The leading critic of supernatural literature here examines the roots of the "weird tale" (as Lovecraft called it) through detailed examinations of five "founding fathers" of the genre: Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, and H.P. Lovecraft. The result is a thorough study of the art, craft, philosophy, and aesthetics of an enduring genre of fantastic literature.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Meet H.P. Lovecraft's heroes: Dunsany, Machen, Blackwood, Bierce, and James,
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This review is from: The Weird Tale (Paperback)
In the past 40 years H.P. Lovecraft has become the most well-known and popular "cult" horror writer. (As opposed to main-stream best sellers like Anne Rice or Stephen King.) Some of the writers who cast a large influence over Lovecraft were Lord Dunsany, Arthur Machen, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, and M.R. James--all well known in their time, but today nearly forgotten. Until recently it has been hard to find much of their work in print, and difficult to sort through what they wrote to find out what is good and not so good. (All but James were prolific writers). And finding criticism on these writers is nearly impossible.
Joshi has done an excellent job of providing concise overviews on the careers and literary philosophy of each of the authors, including a final section on Lovecraft. Although Joshi can be a bit too opinionated for my taste, in this case his sometimes pungent take on things really helps sort out the masterpieces from the junk (and all these writers produced their share of rubbish). Occasionally he even admits to not understanding an aspect of the authors writing (example in point, Joshi says he has no idea how Blackwood manages to sustain the long building of suspense and foreboding in works like "The Willows.") Honesty like this is a refreshing thing to see in literary criticism. Lovecraft fans will enjoy this book. Joshi has basically taken a section of HPL's essay on The Supernatural in Literature that discussed this group of writers, and expanded greatly upon it (including work they did after HPL's untimely death). Joshi's stated purpose was to read everything written by these writers to get a feel for each of them--a task that must have been at times excruciatingly tedious. Anyone who knows much about HPL, knows Poe was a huge influence on him. However, Poe is absent from this volume. I think Poe is well known enough on his own that his inclusion in this book would have been redundant. A great reference book for anyone who enjoys horror or weird fiction.
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