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

In the fall of that year Lovecraft’s letter-writing campaign shifts back to the Argosy; but at the moment I wish to return to the letter of 1914 that I have already quoted, a letter of close to two thousand words, taking up nearly two full printed pages. It is a sort of grand summation of everything he liked in the magazine and an encapsulation of what he thought it stood for. One of the most notorious of its statements is its judgment as to the Argosy’s leading author: ‘At or near the head of your list of writers Edgar Rice Burroughs undoubtedly stands.’ Later in life Lovecraft seemed embarrassed at his juvenile (or not so juvenile: he was twentythree when he wrote this letter) fondness for Burroughs, and he sought to distance himself from the creator of Tarzan.

In his letter Lovecraft goes on to praise many other writers, few of whom are of any note. What is remarkable is that the writers mentioned here (as well as in a later letter published in the All-Story Cavalier Weekly for 15 August 1914) did not even write weird fiction. This means that Lovecraft read each issue—sometimes 192 pages, sometimes 240 pages—from cover to cover, month after month or even (when it changed to a weekly) week after week. This is an appalling amount of popular fiction for anyone to read, and in fact it contravened the purpose of the magazines, whereby each member of the family would read only those stories or those types of stories that were of interest to him or her.

It is possible that the All-Story published this long letter in its issue of 7 March 1914 because Lovecraft himself had become, after a fashion, a sort of celebrity in the entire Munsey chain. This had come about in a very odd way. Lovecraft, reading everything the Argosy put in front of him, found some material less appealing to his fastidious taste than others. In particular, a popular Argosy writer of sentimental romances named Fred Jackson was blasted by Lovecraft in the issue for September 1913. Jackson had become an Argosy staple, and two of his short novels had appeared complete in recent issues.

The response to Lovecraft’s letter is not likely to have been predicted either by Lovecraft or by Matthew White, Jr, editor of the Argosy. The November 1913 issue contained several more letters on Jackson, two of which specifically supported Jackson and attacked Lovecraft. The affair, however, might not have taken the peculiar turn it did had not the other letter, by John Russell of Tampa, Florida, been written in verse. This is a whimsical four-stanza piece which begins:

Does Mr. Lovecraft think it wise

With such long words to criticize

An author whom we greatly prize? That’s Freddie Jackson.

Lovecraft was so taken with this squib that he decided to reply in kind. The January 1914 issue contained a verse epistle of his own in what he fancied was the manner of Pope’s Dunciad. In fact, it is a very clever poem, and reveals that penchant for stinging satire which would be one of the few virtues of his poetic output. The manuscript of the poem is headed ‘Ad Criticos’ (‘To [my] critics’); in it Lovecraft praises Russell for his cleverness and wit, and then proceeds to take his other enemies to task.

But before Lovecraft’s verse letter was printed, he was ferociously assailed in the December 1913 issue. Some of the titles which the editor affixed to the letters give some idea of the outrage Lovecraft had provoked: ‘Challenge to Lovecraft’ (G. E. Bonner, Springfield, Ohio); ‘Virginia vs. Providence’ (Miss E. E. Blankenship, Richmond, Virginia); ‘Elmira vs. Providence’ (Elizabeth E. Loop, Elmira, New York); ‘Bomb for Lovecraft’ (F. W. Saunders, Coalgate, Oklahoma). Two letters did take Lovecraft’s side, however.

In a second instalment of ‘Ad Criticos’ published in the February 1914 Argosy Lovecraft takes potshots at these new opponents. The tone of this poem is much sharper than that of its predecessor. In this issue Lovecraft begins to gather both friends and enemies— mostly the latter.

The controversy continued desultorily for the next several issues; but something strange now happens: no more replies by Lovecraft are published in the Argosy until October 1914. There are two further segments of ‘Ad Criticos’ in manuscript: did he not submit them for publication? or were they not accepted? The latter seems unlikely, since an editorial note at the end of ‘Correction for Lovecraft’ (a prose letter published in the March 1914 issue) declares: ‘You are always welcome in the Log-Book.’