disposed of without disaster. Adjournment was now made to an upper library where there ensued continuous conversation on every imaginable literary, philosophical and dramaturgical topic. 00:08:35:19 - 00:09:02:24 Andrew Leman All three. Allstonians. W.V.J. Miniter, Sawyer. (Mrs. Jackson was absent on a visit) are exceedingly brilliant and well informed, though inclining each to a different province. Miss Jackson is, as readers of her very scarce need to be informed, a master of the imaginative and the poetic, having probably the most substantial endowments of original genius of anyone in amateurdom, and in addition the manner is refined and restful as that of Kleiner. 00:09:03:15 - 00:09:27:11 Andrew Leman Mrs. Miniter is without a doubt the leading fiction writer of amateurdum, having excelled in grim, realistic stories since her entrance in 1883. She is not in sympathy with imaginative work, but achieves her effects by the close and relentless observation of detail. Her spirit and methods are very close to those of the ultra modern school, although she was using them ages before that school came into being. 00:09:27:22 - 00:09:53:22 Andrew Leman She writes professionally and has one published book. Mrs. Sawyer, though widely read, makes less claim to literary achievements than the others, being noted chiefly for a sentiment a nd inimitable humor which is employed on all occasions, both in speech and on paper. Such a perpetual fountain of wit is quite remarkable and is much more acceptable to amateurism than the dull and heavy effusions of less gifted but more ambitious scribblers. 00:09:54:12 - 00:10:19:01 Andrew Leman All are skilled in that pleasing and who tain like flattery, which so cheers the spirits of an obscure author. Though the apparent flattery of Winifred V Jackson appears to be really the result of deficient critical sense, since I found my worthless poetical attempts, predominating in her old scrapbooks, which date back to a time when their inspection by me was probably never anticipated. 00:10:19:01 - 00:10:50:15 Andrew Leman I am glad that at least one or two readers have found my trash worth preserving, though that fact does not blind me to its actual want of merit. Loveman more analytical and more deeply read than Miss Jackson is a critic whose judgment can better be relied upon in cataloging the inhabitants of 20 Webster's Street. One should not forget the Maltese feline gentleman who goes by the appellation of "Tat", a word coined in the dim past by the eldest of the now grown wedded and departed Sawyer boys. 00:10:51:07 - 00:11:15:21 Andrew Leman Tat has a reputation for wildness and fear of strangers. But before I left, he permitted me to pick him up and sat contentedly in my lap, purring sleepily. He is exactly the color of my new outlet suit, so I would not have minded his shedding. But as it happened, he did not shed. I am told that I am the first stranger to succeed in holding him, but cats are my special province anyway. 00:11:16:14 - 00:11:43:14 Andrew Leman Thus the hours passed imperceptibly in discourse of varied kinds and inexhaustible diversity of topics presented themselves. Though I endeavored not to prove balsam by continuous conversation. At about 6:00 dinner was served, though it did not interrupt the flow of words and ideas. Later, it was still more of a conversation varied by the writing of a joint letter to W. Paul Cook, all four sections of which were read aloud, assembled and mailed by me. 00:11:43:14 - 00:12:08:03 Andrew Leman When I departed, I was shown many amateur books, which I had not seen before, together with several meritorious, unpublished manuscripts, and it was hard to believe that a day of 14 hours had passed when my faithful paternal watch proclaimed the advent of the 11th hour departure was now necessary by reason of New York, New Haven and Hartford timetables, if not merely for the sake of courtesy and mercy. 