Howard Lovecraft and his monsters (41 photos). Cthulhu tattoo: outrageous sketches with a sea monster Ordinary people, faced with these secrets, saddles, went crazy and died in terrible agony

AT ancient mythology the same image can have two diametrically opposite meanings. The Cthulhu tattoo just refers to one of them and causes a lot of controversy among people of different faiths. Which symbolic meaning hiding behind the image legendary character who would like this tattoo?

Who is Cthulhu

Cthulhu is a mythical deity who is depicted as a monstrous octopus. The first mention of him dates back to 1928, when Howard Lovecraft wrote the story "The Call of Cthulhu" about the ruler of the worlds, sleeping at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. According to the story, a monster with a humanoid body, scales and wings lives on top of the underwater city of R'lyeh. Being under the water column, Cthulhu is half asleep and in a calm state. However, as soon as the stars are arranged in a certain order, the city turns out to be above the sea, and a terrible monster as tall as a high mountain appears before people. It oozes mucus and makes a squelching sound as it moves. It is believed that at the moment when Cthulhu is free, the end of color will come.

Its notable feature is the ability to influence the minds of people. The deity appears in dreams, and especially sensitive person who sees such a dream can go crazy. It is noteworthy that the Eskimos of Greenland and the inhabitants of some American states there was a special cult of worship of a monstrous idol. The northern peoples arranged human sacrifices, fell into a trance and read a mantra, asking for help and protection from Cthulhu. Their deity symbolized wisdom and immortality, and also served as a powerful amulet.

Who will suit the tattoo

The meaning of the Cthulhu tattoo in modern body painting is very controversial. It all depends on the person himself and the meaning that he puts into this difficult image. On the one hand, the owner of the drawing can be hypocritical and cruel, capable of anything to achieve his goal. You should be careful with such people.

On the other hand, Cthulhu is associated with wisdom as it has a large brain. Calmness, constancy and goodwill may be inherent in the owner of such an image. Nothing can unbalance him or take him by surprise. Another meaning is a person’s passion for mythology or marine themes.

The drawing is suitable not only for men, but also for women who are used to shocking their surroundings.

Execution technique

And yet, Cthulhu tattoos are usually chosen by the representatives of the stronger sex because of the gloom and aggressiveness of the pattern. For those who are not afraid to shock others, the realism style is suitable. A clear and rich image of an octopus with a human body will not leave anyone indifferent. The composition of the tattoo can be supplemented with waves, rocks, a ship or other marine elements. Story line will give the work completeness and fill it with special meaning. Such a tattoo is best done in a large size. For the place of application, the arm, leg, back or chest for men are suitable.

Haida style is an original solution for those who appreciate simplicity and conciseness. Sketches are made in red and black, with thematic ornaments and patterns. The technique is distinguished by the presence of neat, clear lines, geometric shapes, symmetry. Such a tattoo can serve as an amulet if the tattoo is on closed areas of the body: on the back, shoulder blade or thigh. The same applies to the tribal style. The drawing of the deity Cthulhu with graceful ethnic elements will look beautiful as a tattoo sleeve.

How to draw Cthulhu

Photos of tattoos

A selection of sketches

To the question of well-read people! Who was Howard Lovecraft? Psycho or healthy? given by the author European the best answer is My guess is that if you told Howard Lovecraft that he was a psycho, he would take it (to some extent) as a compliment. 🙂
My world would not be complete without his works.

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Well-read people! Who was Howard Lovecraft? Psycho or healthy?

