Essential Solitude The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth

Product Description **TWO VOLUME SET** In this two-volume set, H. P. Lovecraft's relations to one of his most prominent colleagues and disciples, August Derleth (1909-1971), are recounted in the hundreds of letters they exchanged between 1926 and 1937. The youthful Derleth first wrote to Lovecraft, via Weird Tales magazine, in regard to an obscure work of weird fiction, and their subsequent correspondence deals extensively with the history of weird fiction, the two authors' ongoing attempts to publish stories in pulp magazines, Derleth's evolution into a sensitive writer of regional fiction and of detective stories, and debates over such issues as spiritualism, occultism, the literary use of coincidence, points of language and style, and other matters. Especially noteworthy are several letters by Lovecraft that Derleth interpreted as giving him permission to elaborate upon Lovecraft's pseudomythology, which Derleth named the Cthulhu Mythos. Nearly 400 of Lovecraft's letters and postcards are printed; only about 40 of Derleth's replies are extant. In an appendix, several of Derleth's early articles about Lovecraft are reprinted, describing Derleth's championing of Lovecraft and his foundation of Arkham House. All the letters are exhaustively annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi.A two-volume hardcover set; individual volumes not sold separately. From Publishers Weekly This monumental two-volume compendium gathers the correspondence between horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) and one of his most devoted disciples, August Derleth (1909–1971). Schultz and Joshi have scrupulously edited and annotated the hundreds of letters that survive, the bulk on Lovecraft's side, from Derleth's first epistle sent in care of Weird Tales magazine in July 1926 to Lovecraft's final missive penned a month before his untimely death 11 years later. While philosophical disquisitions are few, Lovecraft's letters present an appealing portrait of a man keen to share his interest in the literature of the weird with a fellow enthusiast. Reproductions of drawings Lovecraft used to illustrate his letters, an appendix that includes Derleth's posthumous tributes to his friend, a list of both men's contributions to Weird Tales and more enhance the scholarly package. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. About the Author H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) has belatedly achieved universal recognition as the twentieth century's premier author of supernatural fiction. Poet, essayist, philosopher, and man of letters, Lovecraft's work has been translated into nearly thirty languages and is widely available in numerous prestigious and annotated editions. His letters -- regarded by some as his greatest literary achievement -- are now being published in unabridged form for the first time.