Abstract
The final chapter of Supernatural Horror in Literature identifies four “modern masters” of the weird tale: Arthur Machen (1863–1947), Lord Dunsany (1878–1957), Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951), and M. R. James (1862–1936). His identification of these figures as the leading writers of weird fiction for this period elicited controversy among later critics, but Lovecraft’s judgment was remarkably prescient and has stood the test of time. The literary elements Lovecraft praised in their work are detailed, as are the modifications of his opinions in the years after he wrote his essay, and the confirmation of his ranking by subsequent scholarship. Such scholarship vindicates his view that these were the titans of weird fiction during the period 1880–1940: the only figure missing from the list is Lovecraft himself.
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- 1.
Edmund Wilson, “Tales of the Marvellous and the Ridiculous” (1945), in H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism, ed. S. T. Joshi (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1980), 47.
- 2.
Wilson , 48.
- 3.
T. O. Mabbott , Review of The Outsider and Others (American Literature, March 1940, in A Weird Writer in Our Midst: Early Criticism of H. P. Lovecraft, ed. S. T. Joshi (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2010), 183.
- 4.
Peter Penzoldt, The Supernatural in Fiction (1952), excerpts in H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism, 64.
- 5.
H. P. Lovecraft, Letter to Clark Ashton Smith (April 14, 1929); in Selected Letters 1911–1937, ed. August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, and James Turner (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1965–76), 2.328.
- 6.
Selected Letters 2.328.
- 7.
Lovecraft, Letter to Frank Belknap Long (June 5, 1923); Selected Letters 1.233–34.
- 8.
Lovecraft, Letter to James F. Morton (October 30, 1929); Selected Letters 3.39.
- 9.
Lovecraft, Letter to Lillian D. Clark (September 29–30, 1924); in Letters from New York, ed. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (San Francisco: Night Shade, 2005), 63.
- 10.
Lovecraft, Letter to the Gallomo ([April 1920]); in Letters to Alfred Galpin, ed, S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2003), 73.
- 11.
Lovecraft, Letter to R. H. Barlow (May 11, 1935); Selected Letters 5.160.
- 12.
Lovecraft, Letter to Lillian D. Clark (December 13, 1925); Letters from New York 253.
- 13.
Lovecraft, Letter to Lillian D. Clark (January 26, 1926); Letters from New York 275.
- 14.
Lovecraft, Letter to Bernard Austin Dwyer (1932); Selected Letters 4.4.
- 15.
“Notes on Writing Weird Fiction,” in Collected Essays, ed. S. T. Joshi (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2004–06), 2.176.
- 16.
Lovecraft, Letter to Elizabeth Toldridge (August 28, 1933); Selected Letters 4.239.
- 17.
Lovecraft, Letter to August Derleth (March 29, [1934]); in Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, ed. David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2008), 628.
- 18.
Lovecraft, Letter to Fritz Leiber (November 15, 1936); Selected Letters 5.354.
- 19.
S. T. Joshi, Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995), 19.
- 20.
Letter to J. Vernon Shea (September 25, 1933), in Letters to Vernon Shea, Carl F. Strauch, and Lee McBride White, ed. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2016), 167.
- 21.
See Essential Solitude 764n2.
- 22.
Lovecraft, Letter to J. Vernon Shea (February 5, 1932); Letters to J. Vernon Shea 90.
- 23.
Lovecraft, Letter to E. Hoffmann Price (August 15, 1934); Selected Letters 5.19.
- 24.
Lovecraft, Letter to Frank Belknap Long (May 20, 1926); Selected Letters 2.53.
- 25.
Lovecraft, Letter to Frank Belknap Long (June 11, 1926); Selected Letters 2.57.
- 26.
Lovecraft, Letter to E. Hoffmann Price (August 15, 1934); Selected Letters 5.19.
Works Cited
Joshi, S.T. 1995. Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination. Westport: Greenwood Press.
———., ed. 2010. A Weird Writer in Our Midst: Early Criticism of H. P. Lovecraft. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Lovecraft, H.P. 1965–76. Selected Letters 1911–1937. Ed. August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, and James Turner, 5 vols. Sauk City: Arkham House.
———. 2003. Letters to Alfred Galpin. Ed. S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. New York: Hippocampus Press.
———. 2004–06. Collected Essays. Ed. S.T. Joshi, 5 vols. New York: Hippocampus Press.
———. 2005. Letters from New York. Ed. S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. San Francisco: Night Shade.
———. 2008. Essential Solitude: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, 2 vols. (numbered consecutively). Ed. David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press.
———. 2012. The Annotated Supernatural Horror in Literature. Ed. S.T. Joshi, 2nd ed. New York: Hippocampus Press.
———. 2016. Letters to J. Vernon Shea, Carl F. Strauch, and Lee McBride White. Ed. S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. New York: Hippocampus Press.
Valentine, M. 1995. Arthur Machen. Bridgend, Wales: Seren.
Penzoldt, Peter. 1980. The Supernatural in Fiction. Excerpts in H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism. Ed. S.T. Joshi, 63–77. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Wilson, Edmund. 1945. Tales of the Marvellous and the Ridiculous. In H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism, ed. S.T. Joshi, 46–49. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1980.
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Joshi, S.T. (2018). Lovecraft and the Titans: A Critical Legacy. In: Moreland, S. (eds) New Directions in Supernatural Horror Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95477-6_8
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