An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

The autobiographical implications of the story have perhaps been overstressed by critics. The Outsider’s concluding remark—“I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men”—has been thought to be prototypical of HPL’s entire life, but this is clearly a considerable exaggeration. The Outsider’s early reflections on his childhood—“Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness”—manifestly contradict HPL’s own accounts of his generally happy and carefree childhood. In a very general way “The Outsider” may possibly be indicative of HPL’s own self-image, particularly the image of one who always thought himself ugly and whose mother told at least one individual about her son’s “hideous” face. See David J.Brown, “The Search for Lovecraft’s ‘Outsider,’” Nyctalops2, No. 1 (April 1973): 46–47; Dirk W.Mosig, “The Four Faces of ‘The Outsider,’” Nyctalops2, No. 2 (July 1974): 3–10 (rpt. with revisions in Mosig’s Mosig at Last[West Warwick, R.I.: Necronomicon Press, 1997]); William Fulwiler, “Reflections on ‘The Outsider,’” LSNo. 2 (Spring 1980): 3–4; Robert M.Price, “Homosexual Panic in ‘The Outsider,’” CryptNo. 8 (Michaelmas 1982): 11–13; Mollie L.Burleson, “The Outsider: A Woman? ” LS Nos. 22/23 (Fall 1990): 22–23; Donald R.Burleson, “On Lovecraft’s Themes: Touching the Glass” (in ET); Mollie L. Burleson, “Mirror, Mirror: Sylvia Plath’s ‘Mirror’ and Lovecraft’s ‘The Outsider,’” LS No. 31 (Fall 1994): 10–12; Carl Buchanan, ‘“The Outsider’ as an Homage to Poe,” LS No. 31 (Fall 1994): 12–17; Robert H.Waugh, ‘“The Outsider,’ the Terminal Climax, and Other Conclusions,” LSNo. 34 (Spring 1996): 13–24; Paul Montelone, “The Inner Significance of ‘The Outsider,’” LSNo. 35 (Fall 1996): 9–21; Robert H.Waugh, “Lovecraft and Keats Confront the ‘Awful Rainbow,’” LS No. 35 (Fall 1996): 24–36; No. 36 (Spring 1997): 26–39; Robert H.Waugh, “The Outsider, the Autodidact, and Other Professions,” LSNo. 37 (Fall 1997): 4–15; No. 38 (Spring 1998): 18–33.

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P

Pabodie, Frank H.

In At the Mountains of Madness,the professor of engineering who devises the special drill used to conduct geologic borings on the Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition.

Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner,Astronomy Articles for.

Seventeen known articles, published in 1906; rpt. First Writings: Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner (Necronomicon Press, 1976; rev. ed. 1986).

The articles appeared as follows: “The Heavens for August” (July 27); “The Skies of September” (August 31); “Is Mars an Inhabited World?” (September 7); “Is There Life on the Moon?” (September 14); “An Interesting Phenomenon” (September 21); “October Heavens” (September 28); “Are There Undiscovered Planets?” (October 5); “Can the Moon Be Reached by Man?” (October 12); “The Moon” (October 19); [untitled] (October 26); “The Sun” (November 2); “The Leonids” (November 9); “Comets” (November 16); “December Skies” (November 30); “The Fixed Stars” (December 7); “Clusters-Nebulae” (December 21); “January Heavens” (December 28).

These are—aside from HPL’s letter to the editor of the Providence Sunday Journal(June 3, 1906)— the earliest published works by HPL, although contemporaneous with the astronomy articles for the [Providence] Tribune(1906–08), which commenced only a few days after the first of the Gleaner articles. The paper was a rural weekly published in the village of Phenix, R.I. (a community now incorporated into the town of West Warwick); HPL remarks of it: “The name ‘Phillips’ is a magic word in Western Rhode Island, & the Gleanerwas more than willing to print & feature anything from Whipple V.Phillips’ grandson” ( SL1.40). The articles range from surveys of the celestial phenomena for the coming month to discussions of provocative questions regarding the heavens: HPL here maintains that Percival Lowell’s belief in the artificiality of the Martian “canals” is “not only possible, but probable,” although in later columns

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