Miscellaneous Writings (Hardcover)

by H. P. Lovecraft (Author), S. T. Joshi (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
For any fan of H.P. Lovecraft, this is an essential volume of hard-to-find miscellanea, juvenalia, and other forgotten writings.

From Publishers Weekly
Nearly 600 pages of second-level nonfiction by the master of cosmic horror, Lovecraft (1890-1937), might seem too much of a half-good thing. And what is one to think when editor Joshi suggests that the truest body of Lovecraft's writing lies not in essays, as here, or in his deservedly famous fiction, especially At the Mountains of Madness, but buried in his huge body of unpublished correspondence (nearly 100,000 letters)? Going by the present collection of minor Lovecraftiana, we might want to pass on the letters altogether. Even Joshi suggests that, aside from a handful of titles, the miscellanea is not worth its printer's ink. Lovecraft fancied himself an antiquarian of lofty style, and the bulk of his writing in this voice, though skilled, quickly gets old. Joshi assembles the letters and largely amateur essays by type rather than chronologically, and a distinct picture of the strange life and insular character of their author emerges. For cultists and completists only. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 568 pages
• Publisher: Arkham House Publishers; 1st edition (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870541684
• ISBN-13: 978-0870541681
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,278,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The contents of this book, January 1, 2001

By	R. MCCOSKER (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With so many different Lovecraft collections out there, it may help prospective buyers to know what's actually in this one:

[By S. T. Joshi and James Turner:] Editorial Note; [By Joshi:] Introduction; Dreams and Fancies [an introduction to the following group of H. P. Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Little Glass Bottle [a short story written during childhood]; The Secret Cave [a short story written during childhood]; The Mystery of the Grave-Yard [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; The Mysterious Ship [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson [a literary parody]; Old Bugs [a literary parody]; Memory [a prose poem]; Nyarlathotep [a prose poem; not to be confused with his later verse poem retelling with the same title]; Ex Oblivione [a prose poem]; What the Moon Brings [a prose poem]; Sweet Ermengarde [a literary parody]; The Very Old Folk [an excerpted recounting of a dream from a letter he wrote to someone]; History of the Necronomicon [a literary parody]; Ibid [a literary parody]; Discarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" [the surviving portion of an early draft of one of his great novelette]; The Battle That Ended the Century [a literary parody written in collaboration with R. H. Barlow]; Collapsing Cosmoses [a round robin literary parody written with Barlow]; The Challenge from Beyond [Lovecraft's contribution to a pulp magazine's round robin short story]; [By Joshi:] The Weird Fantasist [an introduction to the following group of Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Commonplace Book [the text of the notebook Lovecraft maintained for recording ideas for future stories]; Lord Dunsany and His Work [an essay]; Notes on Writing Weird Fiction [an essay]; Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction [an essay]; In Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard [a remembrance of Robert E. Howard]; [By Joshi:] Mechanistic Materialist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Idealism and Materialism -- A Reflection [an essay]; Life for Humanity's Sake [a reply to other writers]; In Defence of Dagon [the collected replies to correspondence disparaging his short story "Dagon"]; Nietzscheism and Realism [a collection of excerpts edited by Sonia Greene from Lovecraft's letters to her]; The Materialist Today [an essay]; Some Cause of Self-Immolation [an essay]; Heritage or Modernism: Common Sense in Art Forms [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Literary Criticism [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Metrical Regularity [a commentary]; The Vers Libre Epidemic [a commentary]; The Case for Classicism [a reply to another writer]; Literary Composition [a guide]; Ars Gratia Artis [a commentary]; The Poetry of Lilian Middleton [a commentary]; Rudis Indigestaque Moles [a commentary]; In the Editor's Study [a commentary]; The Professional Incubus [a commentary]; The Omnipresent Philistine [a commentary]; What Belongs in Verse [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Political Theorist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Crime of the Century [an essay]; More Chain Lightening [an essay]; Old England and the "Hyphen" [an essay]; Revolutionary Mythology [a commentary]; Americanism [an essay]; The League [a commentary]; Bolshevism [an essay]; Some Repetitions on the Times [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Antiquarian Travels [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Vermont -- A First Impression [an essay]; Observations on Several Parts of America [an essay and literary parody]; Travels in the Provinces of America [an essay and literary parody]; An Account of Charleston [an essay and literary parody]; Some Dutch Footprints in New England [an essay]; Homes and Shrines of Poe [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Amateur Journalist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] In a Major Key [a commentary]; The Dignity of Journalism [a commentary]; Symphony and Stress [a reply to another writer]; United Amateur Press Association: Exponent of Amateur Journalism [a guide]; Les Mouches Fantastique [a commentary]; For What Does the United Stand? [a commentary]; Amateur Journalism: Its Possible Needs and Betterment [the text of a speech]; What Amateurdom and I Have Done for Each Other [a commentary]; Lucubrations Lovecraftian [an ensemble of commentaries and replies to other writers]; A Matter of Uniteds [a commentary]; Mrs. Miniter -- Estimates and Recollections [a remembrance]; Some Current Motives and Practices [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Epistolarian [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] (without listing each one, six letters-to-the-editor and three private letters); [By Joshi:] Personal [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Brief Autobiography of an Inconsequential Scribbler [a commentary]; Within the Gates [the text of a speech]; A Confession of Unfaith [a commentary]; Commercial Blurbs [a collection of advertising copy]; Cats and Dogs [an essay]; Some Notes on a Nonentity [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Bibliography [a listing of the sources for the Lovecraft texts used in this volume]

