The Lovecraftian Poe

Essays on Influence, Reception, Interpretation, and Transformation

Contributions by Alissa Burger Culver-Stockton College, Michael Cisco, Dan Clinton, Brian Johnson, S.T. Joshi, John Langan, Murray Leeder University of Calgary, Juan L. Pérez de Luque, Slawomir Studniarz, Miles Tittle, Robert H. Waugh, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Ben Woodard Edited by Sean Moreland

Publication date:

24 May 2017

Length of book:

276 pages

Publisher

Lehigh University Press

Dimensions:

235x163mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781611462401

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century’s most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his “model” and his “God of Fiction.” While scholars and readers of Poe’s and Lovecraft’s work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe’s work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays explore how Lovecraft’s fictional, critical, and poetic reception of Poe irrevocably changed how Poe’s work has been understood by subsequent generations of readers and interpreters. Addressing a variety of topics ranging from the psychology of influence to racial and sexual politics, the essays in this book also consider how Lovecraft’s interpretations of Poe have informed later adaptations of both writers’ works in films by Roger Corman and fiction by Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This collection is an indispensable resource not only for those who are interested in Poe’s and Lovecraft’s work specifically, but also for readers who wish to learn more about the modern history and evolution of Gothic, horror, and weird fiction.

Acknowledgements
Foreword: Poe and Lovecraft by S.T. Joshi
Introduction: Poe After Lovecraft, or Beyond the Flaming Walls of the World by Sean Moreland
Chapter 1: ‘The Strangeness of My Heritage’: Lovecraft’s Poe and the Anxiety of Influence by Brian Johnson
Chapter 2: The Call of Ligeia: Influence and Effect in Poe and Lovecraft by Dan Clinton
Chapter 3:‘Tekeli-li!’ Poe, Lovecraft, and the Suspicion of Sameness by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
Chapter 4:Cosmic Horror and the Supernatural in Poe and Lovecraft by Michael Cisco
Chapter 5:Descending spirits: ideological implications of the vertical movements in Poe and Lovecraft by Juan L. Pérez-de-Luque
Chapter 6: The Fiery Eyes: The Black Cats of Poe and Lovecraft by Robert H. Waugh
Chapter 7: Lovecraft’s Poetry and Poe’s Poetics by Slawomir Studniarz
Chapter 8: Rarebit Dreamers: the Poetics of Lovecraft, Poe, and Winsor McCay by Miles Tittle
Chapter 9: Poe/Lovecraft/Corman: The Case of The Haunted Palace (1963) by Murray Leeder
Chapter 10: ‘You Fancy Me Mad:’ The Unreliable Narrator’s Defense in Poe, Lovecraft, and King by Alissa Burger
Chapter 11: The Killing Crowd: Poe and the Deep Crime of the Media by Ben Woodard
Chapter 12:‘Not like any thing of ours:’ Waking Poe and Lovecraft in Kiernan’s The Drowning Girlby Sean Moreland
Chapter 13:Conversations Among the Dead: Thoughts on Poe, Lovecraft, and Influence by John Langan
Afterword: The Tomahawk Man and the Gentleman from Providence by Caitlín R. Kiernan

The Lovecraftian Poe is an illuminating collection of scholarly essays on the two major titans of horror fiction.... Many a volume of forgotten lore has been devoted to these two authors, and yet this one manages to bring plenty of fresh insights to the table and is thus strongly recommended for all students of fantastic, weird and horrific literature.