Answer from Bloodsucking[guru]
Howard Phillips Lovecraft is an American writer and poet who wrote in the genres of American gothic novel, horror and mystery.
Biography:
Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was the only child of the traveling salesman Wilfrid Scott Lovecraft and Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft. His ancestors are known to have lived in America since the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630). When Howard was three years old, Wilfrid was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he was kept for five years until his death on June 19, 1898.
At the age of 6-8 years Lovecraft wrote several stories, most of which have not survived to this day. At the age of 14, Lovecraft wrote his first serious work, The Beast in the Cave.
As a child, Lovecraft was often sick, and did not go to school until the age of eight, but a year later he was taken away from there. He read a lot, studied chemistry between times, wrote several works (multiplied them on a hectograph in a small edition), starting in 1899 ("Scientific newspaper"). Four years later he returned to school.
Whipple Van Buren Phillips died in 1904, after which the family became very impoverished and had to move to a smaller house on the same street. Howard was saddened by the departure, and he even considered suicide. Due to a nervous breakdown that happened to him in 1908, he never finished school, which made him very ashamed and sad.
Lovecraft wrote fantasy as a child (The Beast in the Cave (1905), The Alchemist (1908)), but later preferred poetry and essays to it. He returned to this "frivolous" genre only in 1917 with the stories "Dagon", then "The Tomb". Dagon was his first published creation, appearing in 1923 in the magazine Weird Tales. At the same time, Lovecraft began his correspondence, which eventually became one of the most voluminous in the 20th century. Among his correspondents were Forrest Ackerman, Robert Bloch and Robert Howard.
Sarah, Howard's mother, after a long hysteria and depression, ended up in the same hospital where her husband died, and died there on May 21, 1921. She wrote to her son until her last days.
In 1919-1923 Lovecraft wrote actively - over the years he wrote more than 40 stories - including co-authorship.
Soon at a meeting of amateur journalists, Howard Lovecraft met Sonya Green, who had Ukrainian-Jewish roots and was seven years older than Lovecraft. They married in 1924 and moved to Brooklyn, New York. After the quiet Providence, New York life did not fall in love with Lovecraft. In many ways, his story "He" was autobiographical. A few years later, the couple broke up, although they did not file a divorce. Lovecraft is back hometown. Because of the failed marriage, some biographers speculated about his asexuality, but Green, on the contrary, called him "a wonderful lover."
Returning to Providence, Lovecraft lived in a "large wooden Victorian house" at 10 Barnes Street until 1933 (this address is the address of Dr. Willet's house in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward). During this period, he wrote virtually all of his short stories published in magazines (mostly in Mystery Tales), as well as many major works such as The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Ridges of Madness.
Despite his writing successes, Lovecraft was increasingly in need. He moved again, now to a small house. Strong impression it was the suicide of Robert Howard that affected him. In 1936, the writer was diagnosed with bowel cancer, a consequence of malnutrition. Howard Phillips Lovecraft died on March 15, 1937 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Even the scariest monsters that oppose the heroes of science fiction perform prosaic functions: suddenly jump out of the dark, bite at the most sensitive place and hide into nowhere. Werewolves, ghosts, and zombies fall under this pattern. These creatures were born from myths and legends, superstitions and prejudices, in a word, mankind invented them to justify their natural fear of everything unexpected and incomprehensible.

But there are other legends as well. Myths about incredible monsters, much more terrible than a bunch of walking dead, and much more mysterious than translucent creatures walking along the corridors of ancient castles. Unlike European legends, these stories cannot boast of antiquity. They were invented by a single person - a poor American who suffered from nightmares. But modern science fiction (and especially mysticism and horror) is completely unthinkable without them.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (08/20/1890 - 03/15/1937) is rightfully considered one of the fathers of the horror genre. He took much from Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Dunsany, but much more was taken from him. Clive Barker, Stephen King, Hans Rudy Giger, Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi and Alan Moore do not hide the fact that they draw inspiration from the work of the man who invented the legend about the "book of the dead" - "Necronomicon".

The merit of Lovecraft is also that he first crossed two previously independent genres - science fiction and horror. Howard created a large-scale pantheon of gods, demigods and monsters - creatures of otherworldly and at the same time real, living either in another dimension, or on other planets, but actively interfering in people's affairs with the help of their supernatural powers.

At the same time, Lovecraft was not a crazy mystic. He treated the monsters in his books with humor. Howard was an atheist and considered his creations solely as a means of earning money - by the way, very modest, barely making it possible to make ends meet.

Lovecraft was born in a small American town with the meaningful name of Providence ("Providence"). Father - Winfred Scott Lovecraft - worked as a traveling salesman. Three years after the birth of his son, he fell ill with syphilis, went insane and was admitted to the hospital.

Grandpa Whipley made young Howard read Tales of 1001 Nights, Birth of a Tale by Bulfinch, The Iliad, and Homer's Odyssey. In addition to this, each grandmother told him Gothic European fairy tales (not those that we know from children's books, but real ones, not adapted for children - where Cinderella's sisters, who do not fit into glass slipper, chop the heels; and the handsome prince, having reached the sleeping beauty, before waking her up, “takes off the flowers of love”).

In his youth, Lovecraft was constantly ill and hardly attended school. He was never able to get a diploma of secondary education and go to university. His relationship with the Ukrainian Jewess Sonya Green lasted only a few years.

Sketch of Cthulhu by Lovecraft. Well, the writer did not know how to draw

Although Lovecraft's works were published and sold well, the writer was poor. He had an unprecedented correspondence (it is believed that this is the largest author's correspondence in the world) with his colleagues, among whom were Forrest Ackerman (famous science fiction writer in the USA), Robert Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian) and Robert Bloch (Psycho).

Lovecraft died of cancer and malnutrition. Admirers sometimes leave an epitaph on his grave (it is quickly erased, but it reappears): “That which lives in eternity is not dead. With the death of time, death will die."

