Howard Philips Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a only child. His father developed psychosis when Lovecraft was only 3 years old and passed away in 1898 while being held in a psychiatric hospital. After the death of his father, Lovecraft was raised by his mother, two aunts and his gradfather.
Lovecraft was frequently sick as a child and because of this, he rarely attended school. However, he read voraciously during all of his time at home, including literature classics that his grandfather introduced to him. By the age of nine, he had already published some work in the local scientific papers.
His grandfathers death in 1904 completely disrupted Lovecraft's life. Because of poor financial planning, lovecraft's mother had to sell the families house and Lovecraft was absolutley devastated. At this point Lovecraft considered suicide for the first time. Lovecraft also suffered, what he later described, as severe nervous breakdowns.
From the early 1900's till about 1913, his writings were mostly poetry. However, in 1917 he started writing fiction. His works were published in pulp magazines, such as Weird Tales. Then in 1919, Lovecraft's mother had a nervous breakdown just like her husband and was institutionalized until her death in 1921.
After Lovecraft's mother passed away, he met Sonia Greene at a amateur journalist convention. They eventually married in 1924 and moved to New York City. Although Lovecraft liked living in New York City at first, his wife's business started failing, financial hardships ensued and Lovecraft's aunts created more problems by causing an undercurrent of resentment towards Mrs. Greene. Eventually Mrs. Greene moved to Cleveland for work and Lovecraft moved back to Providence, Rhode Island to live with his aunts. A few years later, Greene and Lovecraft were officially divorced.
While living back in Providence, Lovecraft actually enjoyed the most productive writing phase of his life. Even though it was his most productive period, he grew deeper and deeper in debt. Finally, in 1936, he was diagnosed with cancer of the intestine and eventually he died on March 15, 1937.
Ode to Lovecraft Homepage
Lovecraft Anthology
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