00:12:08:09 - 00:12:40:04 Andrew Leman After so long, a series of lectures on my part, and I prepared to make my adduce the apparent genuineness of the insistent requests that I repeat the trip make me hope that my conversation did not exhaust all patients. Though railway fares will deter me from journeying as often as the kindly alternates urged me to do. Final details of the trip include an uneventful ride to the South Station, an equally uneventful ride to Providence, and a quiet journey up to number 598, which I reached at 1:30 a.m.. 00:12:40:20 - 00:13:02:05 Andrew Leman The trip had been long and delightful, yet I suffered no ill effects and am calmly back in my customary routine. I note the Guiney poem by Thos. Jones with great interest. I had cut the same piece from a transcript of A.R.P.G's to send you, but you were ahead of me. There is an excellent account of Miss Guiney in a literary digest I have. 00:13:02:09 - 00:13:20:13 Andrew Leman I will endeavor to find it and send it out by LDC, who is now here. Miss G was referred to at Allston during my sojourn -- for years, W.V. Jackson, who sent me every clipping she has found pertaining to her. In fact, I believe you have seen most of them. Guiney poetry is not of the variety I most value however, I can perceive its excellence, but prefer arts requiring less interpretation. The greatest bards have been the simplest. Homer, Virgil and Shakespeare require no subtle searching in order to be comprehended and appreciated. Even Keats, who I believe was Miss G's particular idol, dealt more in crystal clear images than in learned riddles and critical admiration. I am glad you saw David Garrick, though 00:13:47:20 - 00:14:10:10 Andrew Leman sorry it kept you awake after it. I saw the all be company presented several years ago, the year Jack Hess was trying to break into the company. Jack was absurdly awkward in the required costume. Fortunately for him, he had no lines to speak. Churchill had the part of Garrick, who, needless to say, acquitted himself with great credit. I also saw this play in moving pictures with Dustin Farnum as Garrick. 00:14:10:20 - 00:14:36:08 Andrew Leman This is one of the finest scenic productions I ever saw. The 18th century and Dr. Johnson's day mirrored without flaw or anachronism in matters of scenery. The moving picture can, of course, leave the stage far behind, though this hardly atones for the lack of sound and color, I have been hoping that the collegians would present their Dusany plays at the hospital so that you might see the work of this literary giant. 00:14:36:12 - 00:14:57:02 Andrew Leman If they do pray, do not fail to attend. I am glad that your dental matters are progressing and hope the new teeth can finally be adjusted to fit without hurting. I transmitted your dental suggestion to A.R.P.G.but do not think she has acted upon it. The first pulling is no doubt approached with all the trepidation that attends a venture into the unknown. 00:14:58:02 - 00:15:20:01 Andrew Leman Concerning hats, I will think about snowy straws when the sun climbs a bit higher in the zodiac. My 1916 and 1917 lids are still capable of taking on a semblance of respectability under proper treatment. And since shape is more important than Hue, it would be no disaster if I skipped another season. I had almost rather have a new felt hat in the autumn. 00:15:20:07 - 00:15:44:05 Andrew Leman My 1917 hat is good, but its surface lacks that freshness which one finds in less archaic millinery. However, the one former crying need a new winter suit is certainly fulfilled in glorious fashion, as you will see when some suitable spring day affords the opportunity. I shall soon have a couple of amateur papers to send a November United amateur and galloping long awaited philosopher. 00:15:44:16 - 00:16:07:03 Andrew Leman These things are frightfully slow in materializing, yet they always come in time to save the amateur world from disintegration. How great a boon is Amateur them? More than one of its devotees would perish with ennui and monotony, but for its ever varied and enlivening influence. But I must close subscribing myself as your most affectionate son and obedient servant. HPL 00:16:07:14 - 00:16:13:17 Sean Branney Well, Andrew. Tell me what led you to pick this letter. 00:16:13:21 - 00:16:41:04 Andrew Leman This is the last known letter that Lovecraft wrote to his own mother. If there is a later one, I haven't found it. This one was written just nine weeks before she passed away. It's one of a couple of letters that are in selected letters. But the text that I read was actually pulled from the actual handwritten letter that's available through the Brown Digital Repository at the John Hay Library of Brown University. 00:16:41:05 - 00:16:50:02 Andrew Leman The actual letter is scanned in high resolution and you can read the whole thing. The version that shows up in select letters is pretty heavily abridged. 