In fact, the systematized "Lovecraft myths", better known as the "Cthulhu myths", appeared after Lovecraft's death. His close friend and colleague August Derleth (1909-1971) took unfinished work"the father of horror", edited them, generalized, added something from himself - and published in his own publishing house "Arkham House".

United mythological picture Lovecraft's world is a figment of the imagination of his followers, primarily Derleth. He diluted the "Cthulhu myths" with Christianity, turning them into a description of the traditional struggle between good and evil. This was alien to Lovecraft himself - the writer called Kant's ethics a joke and created in his books a universe full of chaos, nightmares and painful uncertainty.

According to Lovecraft's ideas about deities in his myths ... originally there were Elder Gods - kind and peaceful, who lived on the star Betelgeuse (or near it) in the constellation Orion. They rarely intervened in earthly affairs - in the struggle between good and evil, which are the Ancients (Great Old Ones, or otherwise - Ancient Ones).

August Derleth, from the preface to The Stories of the Cthulhu Myths

In Lovecraft himself, the Elder Gods were never explicitly mentioned (except, perhaps, very similar to them, Nodens, the Master of the Great Abyss from the story "Mysterious House on the Foggy Cliff"). Nor did he have a systematized pantheon of the Ancients. And the term "Ancient Ones" itself is used only once - in the story "Gate of the Silver Key".

It should be noted that the monsters from the myths of Cthulhu do not show deliberate hostility to humanity - they are rather that indifferent and indifferent force of the universe, which can most clearly be compared with a human foot accidentally trampling thousands of tiny insects.

ANCIENT

The Great Old Ones are incredibly powerful beings, presumably the same age as the universe. Members of mystical sects and cults revere them as gods. The ancients live in other star systems or even outside of our dimension. It is very likely that many of them are incorporeal, or rather, they do not consist of matter.

Their power is based on forces unknown to mankind, which are traditionally considered magical. It is not unlimited and has its limits, often extending to the entire planet. The ancients can influence earthly affairs only under certain astronomical conditions (a special arrangement of stars in the sky) and only when they are helped by their followers - cultists.

Aphum-Zhah (Aphoom-Zhah) - aka "Cold Flame" - a deity invented by Lovecraft's friend - Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). This monster is a descendant of Cthugha. Like another monster - Ithhaqua - he sleeps under the ice of the Arctic, waiting for his "finest hour". During the ice age, Aptum-Zhah often visited Hyperborea (Lovecraft considered it to be an analogue of Atlantis). To humans, it looks like a huge, cold column of gray fire.

Chaugnar Faugn - "God of the Elephants", "Horror from the Hills" - the creation of Frank Belnap Long (1903-1994).

Other monsters originated from much darker and more mysterious, passed only by word of mouth, secret legends of antiquity - such were, for example, the black, shapeless Tsathoggua, which has many Cthulhu tentacles, equipped with a terrible trunk, Chhaugnar Faugn, and other monstrous creatures familiar to the elect people from forbidden books like the Necronomicon, the Book of Eibon, or von Junzt's Secret Cults.

Howard Lovecraft, Horror in the Museum

Cthugha - created by August Derleth and first appears in the short story House on Crooked Street (1962). This creature looks like a huge ball of fire. His servants are a race of fire vampires. In Derleth's short story "Dwelling in Darkness", the protagonist attempts to summon Cthugha to drive the incarnation of Nyarlathotep out of a forest in Canada.

Cthulhu is the most famous of Lovecraft's monsters, created by the author himself. There are different opinions about the pronunciation of his name (in general, about the names of Lovecraft’s creatures, you can rightfully say “you’ll break your tongue”). The writer himself said that the name of this deity is rooted in some ancient language, completely alien to people. The closest pronunciation, according to Lovecraft, is Khlul'Hluu.

As mentioned above, Cthulhu is an evil god who rests in the sunken city of R'Lieh and is waiting in the wings when the stars take the right position and he returns to life to wreak havoc and destruction.

The appearance of Cthulhu is known to all fans of Lovecraft's work - it is a giant (he was able to chase the ship in the Atlantic Ocean, standing in the water) of a humanoid form with slippery scaly green skin and claws on his hands (presumably - and legs). Its head resembles an octopus - the skull is devoid of hair, and numerous tentacles grow around the mouth. To complete this cute picture, Cthulhu has two wings on his back, like a bat.

"Both the Eskimo sorcerers and the marsh priests from Louisiana sang, addressing outwardly similar idols, the following: "Ph'nglui mglv'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh vgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house in R'lyeh, the dead Cthulhu sleeps, waiting for of its hour)."
Howard Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

August Derleth in his stories slightly changed the role of Cthulhu, making him far from the most main figure in the pantheon of transcendent beings. The primacy in the hierarchy of the Ancients belongs to Yog-Sothoth (Yog-Sothoth) and Azathoth (Azathoth), but the cult of Cthulhu, however, is the most widespread (and most influential) on Earth.