(I've somewhat arbitrarily drawn a distinction above between "essay" and "commentary". By the former, I mean more or less self-standing nonfiction pieces; by the latter, nonfiction pieces that refer to the periodical in which they were to be placed or to a specialized audience being addressed.)

As one can see, this is one long and complicated hodgepodge of selections. There's good news and bad news here.

The good news is that this book brings into a collected bound volume many interesting pieces, including certain works of short fiction that were omitted from Arkham House's four volumes of Lovecraft's fiction, that were either long out of print or only available in chapbooks from tiny specialty publishers (mainly Necronomicon Press).

The bad news is what this book isn't. It purports to fill in the fictional pieces omitted in the same publisher's forementioned four-volume set, yet in turn omits two Lovecraft collaborations, "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster", that were (finally) first published the year before in chapbook form. Moreover, Arkham House, which was originally established to publish and promote the writings of Lovecraft, should be publishing multiple organized collections of Lovecraft's complete works, not a crazy quilt omnibus that in effect belittles his literary importance.

The editor of this collection, S. T. Joshi, is not to blame here: He'd love to edit a systematically arranged, complete set of the works of Lovecraft. Blame the August Derleth Estate, which controls Arkham House and seems to prefer publishing mediocre s/f anthologies to properly honoring Lovecraft.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extensive and impressive collection of works, February 11, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Miscellaneous Writings is an extensive and impressive collection of works by the famous and ground-breaking horror author H. P. Lovecraft, who is perhaps best known for creating Great Cthullu and other primordial cosmic entities. This volume compiles Lovecraft's little-known letters, essays, short stories, and much more spreading the gamut from nonfiction to personal to instructional to commentaries on social issues. To put it plainly, this Arkham House edition of H.P. Lovecrafts' Miscellaneous Writings is a mandatory addition to the reading list of dedicated Lovecraft fans and scholars who would learn more about this enigmatic and influential author through his erudite and deftly penned correspondences and writings.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it while it's there!, July 1, 1999

By A Customer

Oh yes, a dreambook arrived. Listen, the price and the (possible) waiting is worth every pint of blood you have! For the insight in Lovecraft's psyche, thinking, philosophy, childhood, and more, get this book. Hail to S.T. Joshi for this noble and fair deed. This proves once again Lovecraft's genius and how it is neglected by most. But, I have perceived he is now among Penguin's 20th century classics. Finally, acknowledgement for the good man!