00:16:50:03 - 00:16:54:14 Sean Branney Yeah, that's why I was curious how much did Dirt and company keep in? 00:16:54:20 - 00:17:16:20 Andrew Leman They kept maybe half of the text of the letters. In selected letters, but a lot of the details of of the meeting that he attended and who was there and what they talked about, they skip over all that. They skip over some of the personal stuff at the end about her medical problems and stuff. So the abridged letter is pretty abridged, and I was curious to see what was left out. 00:17:16:20 - 00:17:44:01 Andrew Leman So I went looking on the Brown Digital Repository and found the whole letter. And so that's the one that I read from. I picked it, you know, obviously because his mother was a goes without saying major figure in his life. His relationship with her was complicated. And we're not experts about about it. So I don't want to sound like I know more about that relationship than I do, but I'm led to believe it was complicated. 00:17:44:13 - 00:17:58:01 Andrew Leman And to hear him addressing his own mother especially, you know, she had been ill for years. And he the letter that she wrote to him was from Butler Hospital, where she had been institutionalized for the last two years. 00:17:58:01 - 00:17:59:01 Sean Branney Just like her husband. 00:17:59:01 - 00:18:14:15 Andrew Leman Just like her husband, Lovecraft's father, who died in the exact same hospital when Lovecraft was, what, seven years old or something? Right. I also found it touching that in this letter he refers to his paternal watch. You know, because I don't think we hear Lovecraft talk about his father very often. 00:18:14:17 - 00:18:19:01 Sean Branney Yeah, I noticed that same thing. I mean, that was a watch that he inherited when he said. 00:18:19:01 - 00:18:22:02 Andrew Leman That he's been carrying around his father's watch all this time. 00:18:22:02 - 00:18:25:09 Sean Branney It's just like he's been carrying around his father's guilt. Yeah. 00:18:26:03 - 00:18:51:18 Andrew Leman So it was that was there are a number of very especially knowing that it's possibly the last letter he ever wrote her. There's a lot about it that's touching. Of course. You know, I couldn't help but think of my own mom and how supportive she always was of me and of late. Yes. I mean, I think those early days when we were passing up strange scenes at the offices of Leman Publications, you know, without my mom, the play chess might not exist in the way that it does today. 00:18:51:21 - 00:19:15:13 Andrew Leman Right. So, you know, it was that's one of the reasons why I was I was interested in it. And I was interested because it he talks about his colleagues in the amateur press movement and we hear his, you know, bagging on some of their stuff to his mom. Right. And he talks about in this opening paragraph, he talks about this client of his bush when he says, I'm I'm just about to plunge into a frenzy of Bush work. 00:19:15:20 - 00:19:36:21 Andrew Leman Right. Bush was this guy named David Van. Bush, who I had never heard of before. I read this letter and who turns out to be a very interesting to me character. He's a pop psychologist, motivational speaker or inspirational poet kind of guy. And apparently in the late teens and early 1920s, he was very well known. He was a Tony Robbins, right? 00:19:37:05 - 00:19:39:02 Sean Branney Yeah. Walker kind of thing. 00:19:39:03 - 00:19:51:18 Andrew Leman Yeah. And he had published numerous books and Lovecraft helped with some of those books. He also he wrote like three or four books of inspirational poems. And I think mostly what Lovecraft was helping with was the poems. And they. Were all, of course, terrible. 00:19:53:02 - 00:19:55:14 Andrew Leman As far as Lovecraft was concerned. But he also wrote. 00:19:55:15 - 00:19:59:06 Sean Branney Were you did you find some of them? Have you read some of the ideas? I have. 00:19:59:06 - 00:20:03:20 Andrew Leman And I almost I almost bought a bunch of David Van Bush's books. 00:20:04:02 - 00:20:04:23 Sean Branney Oh, dear God. 00:20:04:24 - 00:20:05:13 Andrew Leman But I didn't. 00:20:05:13 - 00:20:07:09 Sean Branney Because you're being sucked in. 00:20:07:09 - 00:20:20:20 Andrew Leman I am being sucked in. And you can but you can read them online. You can. The National Institutes of Health Medical Science Library has a complete online versions of some of Bush's books, so I read some of them. 00:20:20:21 - 00:20:22:17 Sean Branney Do you feel more alert, more confident? 