Cthulhu's main adversary, according to Derleth, is his half-brother Hastur, who lives in the Hyades star cluster in the Taurus constellation. Interestingly, the story "The Return of Hastur" (1939) describes the physical, real contact of these two deities.

Cthulla - Secret daughter of Cthulhu. As is clear from her middle name, this young (by cosmic standards) lady is the daughter of the most famous monster from Lovecraft's books. Being a complete copy of her daddy, she hides in some secret place called Yuth (Yth). Its purpose is to revive Cthulhu in the event that he dies. In this regard, she is of great value to her father - Cthulla is carefully guarded by his servants (including the Deep Ones, which will be discussed below).

Dagon is another "superstar" of the Cthulhu mythos. In reality, Dagon was the deity of grain and agriculture (dagan, Jude. - grain), revered by the northwestern Semitic tribes. Mentions of him are found even in the Bible - for example, in the fifth chapter of the first book of Kings.

Some researchers also believe that Dagon was the patron of fishermen and therefore was depicted as a bearded man with a fish tail instead of legs. The latter, apparently, inspired Lovecraft to create a frightening image of an underwater deity, which first appeared in the novel The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936).

The appearance of Dagon is not known to anyone, nor are the details of his existence known. We only know that, with all the desire, he cannot be called kind and philanthropic. Yes, he can really patronize the fishermen, but the payment for successful fishing will be, to put it mildly, excessive.

Ghatanotoa (Ghatanothoa) - Usurper, God of volcanoes and the first son of Cthulhu. Presumably, he is buried under the mountain Voormithadreth (Voormithadreth) on Mu (a mythical continent that sank in the Pacific Ocean). Ghatanotoa was revered by the inhabitants of Mu for his ability to turn people into living statues.

Glaaki - Dweller of the lake, Ruler dead dreams. Lives in the Severn Valley near Brichester, England. First appeared in Ramsey Campbell's short story "Lake Dwellers". Glaaki looks like a huge slug, completely covered with metal spikes. The latter are not just a stylish accessory - they are alive and grow out of the body, like hair. Glaaki can project eye-tipped tentacles to peek out of the water.

The cult of Glaaki is quite strong - mainly due to the magical knowledge that this deity supplies its followers with. The latter, according to the authors of the Cthulhu myths, are systematized and recorded in 12 volumes of the book "Revelations of Glaaki".

People come to this cult for the eternal life that Glaaki promises them. The deity always keeps this promise - it sticks its steel spike into the next newcomer, fills his body with poison and turns a person into a special kind of zombie - "servants of Glaaki" (another little-known creature from the Cthulhu myths).

Hastur (Hastur) - Unpronounceable; The one who can't be named. Lovecraft borrowed it from Ambrose Bierce (the story "The Shepherd Gaita"), where Hastur was the patron saint of shepherds - a purely good entity, unlike the evil creature that appeared on the pages of Lovecraft's story "Whispers in the Dark." According to the Cthulhu myths, anyone could summon Hastur by saying his name three times (hence all the above nicknames). The appearance of this deity is amorphous, but before people he appears in the standard "Cthulchian" form - something resembling a giant octopus

Khtsioulquoigmnzhah (Hzioulquoigmnzhah) - a deity invented by Clark Ashton Smith, for whose name alone the author should be given a monument. There is nothing special about this creature. According to some vague references in the Cthulhu mythos, it is a distant relative of Cthulhu and Hastur. Has no permanent habitat. It can be found in the world of Xoth, on Yaksh (aka the planet Neptune), and on Cykranosh (Saturn).

Ithaqua - The running wind, the God of cold white silence, he is Windigo (in the legends of the North American Indians - a formidable cannibal spirit). The indigenous inhabitants of the northern regions of the planet (Siberia, Alaska) worship this terrible deity, appeasing him with human sacrifices. It is believed that Ikhtakva attacks people in a snowstorm. They are later found dead and lying in such positions as if they had fallen from a great height. Facial features are distorted in a wild grimace of agony, some parts of the body are missing.

Nyoghta - A thing that should not be, Dweller of the Red Abyss. Described in Henry Cuttler's The Salem Horror (1937). Lives in voids deep underground, occasionally appears on the Leng Plateau (in the dialect of the Chinese province of Fujian - "cold") - a fictional place in Central Asia. You can only drive him back underground with the help of the Vash-Virai spell and the Tikkun elixir.

Uig (Yig) - Father of snakes. The deity itself is not malevolent, but rather irritable. Punishes his offenders by sending snakes to them. Interestingly, in the early 1990s, this character (or rather, his name) became the subject of a real cult. In Connecticut (USA), teenagers have taken to frightening passers-by by jumping out at them with a yell of “Wig!”, And shouting should be as loud as possible. However, such fun quickly ceased to be fashionable. Now there are only 2-5 cases of "wigging" per year.

