In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft

by W. Scott Poole Narrated by Tim Campbell

Overview

In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H. P. Lovecraft interweaves the biography of the legendary writer with an exploration of Lovecraft as a phenomenon. It aims to explain this reclusive figure while also challenging some of the general views held by Lovecraft devotees, focusing specifically on the large cross-section of horror and science fiction fans who know Lovecraft through films, role-playing games, and video games directly influenced by his work but know little or nothing about him.



More than a traditional biography, In the Mountains of Madness will place Lovecraft and his work in a cultural context, as an artist more in tune with our time than his own. Much of the literary work on Lovecraft tries to place him in relation to Edgar Allan Poe, M. R. James, or Arthur Machen; these ideas have little meaning for most contemporary readers. In his provocative new book, W. Scott Poole reclaims the true essence of Lovecraft in relation to the comics of Joe Lansdale, the novels of Stephen King, and some of the biggest blockbuster films in contemporary America, proving the undying influence of this rare and significant figure.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/29/2016
Historian Poole (Vampira: Dark Goddess of Horror) turns his scholarly attention to H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) in this highly readable, informal biography, which also surveys the iconic horror writer's place in today's popular culture. Acknowledging the work done on Lovecraft by S.T. Joshi and other critics in recent decades, Poole takes pains to point out where his views differ from theirs. In particular, Poole stresses the importance of the women in Lovecraft's life, notably his mother, Sarah, and his wife, Sonia, to whom he was effectively married for only two years. Sarah may have had a detrimental psychological influence on her son, Poole concedes, but "at every opportunity, she let his imagination run in its wildest directions," encouraging his pursuit of such hobbies as chemistry and astronomy. In addition to putting in a good word for Sonia, Poole cites an anecdote that will be unfamiliar even to those steeped in Lovecraft lore: a document among Sonia's papers at the John Hay Library in Providence, R.I., suggests that Lovecraft enjoyed watching his wife dance to a recording of "Danse Macabre," the Camille Saint-Saëns tone poem. For Lovecraft neophytes wanting to learn more about the man and his work, this is a fine starting point. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

"thoroughly enjoyable and highly readable." ---Kirkus

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"thoroughly enjoyable and highly readable." —Kirkus

Library Journal - Audio

★ 03/01/2017
Poole (Vampire: Dark Goddess of Horror), in this unblinking biography, examines the life of an artistic genius who possessed abhorrent social views. A self-educated eccentric with widely ranging interests, H.P. Lovecraft (1890...1937) read classical mythology, the Arabian Nights, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ambrose Bierce, which led him to write horror fiction. His stories appeared in pulp magazines and circulated among the wide network of correspondents who kept his work alive after his premature death at age 47. Poole also examines two controversial aspects of Lovecraft's life. While previous biographers claimed that Lovecraft's mother had a negative impact on his life, Poole argues that Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft encouraged her son's intellectual interests and shaped him as an author. The second point is the awful, unvarnished racism that appears in his stories and his history. Poole makes no excuses for this, as other biographers have done, and sees it as a hideous stain on a remarkable career. Poole also examines Lovecraft's influence on the media, roll-playing games, and contemporary authors such as Stephen King. Reader Tim Campbell does a wonderful job telling the tale. VERDICT Highly recommended to all listeners. ["Entertains and surprises.... provides new perspectives on the author's character that will incense the keepers of Lovecraft's mythos": LJ 8/16 review of the Soft Skull pb.]--Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib.

Library Journal

08/01/2016
Although horror writer H.P. Lovecraft's (1890–1937) oeuvre is widely read, his life and times have been infrequently profiled. Because of its brevity (relative to S.T. Joshi's definitive biography, H.P. Lovecraft: A Life) and engaging style, this work by Poole (history, Coll. of Charleston; Vampira: Dark Goddess of Horror) makes Lovecraft's story accessible to casual readers without forsaking the level of detail expected of a more scholarly work. Poole examines the known events from birth to death, while carefully detailing the people and literature that influenced Lovecraft; his significant stories are also discussed. In other ways, though, this book entertains and surprises, as with Poole's decision to write in the first person—he's a wry and jovial narrator. He also takes pains to explore Lovecraft's influence upon art and popular culture. Likewise, Poole does not shrink from explaining his subject's sexuality, nor does he shirk his duty to discuss Lovecraft's undeniable racism and xenophobia. This interesting biography also provides new perspectives on the author's character that will incense the keepers of Lovecraft's mythos. VERDICT It's hard to argue against acquiring this volume to support a literature collection, though its appeal to readers beyond those fascinated with Lovecraft will be limited.—Chris Wieman, Univ. of the Sciences Libs., Philadelphia

MARCH 2017 - AudioFile

Narrator Tim Campbell presents this account of all things Lovecraft with Poole’s sense of pride, discovery, and fan ownership. Having found alien horror in the dark woods of his beloved New England and rank terror in the ancient cities of his vivid and singular imagination, Lovecraft died at age 46, close to penniless and all but unknown except to the most loyal readers of 1920s pulp fiction. But by the 1970s, Lovecraft had come to be considered one of the most influential fantasy and science fiction writers of the twentieth century. Campbell sounds ready to defend Lovecraft against all doubters. And since the macabre, pulp horror, and graphic novels, as well as role-playing games, based on Lovecraft’s works have turned into a multi-billion-dollar industry, perhaps this audiobook doesn’t overstate its case. B.P. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2016-06-21
A deep plunge into the Lovecraft-ian dark side.Poole (History/Coll. of Charleston; Vampira: Dark Goddess of Horror, 2014, etc.) enthusiastically explores how H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) influenced modern pop culture. The author's ardent fandom occasionally gets in the way, but he doesn't shy away from being critical when it matters, as when he discusses the "raw sewage of the author's racial theories." Poole reveals how a "strange, sickly, geeky, gawky, weird, impossible Howard" became H.P. Lovecraft, creating "horror tales without precedent and monsters without antecedent." The reclusive writer was lucky to be around when scary ghost stories were the thing; even "high-falutin figures" like Henry James were writing them. Lovecraft's moody "fictional grimoire" found favor with the editors of Weird Tales beginning in 1926 with "The Tomb" (they originally rejected his most famous work, "The Call of Cthulhu"). It gained him an audience but little income. Downplaying the role Poe had on his work and paying particular attention to the role women played in Lovecraft's life, Poole seamlessly weaves biography and criticism as he shows how the fodder of Lovecraft's mental state was transformed into the eerie, occult-infused stories Nail Gaiman calls "where the darkness begins." The rise of interest in Lovecraft after his death at 46 to the "apex of American popular culture's current fascinations form[s] a story as peculiar as his own life." Poole chronicles how writers like Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Robert Bloch championed him while Arkham House tirelessly kept his books in print. The "contemporary geek culture" created a "multibillion dollar entertainment juggernaut" consisting of video and board games, films, TV shows, comics, and steampunk that bear the Lovecraft-ian stamp. Poole even chronicles his visits to fantasy conferences interviewing fans who want to talk about the author who "wrote a new American history and a new geography to match it." Poole calls his occasionally flaky biography "unorthodox," but it's also thoroughly enjoyable and highly readable.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170951925
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/13/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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