In addition to his classics of horror fiction, it is estimated that Lovecraft wrote 100,000 letters — or roughly 15 every day of his adult life — ranging from one-page diaries to seventy-page diatribes. Perhaps 20,000 of those letters have survived, in the hands of private collectors and at the John Hay Library in Providence.
In each episode of this podcast, we'll read one of these letters (or part of it) and then discuss it. In his letters HPL reveals an amazing breadth of knowledge of philosophy, science, history, literature, art and many other subjects, and forcefully asserts some highly considered opinions (some of which can be upsetting).
And of course his letters offer a fascinating window into his personal life and times. Although we've been working with Lovecraftian material for over 30 years, we still find interesting new things in his letters, and while we don't claim to be experts we look forward to sharing them with a wider audience.
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RSS Feed- Episode 51
- Posted October 11, 2020
REH Part 2: Witch Cults
This is part two of a long letter from October of 1930 to Robert E. Howard. HPL provides his Texan friend with a fascinating look at the history of witch cults in Massachusetts, before reflecting on his own genealogy and the perils of immigration in his America. CONTENT WARNING: This episode involves issues that are still a hot-button topic today.
Music by Troy Sterling Nies. Our thanks again to Hippocampus Press for their book A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.