This is just a short list of the Ancients spoken of in the Cthulhu mythos. If you wish, you can find information about their other "colleagues" (for convenience, we will name only the original names):

Atlach-Nacha, Baoht Z'ugga-Mogg, Bokrug, Bugg-Sash, Byatis, C'thalpa, Cynothoglys, Dweller of the Gulf, Eihort, Gloon, Gol-Gorgoth, Hydra, Idh-Yaa, Iod, Juk-Shabb, Lloigor, L'rog'g, M'Naglah, Mnomquah, Mordiggian, Nag and Yeb, Oorn, Othuum, Othuyeg, Rhan-Tegoth, Saa'itii, Sfatclip, Shathak, Shudde'Mell, Tsathoggua, Vulthoom, Y'Golonac, Yhondeh, Ythgotha, Zhar, Zoth-Ommog, Zushakon, Zvilpoggua, Zustulzhemgni.

outer gods

We will not dwell on the creatures called in the myths Great Ones (Great). They live in a special world - Dreamlands, and are much weaker (in magical terms) than the Old Ones or Elder Gods. Their intellectual abilities also leave much to be desired.

Much more interesting are the Outer Gods. Unlike others, they are not specific beings, but rather general principles of being. That is why their power has no physical limits.

Abhoth - Source of impurity. Lives in the underground kingdom of N'Kai (N'kai) and appears before people as a disgusting gray mass of living flesh. Various monsters are born from it, but Abhot releases tentacles, grabs his children and devours them. This god is cynical, angry and insane. He has strong telepathic abilities, allowing him to communicate with those around him.

Azathoth (Azathoth) - Sultan of demons, Boiling nuclear chaos. This god is at the head of the pantheon of Cthulhu myths. Lovecraft describes it in detail in the novel The Somnambulistic Quest of the Unknown Kadat, the novels Dreams in the Witch's House, and The Whisperer in the Night. According to the author, Azathoth is a blind idiot god with no specific physical form (although he can incarnate in the being Xada-Ngla).
The term "nuclear" was used by Lovecraft to refer to the central role of Azathoth in our universe, and not to hint at its radioactivity. Only a madman can almost worship this god - in fact, it is so, because those few daredevils who dared to choose him as their patron paid for it with mind, body and soul.

Nyarlathotep - Creeping Chaos, Messenger of Azathoth, Black Man. This deity is very different from his fellows. Unlike Hastur, who lives on the stars, or Cthulhu, who sleeps in the depths of the sea, Nyarlathotep is full of life and actively intervenes in the fate of the universe. His favored appearance is a tall man with dark hair and a good sense. He speaks an ordinary human language, does not have his own cult and serves as Azathoth's messenger, realizing his will on Earth.

Nyarlathotep is often associated with the ancient Egyptian god Set, as well as the Aztec deities: Tezkatlipokoy (“smoking mirror”) and Xayp Totek (“man without skin”).

Shub-Niggurath - A black goat from the forests with a thousand young. As such, this monster was not found in Lovecraft's novels, but its name could be found in several spells (Ia! Shub-Niggurath) - see "Whispers in the Dark", "Dreams in the Witch's House", "Nightmare in the Museum". Outwardly, this creature looks like a huge shapeless mass, dotted with tentacles, drooling mouths - and all this moves on crooked goat legs.

Yog-Sothoth - All in one; The one who is outside; The one who opens the way. The best thing about this deity was Lovecraft himself:

“The Boundless Being embodied the All-in-one and the One-in-all that the waves had told him about. It contained not only time and space, but the entire universe with its immeasurable scope, knowing no limits, and surpassing any fantasies and calculations of mathematicians and astronomers. Perhaps in ancient times the priests of the secret cults called him Yog-Sothoth and whispered this name from mouth to mouth, and he was known to the crayfish-like aliens from Yuggoth as the Beyond-the-Edge. His flying messengers with spiral brains were recognized by an untranslatable sign, but Carter understood how relative and inaccurate all these definitions were.
H. F. Lovecraft, The Gate of the Silver Key
In addition to those already listed, the Cthulhu myths occasionally mention other Outer gods: Daoloth, Groth, Hydra, Mlandoth, Tulzuscha, Ubo-Sathla, Vordavoss ) and Xiurhn.