00:20:22:17 - 00:20:33:03 Andrew Leman Well, it is very it is very interesting. There's one I'm just going to give you a couple of the titles because they give you the gist of what this guy was like. Grit and Gumption was one of his books from 1921. 00:20:33:03 - 00:20:33:23 Sean Branney That should be a movie. 00:20:33:24 - 00:20:41:11 Andrew Leman Yeah. Applied psychology and Scientific Living. And Lovecraft claimed that he did two or three of the chapters of this book. 00:20:41:14 - 00:20:41:23 Sean Branney Wow. 00:20:41:24 - 00:20:58:14 Andrew Leman Applied Psychology and Scientific Living. That was in 1922. Right after this letter was written. So the Bush work that he's referring to, his letter might be that very book. In the same year, 1922, Bush came up with practical psychology and sex life. And that one is a very interesting read. 00:20:58:24 - 00:21:02:03 Sean Branney I'm sure Howard had a lot of fun working on ghostwriting like that. 00:21:02:05 - 00:21:24:12 Andrew Leman That was the cursory reading to which he treated all of his knowledge of empathy and emotion. Apparently, he Bush wrote a book called The Silence What it Is and How to Use It, Willpower and Success. He actually published a whole magazine called Mind Power Plus. So that tells you kind of the kind of guy that and he had sold out lecture tours at theaters all across the country. 00:21:24:12 - 00:21:30:07 Andrew Leman So this guy, David Van Bush, was an interesting 1920s revival kind of character. 00:21:30:07 - 00:21:40:14 Sean Branney Sure. And you could see why, you know, Lovecraft would not enjoy, you know, as he often complains about the revision work he has to do. And if that's the nature of one of his clients, he's got to be in his eyes. 00:21:40:14 - 00:21:50:01 Andrew Leman And Bush was apparently one of his best paying clients. I had never heard of Bush before. I read this letter, and it led me down a very quirky, delightful rabbit hole. 00:21:50:01 - 00:21:53:12 Sean Branney And like I hope I hope your next seminar goes really well for you. 00:21:55:12 - 00:22:20:08 Sean Branney Well, yeah, that too. To make up one one moment. So just in terms of Lovecraft's mother, in the condition she's in at this point in time, so so this is his last letter to her. And it really seems like like you, I'm I certainly don't claim to be an expert on the biography of Susie Lovecraft, but that she's hit pretty aggressively by a nervous breakdown in the winter of 1918. 00:22:20:08 - 00:22:33:06 Sean Branney You know, that seems like one of these throw a switch type things lurching into you know, I don't know if modern diagnosed to be schizophrenia or something, but there certainly seem to involve hallucinations. And, you know, her mental health seem to be and that. 00:22:33:06 - 00:22:34:20 Andrew Leman Lovecraft bore the brunt of. 00:22:34:20 - 00:22:38:19 Sean Branney Apparently then in terms of caring for her. 00:22:38:19 - 00:22:52:21 Andrew Leman Well, in terms of some of the hallucinations were of how horrible he was, I think on the one hand, he refers to her as, you know, one of the most wonderful people I ever knew and so forth. But she doesn't seem to have done a lot for his self-esteem. 00:22:53:01 - 00:23:16:09 Sean Branney Well, yeah, certainly not. And certainly, you know, there are references from earlier in his life where where, you know, some of the things she did undermine. It's you know, it's that split kind of thing because it's like she's the one buying him a fancy chemistry said. And and, you know, pushing forward his interest in the science and nurturing him in a lot of ways, but also seems to bear a lot of the responsibility for him, the sort of reclusiveness of his early life. 00:23:16:09 - 00:23:17:13 Andrew Leman Holding him back in many ways. 00:23:17:13 - 00:23:54:03 Sean Branney Yeah, exactly. So and, you know, arguably, once Lovecraft's mother dies, that's really sort of the the emotional, unchanging of Howard. And he becomes much more the man he's going to be once she is, she's no longer in the firmament. So I was just going to add in just a tidbit that she was institutionalized in the spring, almost over a year later, after her first symptoms show up in the winter of 1918, in March of 1919, that she's put into the Butler Hospital, so that by the time this letters written, she's been living institutionalized for two full years. 00:23:54:12 - 00:24:07:19 Sean Branney And then, as you were saying, seven weeks after this letter in in May, she went in for a gallbladder operation there, which apparently did not didn't did not go well. And she died five days later after her surgery. 