A Dreamer & A Visionary; H.P. Lovecraft in His Time

And yet, Lovecraft makes it abundantly clear that his ‘grippe’ really did improve whenever the weather warmed up. This, at any rate, was the case during the winter of 1935–36. This fact may have led Lovecraft to believe that his digestive problems were some byproduct of his sensitivity to cold, which he apparently believed to be non-treatable; if so, it could have contributed to his failure to see a doctor until the very end.

Lovecraft’s last month of life is agonizing merely to read about; what it must have been like to experience can scarcely be imagined. This period has been made suddenly more vivid by a diary of his condition that Lovecraft kept until he could scarcely hold a pen.³⁰ Lovecraft began keeping the diary at the very beginning of 1937. He notes lingering digestive trouble throughout the first three weeks of January. Dr Cecil Calvert Dustin was brought in on 16 February. According to his recollections, he could tell immediately that Lovecraft was suffering from terminal cancer, so that he prescribed a variety of painkillers. Lovecraft’s condition did not improve, and the medications did not even appear to alleviate his pain. He took to sleeping propped up in the morris-chair, since he could not lie down comfortably. Also, there was enormous distension in his abdomen. This is an oedema in the peritoneal cavity caused by his kidney disease.

On 27 February Annie told Dr Dustin that Lovecraft was much worse. When Dustin came over, he claims to have notified Lovecraft that his condition was terminal. Lovecraft, of course, kept up a good front to his colleagues, saying merely that he would be out of commission for an indefinite period. On 1 March Annie asked Dustin to call in a specialist in internal medicine. Dustin contacted Dr William Leet, but clearly not much could be done at this stage. The diary entry for 2 March tells the story: ‘pain— drowse—intense pain—rest—great pain’. On 3 and 4 March Harry Brobst and his wife paid a visit; Brobst, with his medical knowledge, must have immediately known of the nature of Lovecraft’s condition, although he too put up a good front when writing to mutual colleagues.

On 6 March Dr Leet came over and found Lovecraft in the bath: immersions in hot water appeared to alleviate the pain somewhat. On this day Lovecraft suffered ‘hideous pain’. By 9 March Lovecraft was unable to take any food or drink. Leet called the next day and advised that Lovecraft check into Jane Brown Memorial Hospital. He was taken there that day in an ambulance. Lovecraft’s diary ends on 11 March; presumably he was unable to hold a pen thereafter.

For the next several days Lovecraft had to be fed intravenously, as he continued vomiting up all nourishment, even liquids. On 12 March Annie wrote to Barlow:

I have intended to write you a gay little letter, long since, but now I am writing a sad little letter telling you that Howard is so pitifully ill & weak … the dear fellow grows weaker & weaker—nothing can be retained in his stomach … Needless to say he has been pathetically patient & philosophical through it all … .³¹

On 13 March Harry Brobst and his wife came to visit Lovecraft in the hospital. Brobst asked Lovecraft how he felt; Lovecraft responded, ‘Sometimes the pain is unbearable.’ Brobst, in parting, told Lovecraft to remember the ancient philosophers—a reference, presumably, to their stoicism in facing death. Lovecraft smiled—the only response Brobst received.³²

On 14 March Lovecraft’s oedema was so severe that a stomach tap drained six and three-fourths quarts of fluid. That day Barlow, having received Annie’s letter, telegraphed her from Leavenworth, Kansas: ‘WOULD LIKE TO COME AND HELP YOU IF AGREEABLE ANSWER LEAVENWORTH TONIGHT.’³³

Howard Phillips Lovecraft died early in the morning of March 15, 1937. He was pronounced dead at 7.15 a.m. That evening Annie telegraphed a reply to Barlow:³⁴ HOWARD DIED THIS MORNING NOTHING TO DO THANKS

EPILOGUE

Thou Art Not Gone

On the evening of 15 March the Providence Evening Bulletin ran an obituary, full of errors large and small; but it made mention of the ‘clinical notes’ Lovecraft kept of his condition while in the hospital— notes that ‘ended only when he could no longer hold a pencil’. This feature was picked up by the wire services, and a brief obituary appeared in the New York Times on 16 March. Frank Long, Lovecraft’s best friend, learnt of his death from reading this obituary.