NPR Does HPL

So, somewhat to my surprise, the next-to-last story on NPR's Morning Edition on Friday was a report from Necronomicon. As usual with any news piece on a meeting with a fantasy/sci-fi theme, the reporter has included the cliche of talking about people in costume (one of those little boxes you have to check when doing a story of this kind, I guess) and also made fun of the name (whereas I'd say "Necronomicon" is a great in-joke instantly recognizable to the people who'd be interested in attending).

But it was interesting to learn, through the piece, that Providence seems to be accepting HPL as a native son, with a bust of him now in the Athenaeum and the CALL OF CTHULHU silent movie from a few years back being shown there as part of some special exhibit. That's a level of local fame I don't think HPL himself ever seriously dreamed of.  Hope they do put together that walking tour of Lovecraft-associated Providence spots that gets mentioned. And I do have to give them credit that in links from the online version of the story they provide links to pieces that raise some serious issues about HPL and his work, but keep them out of the main story. Bemused by the comments, esp. the one by "Pugmire", who I assume is the Lovecraft scholar of the same name, attacking anyone who criticizes Lovecraft's worst novel as being "illiterate". More interestingly, Pugmire asserts that the Lovecraft volume from Library of America is their best-selling title of all time. That would be surprising, but don't really know where to go to confirm something like that. If true, it wd be deeply ironic, since Edmund Wilson, who was a big supporter of a Library-of-America type project, was a notorious detractor of Lovecraft.

In any case, here's the link:

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/31/241655366/providence-kindles-love-of-horror-writer-h-p-lovecraft

--John R.
current book: GODS AND FIGHTING MEN by Lady Gregory [1904]
current audiobook: Boswell's LIFE OF JOHNSON [1791]