00:24:07:19 - 00:24:24:18 Andrew Leman So the important thing to note for those who are following this kind of detail, the date given in selected letters has been mis trans mis identified. What? Yeah, the date on the letter in select letters is wrong. This this letter was actually written on March 17th. 00:24:25:01 - 00:24:28:04 Sean Branney I'm sorry. So there's the 17th? That's correct. This is written on St Patrick's Day. 00:24:28:05 - 00:24:32:17 Andrew Leman Well, that's what's written on the piece of paper that's scanned at the Brown Digital Repository. 00:24:32:17 - 00:24:35:10 Sean Branney Right. But what the selected letters claim it is, I think it's like. 00:24:35:10 - 00:24:36:18 Andrew Leman Two weeks after the fact, like. 00:24:36:18 - 00:24:45:08 Sean Branney Oh, interesting. Yeah. Well then is sort of interesting because this does seem to be a St Patrick's Day party. He's going to. Yeah. And he clearly has gotten home by the time he's writing it. 00:24:45:14 - 00:24:51:02 Andrew Leman So I expect I mean, I think he's I imagine he's writing this as soon as he gets home, although he gets. 00:24:51:03 - 00:24:52:02 Sean Branney To work in the. 00:24:52:02 - 00:24:59:21 Andrew Leman Morning. But he was famous for staying up all night and working and writing. Sure. So I don't you know, I don't know. I only know what's written on the piece of paper, right? 00:24:59:22 - 00:25:16:24 Sean Branney Yeah. You know, if he wrote the 17th, we. Yeah, we got to go with that unless we got a reason to think he's lying. So one of the things that struck me most about this letter, my notes on it, I just wrote the words party animal because, you know, a lot of guys got this bum rap of being a recluse. 00:25:16:24 - 00:25:33:02 Sean Branney And, you know, it just isn't borne out by the facts. And he's clearly the valued and honored guest. He's clearly a lot of the spotlight at this party is on him. And he seems to be reveling in it and people seem to like him. At least that's how he represents it to his mom at this party is. 00:25:33:02 - 00:25:51:05 Andrew Leman A follow up to a party that was held a month or two earlier. This letter is actually a follow up to his letter to his mom describing this conference. So when he says, I've described some of these people before, he described them literally like four weeks earlier in a previous letter. Right. So he's describing, again, people that she has already heard about. 00:25:51:06 - 00:25:57:10 Andrew Leman Right. This guy Homer and his beardlit. It was described in much more detail in a previous letter, for example. 00:25:57:15 - 00:26:08:12 Sean Branney His aim is to cast aspersions on people who whose facial hair is not robust. He's always given Frank Belknap long a bad time about his little mustache. And yeah, yeah, I wondered about I don't think I've ever run into the term beardlit before. 00:26:10:17 - 00:26:31:14 Andrew Leman He he refers just as he refers to himself as HPL. He refers to his Aunt Annie as A.E.P.G. We're going to come up against those four letters in lots of and lots of other letters to come. So when he calls, when he refers to a A.E.P.G.that his Aunt Annie, Emmeline, Philip Scammell, and likewise LDC is his aunt Lillian Clark. 00:26:31:23 - 00:26:43:14 Andrew Leman So just like Cole, Miguel and KLEICOMOLO, he refers to the members of his own family by their initials. So if you get confused like I originally did, wondering who the hell is AEPG? That's his Aunt Annie. 00:26:43:14 - 00:26:59:13 Sean Branney I was right there with you. It took me a little while to figure it out, and I'm like, Ah, okay, got it. There were too many letters, but then I realize what what he was up to. So yeah, there's a lot of people at the party, and I don't know if we need to exhaustively walk through everybody, you know, who is there. 00:27:00:08 - 00:27:12:10 Sean Branney The letter obviously covers that, but I think for me, the details of who all was there was less interesting than his role among them. as really a VIP at this literary and just a. 00:27:12:10 - 00:27:22:17 Andrew Leman Slice of his life that you know this was how he spent an incredibly pleasant couple of days among his friends who really liked him and and food that he liked and talking about stuff that he was interested. 