Elder gods

The Elder Gods are a group of supernatural beings that oppose the Great Old Ones, as well as other lesser divine "factions" - the Outer Gods and the Great Ones.
Literary critics do not associate the Elder Gods with the work of Lovecraft himself, since they were created by his followers and, in fact, are a compilation from a number of ancient myths.
Bast (Bast), or Bastet - a deity borrowed from the Egyptians. Traditionally associated with the sun, fertility and successful childbirth in women. Bast has two incarnations - a woman with a cat's head (good essence) and a lion's (aggressive). It is believed that, being in the second form, Bast turns into Sekhmet - a lioness who once nearly destroyed all of humanity. She was pacified only with the help of cunning - it was spilled on the ground, tinted red with mineral dyes. The lioness took this liquid for blood, got drunk and fell asleep.

Hypnos (Hypnos) - the personification of sleep from Greek mythology. The mother of Hypnos is Nyx (Night), the brother is Thanatos (Death). His halls are in a cave where he does not penetrate sunlight. Poppies and other sleepy plants grow at the entrance. The children of Hypnos are the so-called Oneroi: Morpheus (dreams), Phobetor, aka Iselus (nightmares) and Fantasos (appears in a dream in the form of inanimate objects).

Endymion, a young shepherd, fell in love with the goddess of the moon, Selena, and received a rare gift from Hypnos - the ability to sleep with his eyes open, so that even in a dream he could look at his beloved.

N'Tsi-Kaambl (N'tse-Kaambl) is an insignificant female deity from the category of the Elders, introduced into the Cthulhu myths by the writer Gary Myers (the story "House of the Worm"). Sometimes it is identified with Minerva (the Roman goddess of craft and wisdom). There are suggestions that the name of this deity is a homonym for the name Nancy Campbell, however, the identity of this lady is unknown to anyone except Myers himself.
Nodens - Hunter, Lord of the Great Abyss. As mentioned earlier, he first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The House on the Foggy Cliff". Represents an elderly man with a long thick beard and gray hair. Nodens travels the world in a chariot made from a huge seashell. His vocation is hunting, and as victims he most often chooses for himself creatures belonging to the pantheon of the Ancients. This does not mean at all that Nodens is not a defender of the good. It's just that evil monsters are the most difficult and, therefore, attractive prey for him.
Ulthar is a deity mentioned by Lovecraft in the novel The Somnambulistic Quest for the Unknown Kadath and the short story Cats of Ulthar. In addition, in the myths of Cthulhu there is a city of the same name. How exactly he is associated with this deity is still unknown.

Undivine beings

In addition to terrible monsters with tentacles and shapeless creatures from the gloomy depths of distant space, the Cthulhu mythos boast a good collection of simpler and more understandable creatures.

Underground (Chtonians) - cute little animals that resemble large squids and differ from them in elongated bodies covered with slippery mucus (this morphological feature allows them to easily move underground). It is known about the Underground that they live for thousands of years, jealously protect their offspring from people and make lingering sad sounds, by which it is easy to determine their approach. More about these creatures can be found in Brian Lumley's collection of short stories Out of the Deep (1974).

Deep Ones are fish-frog-like creatures that live deep in the ocean. Being amphibious, they feel good on land and sometimes come out to people. In exchange for human sacrifices, the Deep Ones can give gold, jewelry, and fill nets with fish. Deep Ones can also mate with humans, producing hybrids. In their youth, such children look completely normal, but as they age, they gradually turn into Deep Ones. Their eyes become bulging, their eyelids atrophy, their heads shrink, their hair falls out, and their skin becomes scaly.

The Deep Ones worship Dagon and Cthulhu. Lovecraft described them in detail in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

Elder Things are aliens who inhabited the Earth before humans. They were a mixture of plant and animal. The elders built gigantic cities on earth and under water, fought with the gods (without much success) and probably gave birth to those creatures that inhabit the planet to this day. The civilization of the Elders died during the ice age, their frozen city in Antarctica was discovered only in 1931 (Lovecraft's novel "The Ridges of Madness").

Ghouls are creatures that were once human, but turned into humanoid monsters hiding from the sun under the ground. The reason for this metamorphosis is cannibalism. It is only logical that ghouls retain their former culinary habits and feed on human corpses. You can learn more about them from the novel "The Somnambulistic Search for the Unknown Kadat".

Shoggoth.
These are shapeless eel-like bubbles of protoplasm. Shoggoths are able to move and form temporary organs to perform the necessary actions. Their size is indicated by the fact that if Shoggoth takes a spherical shape, then its diameter will be equal to five meters. The Shoggoths were created by the Elders to perform auxiliary and physically demanding work. Shoggoths did not possess their own consciousness and, under the influence of hypnotic suggestions, could take any form and perform any action.

However, later Shoggoths gained will and intelligence, learned to memorize hypnotic commands and, based on them, independently control their form. The logical result of this was a fierce war between the Elders and the Shoggoths, which the Shoggoths lost by submitting to the Elders. However, during the next or one of the following wars, the Elders were defeated and the Shoggoths gained freedom.

