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Weird Tales The Strange Life Of HP Lovecraft

Weird Tales - The Strange Life Of HP Lovecraft (Documentary) Geoff Ward examines the strange life and terrifying world of American horror author HP Lovecraft. BBC Radio 3 Sunday December 3rd 2006 45m Produced by Paul Quinn Stephen King has hailed the writer HP Lovecraft as the most important exponent of weird fiction since Edgar Allan Poe. Although Lovecraft never had a book published commercially in his lifetime, his stories did feature in lurid magazines devoted to fantastic fiction that were printed in the United States in the 1020s and 30s, such as 'Weird Tales' of this biography's title. Geoff Ward, professor of literature at Dundee University and presenter of this programme, argues a strong case for Lovecraft as a writer who brought something very different to the horror genre, both in his stylised writing and his desire to leave the reader in a dark place from scary start to frightening finish. Other contemporary fantasy writers, like Neil Garmain, back Ward up, with exquisite examples of how deliberately peculiar the author's choice of adjectives was - 'gibbous' being a particular favourite for a nearly full moon. But the most fascinating insights into his work come from the realisation that it was the horrors in Lovecraft's home life and a hellish upbringing that helped shape his fiction.