00:27:22:17 - 00:27:44:16 Sean Branney In as being a slice of life. One of my favorite parts of this is the paragraph concerning hats, you know, to as those of us who now live in a largely heartless era that a gentleman has several hats and they're seasonal. And, you know, some of the ones from 1916 and 1917 or maybe a little frayed and worn out, but they're still good enough to use. 00:27:44:16 - 00:27:49:11 Andrew Leman If you're not rolling in hat money, then yeah, you make do another year with the hat from three years. 00:27:49:11 - 00:28:16:15 Sean Branney Ago. Yeah. So something I found interesting in the the end of this right after the hats as he's talking about he's got this new suit so it's clearly he thinks it's very nice it's certainly his need for a new winter suit is certainly fulfilled in a glorious fashion, as you will see, when some suitable spring day affords the opportunity, which to me carried an implication that that he's not going to see her very often or be like, I'll show I'll wear it when I come on Thursday or next week or something. 00:28:16:15 - 00:28:36:09 Sean Branney And it made me wonder if in-person visits to the Butler Sanatorium were or the Scott the Butler Hospital were not a common thing, you know, considering that her health is probably not that good since she's going to need surgery, she's been institutionalized for two years in the same town that he lives in. And I don't know how far across town the Butler Hospital is. 00:28:36:09 - 00:28:37:08 Andrew Leman It was a bit of a schlep. 00:28:37:08 - 00:28:49:16 Sean Branney But yeah, you know, there's not that hard pluses and things like that, you know. So anyway, that just struck me as interesting that I wondered if he was more comfortable writing to his mother than he was going to that particular building to visit her. 00:28:49:16 - 00:28:56:01 Andrew Leman Well, considering that that's the building where his father died, it might have been a place that, you know, there are a lot of people who do not like to go to hospitals. 00:28:56:04 - 00:28:57:14 Sean Branney I frankly, I think everyone. 00:28:57:14 - 00:29:00:09 Andrew Leman And it could be that he just was creeped out. 00:29:00:09 - 00:29:00:18 Sean Branney Now. 00:29:01:01 - 00:29:02:12 Andrew Leman Being there in person. 00:29:02:12 - 00:29:15:21 Sean Branney Yeah. No, no, it just made me think that because he does seem. the tone of the letter is very much devoted son. But but that, that notion of I've got a new suit which I'll show you when, when the weather's good enough, you know. 00:29:16:06 - 00:29:38:01 Andrew Leman There are a couple other personal friends that he mentions after, after the description of the thing he makes reference to the Guyney poem? Yeah. That's a poet named Louise. Imogen Guiney, who is actually a personal friend of his mother's. Oh, Mrs. Lovecraft and Mrs. Guiney knew each other when they were younger, and actually, they shared a house together when HPL was a child. 00:29:38:01 - 00:29:44:14 Andrew Leman And Guiney's mother referred to little baby Howard as little sunshine. All of that sweet. 00:29:46:02 - 00:29:49:07 Sean Branney No one. No wonder he became a dark and stuck up person. 00:29:49:07 - 00:30:10:01 Andrew Leman Yeah. Following the career of this poet who had died a few years, just about a year prior. He also knew in the later he talks about just Sarah saw a play. David Garrick Right. Which is apparently done at the hospital. Yeah. And Lovecraft mentions that he had seen the same play years ago when Jack Hess was trying to break into company. 00:30:10:01 - 00:30:16:22 Andrew Leman Jack Hess was a neighbor boy who had grown up next door to the Lovecraft. Oh, so they knew Jack Hess personally. 00:30:16:22 - 00:30:33:23 Sean Branney Well, that makes more sense of the comment. Yeah, the well, it's interesting talking about the performance of the hospital, too, because he's he's he says he's hoping that the college players are going to take the Dunsany play to the hospital and and that brings in Dunsany mania which is a big thing for Howard you know. 00:30:33:23 - 00:30:35:16 Andrew Leman Saying Dunsany! with an exclamation point. 00:30:35:16 - 00:30:39:18 Sean Branney That's going to show that it's going to be a musical inside. Exactly. But go over. 00:30:39:18 - 00:30:41:19 Andrew Leman Well with the mental patients. I'm sure. 00:30:41:19 - 00:31:00:24 Sean Branney No doubt. But it is interesting to see how hooked on Dunsany Howard is that. I think it was 1919. He went to hear him speak. You know, not too long before this. Yeah. And it's like, boy, you see a picture of the Taj Mahal. It's Dunsany! , you know, and the best of college thespians. You hope they'll come by and do some Dunsany. 