Googs are huge giants that live in the underworld of the land of dreams. A distinctive feature is a huge, vertically opening mouth and front legs, bifurcated at the elbow. The curse of the gods restricts their diet to terrible ghasts and prevents them from leaving the underworld. Nevertheless, a meeting with a goog is deadly for a person. But it is known that the googs eschew ghouls, although they surpass them in strength many times over.

Hounds of Tyndall.
They were created by Tyndall, one of the Old Gods. But after Tyndall was drowned by Dagon, Dogs adopted Shub-Niggur. She taught them hunting skills: cunning, dexterity, strength and, of course, cunning. But after several thousand years, Dogs kidnapped Cthulhu and transferred them to R'leich. Since then, He began to use the Dogs to find his victims.

Due to their association with space-time intersections, Dogs can infiltrate material world through the angle between any two planes if it is 120º or less. When the Hound enters our world, first smoke begins to smoke from the corner, gradually weaving into the head, followed by the body. It is said that if a person somehow allows himself to be scented by these creatures, the Hounds of Tyndale will follow their prey through space and time indefinitely until they finally reach. Time travelers run the risk of attracting the attention of these creatures.

The Mi-go are a fictional race of aliens first mentioned by H. P. Lovecraft and become an integral part of the Cthulhu mythos. Outwardly, they resemble insects or crustaceans, although in fact they are highly organized fungi.

“They were pinkish creatures about one and a half meters long; with crustacean bodies and pairs of large dorsal fins or membranous wings and several jointed limbs; in place of the head they had an ellipsoid folded like a snail with many short antennae.
Howard Lovecraft, Whisperer in the Dark

Mi-go came to Earth from the planet Yuggoth, and there - from the unknown depths of space. They are primarily interested in the land as a place for the extraction of valuable minerals. Mi-go try to avoid contact with people, and therefore settled in the sparsely populated wooded hills.
Mi-go communicate with each other by changing the color of the head and making buzzing sounds. However, through surgery, Mi-go can acquire the ability to imitate the speech of any creature. Surgery is a daily occurrence for Mi-go.
Mi-go's wings do not hold them well in the air (although they are capable of flying short distances), but they are great for travel in the air. Mi-go make space flights without technical devices. There are also wingless subspecies of Mi-go.
Mi-go have vision, but prefer to use other senses unknown to man. There are no windows in their houses on Yuggoth, and the light of the Sun is clearly insufficient there.
Mi-go share their knowledge with some people and take it with them on interstellar travel. To do this, the human brain is separated from the body and placed in a special cylinder, to which machines can then be connected, allowing the brain to see, hear and speak. At the end of the journey, the brain is returned to the body. In a similar way, Mi-go is moved through space and their relatives, incapable of independent ethereal flights. The Mi-Gos have hypnotic powers that they share with some people.
The Mi-go worship Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Shub-Niggurath, although their thirst for knowledge is much more pronounced than religiosity. Their moral system has nothing to do with the human, so they seem to people the embodiment of evil.

Not all representatives of the "menagerie" of Cthulhu myths were presented to you, but this is quite enough to draw several important conclusions. The first thing you have probably been thinking about for a long time is that only a hereditary schizophrenic could write this. The second conclusion is more serious - it was these creatures that became the foundation of everything contemporary genre"Mystical Horrors"
Nowadays, such monsters can seem monotonous, boring and even funny, and the legends associated with them are at least naive. But we should not forget that at the beginning of the 20th century, such stories were read with a bang and were the real action thrillers of that era. The myths of Cthulhu can now be treated differently, but only one thing is certain: this is a classic that has withstood the most ordeal- time.

"Fear is the oldest and most powerful of human feelings,
and the most ancient and strongest fear is the fear of the unknown.”
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, in a certain sense, turned out to be more fortunate than many other writers. Of course, this is not about success in the field of book publishing: during the life of Lovecraft, only one of his major works went into print, and the stories, although they were published, were in cheap magazines, where they published just about anyone. And not about a bright life rich in outstanding events: that at the beginning of the 20th century, that today few people can be impressed by moving from one house to another if they are at a distance of several tens of meters, right? And the trip from New England to Quebec is somehow not up to the milestone ...

Young Lovecraft, dressed in the then children's fashion, - both boys and girls under the age of five were dressed up in approximately the same way.

However, Lovecraft achieved something more. A man who has been willingly amazed at various mysteries (more often imaginary than real) all his life, turned his biography and work into a single “Lovecraft phenomenon” - causing, if not amazement, then at least bewilderment. Before us appears quite a contradictory personality. A homebody who enthusiastically talks about deadly journeys and terrifying unknown spaces. A dense, terry xenophobe - who, however, does not adhere to these declared principles in real interaction with people. Virtually unknown during his lifetime - and quite unexpectedly became incredibly popular after his death ... Let's take a closer look at the horror classic.