00:31:00:24 - 00:31:21:20 Sean Branney You know, it really is clear that Howard was hooked on him. I guess it's the simpler way to say it. Yeah. One other just last little tidbit I had found in there I wanted to share was they he emerged and found his hosts had given him gifts. Oh, yeah. Harvey's meditations. Wow. What a gift. What a gift. And could you have a more perfect gift to give to Howard Lovecraft? 00:31:21:20 - 00:31:42:00 Sean Branney The the full version of the. The title of the book is Meditations Among the Tombs. Yeah. And this is written in 1778. So you've got from this this era of colonial British folk. But walking among the tombs, I mean, it reminded me of the story of the tomb. Oh, really? A perfect gift for Howard. 00:31:42:13 - 00:32:02:00 Andrew Leman Two other just fine little things that I wanted to mention, too, about. About the circle that they were when they when they all got together and everybody read their stuff aloud. Right. You and I have read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft into microphones. Yeah. And what wouldn't you give to be able to sit and listen to H.P. Lovecraft himself read The Moon Bog with all the bells and whistles? 00:32:02:00 - 00:32:02:05 Andrew Leman I mean. 00:32:02:05 - 00:32:05:06 Sean Branney Clearly, he gave up. He's putting on a show, no doubt, man. 00:32:05:06 - 00:32:12:05 Andrew Leman What I wouldn't give Josh to have been sitting in that circle and hear Lovecraft himself read even a terrible story. 00:32:12:18 - 00:32:13:11 Sean Branney You know, to. 00:32:13:11 - 00:32:15:22 Andrew Leman The best effect that he could. I wonder what it. 00:32:15:22 - 00:32:20:23 Sean Branney Would have been like. Well, clearly, some of the people seem to actually enjoy it and some of the others pretended to. 00:32:21:11 - 00:32:25:17 Andrew Leman And among them, among the people who presumably actually enjoyed it was Winifred V Jackson. 00:32:25:17 - 00:32:27:09 Sean Branney Oh, hubba, hubba, hubba, hubba. 00:32:27:09 - 00:32:42:15 Andrew Leman Because it turns out that, you know, when he's looking through her scrapbook later, he discovers all of his terrible old poems in there. Exactly. And it was Sonia Green apparently seemed to think that Winifred had a thing for old Howard. And this scrapbook evidence does tend to bear that out. 00:32:42:15 - 00:32:51:08 Sean Branney Yeah, I thought the same thing, that it might have actually been a little frightening for Howard to be going. Oh, here it comes. Take a look at my scrapbook. Yeah, that's you. 00:32:51:08 - 00:32:52:16 Andrew Leman Keeping my old balls. 00:32:52:21 - 00:33:15:00 Sean Branney In your scrapbook. Winnie, That's creepy. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, it's a great letter to get a, I think, a clear review of. Don't know if it's clear, but anyway, our view of Lovecraft, his relationship with his mom, and then again, Lovecraft. The social animal. Yeah. Being out and interacting with his peers A in a yeah pretty interesting St Patrick's Day sleepover and. 00:33:15:00 - 00:33:19:01 Andrew Leman Then turning around and bagging on them behind their back. Always some of them, only some of them. 00:33:19:01 - 00:33:25:24 Sean Branney And when he says her her quasi Victorian writing was bad. I believe him. I believe him. Well, shall we sign up? 00:33:25:24 - 00:33:40:00 Andrew Leman Oh, yeah, we should. Our thanks today to the Brown Digital Repository at the John Hay Library in Providence for making the scans of this letter and so many other wonderful things available to internet browsers. 00:33:40:04 - 00:33:45:11 Sean Branney You can see them for yourself by heading over to Repository.Library.Brown.Edu. 00:33:45:20 - 00:33:47:15 Andrew Leman I'm your obedient servant Andrew Leman. Sean Branney and I'm cordially and respectfully yours Sean Branney 00:33:51:00 - 00:33:56:05 Andrew Leman You've been listening to Voluminous the letters of H.P. Lovecraft. 00:33:56:06 - 00:33:59:14 Sean Branney If you've enjoyed the show, we'd appreciate it if you take a moment to post a review. 00:33:59:17 - 00:34:04:14 Andrew Leman Or a rating or write a letter to a friend, tell everybody you know about voluminous. 00:34:04:14 - 00:34:37:01 Sean Branney Brought to you by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Come check out all we have to offer at HPLHS.org