Lovecraft is nine years old. His father had already died in a psychiatric hospital. His mother is still alive and in her right mind. And he himself has nightmares about the Lang Plateau

LIBRARY AND TELESCOPE

“He was a tall, thin and fair-haired youth, with serious eyes, a little stooped, dressed with slight casualness and gave the impression of a not very attractive, awkward, but quite harmless young man.”
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"

On August 20, 1890, a boy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the only and, by then standards, late child of the traveling jeweler Winfield Scott Lovecraft and his wife Sarah Susan Phillips. Both Winfield and Sarah came from old American families who had settled in the New World since the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, that is, since 1630. Belonging to the descendants of the first settlers was very honorable. This "aristocratic" origin, apparently, formed the elitist and by no means tolerant views of the writer.

“They all turned out to be people mixed blood, extremely low mental development, and even with mental disabilities.
Typical Lovecraftian description of dark cultists

Whipple Van Buren Phillips, Howard Lovecraft's grandfather, liked to tell his grandson gothic horror stories when he was in the mood

In the big family house at number 454 Angell Street, the birth of the offspring was not only his parents, but also his mother's sisters, Lillian Delora and Annie Emeline, who lived there, and Howard's grandfather, Whipple Van Buren Phillips, a businessman, inventor and bookworm (who collected for his life, by the way, the largest library in Providence - and possibly in all of Rhode Island); they helped Howard's parents from the start.

The help of relatives was very helpful. Especially three years later, when Winfield Scott had to be urgently hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital in Providence - Butler Hospital - in a state of acute psychosis. Over the next five years, no matter how doctors tried to improve the condition of Lovecraft Sr., things went from bad to worse - and in 1898, at the age of only forty-five, Howard's father died of nervous exhaustion.

Of course, surrounded by four loving adults, Howard did not go unnoticed. The greatest contribution to his upbringing was made by Whipple Van Buren, who in every possible way encouraged the intellectual development of his grandson. Fortunately, he grew up as a child prodigy: he read classics and Arabic tales avidly, from the age of six he began to write poetry and stories. Young Lovecraft also became familiar with gothic prose from early childhood: not only were there enough such books in the home library, but also his grandfather, who was undoubtedly a creative person, but, unfortunately, did not write down his works, regularly told his grandson gloomy, mysterious and exciting stories.

The first literary significant story by Howard Phillips Lovecraft was "The Beast in the Cave", written at the age of 15 - in 1905.

Alas, an enviable intellect was accompanied by extremely poor health. The boy was constantly ill, and if until the age of eight he still somehow could go to school, albeit with large gaps, then after that he fell ill for a whole year and was eventually expelled. However, it cannot be said that he lost time - thanks to his grandfather, Howard became interested in history, chemistry and especially astronomy, and even began to publish The Scientific Gazette and The Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy, dedicated to his scientific research.

Although at first Lovecraft's articles were quite childish, more serious publications soon noticed him. So, already in 1906, his article on astronomy was published by The Providence Sunday Journal. Howard went on to become a regular astronomical columnist for The Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner. And then other publications became interested in his scientific articles: The Providence Tribune, The Providence Evening News, The Asheville (N.C.) Gazette-News.

Howard's other problem was severe sleep disturbances. Nightmares, nocturnal paralysis (a condition in which a person wakes up before he is able to move, or falls asleep later than the muscles are completely relaxed. Often accompanied by irrational horror, suffocation, disorientation in space, fantastic visions), hallucinations (like vile winged creatures , who carried the boy to the Lang plateau, or appeared from the thickness of the fetid waters of Dagon) - all this extremely exhausted the already weak organism. Time after time, Lovecraft woke up in a panic with a pounding heart.

In 1904, a new misfortune struck the Lovecraft-Phillips family - the death of grandfather Whipple Van Buren. Financial affairs fell into complete disarray, and Howard and his mother were forced to move into a small apartment on the same street - 598 Angell Street.

The loss of his grandfather and home - the place where he felt at least somehow protected from the frightening world - hit Lovecraft painfully. He began to think about suicide. However, after a while he was able to pull himself together and even go to new school- Hope High School. With school, Howard was unexpectedly lucky - both with classmates, and especially with teachers who encouraged his scientific interests. However, poor health still failed, and in 1908, after a severe nervous breakdown, Lovecraft was forced to leave school without receiving a diploma of secondary education. Howard was frankly ashamed of this detail of his biography: sometimes he hushed it up, sometimes he told an outright lie.

It did not work out with formal education further - an attempt to enter Brown University failed. It seemed that the future did not bode well at all, so Lovecraft turned to a reclusive lifestyle and hardly left the house for the next five years.

PUBLIC PUBLIC

The Argosy - the oldest pulp magazine

Pulp magazines (from the English pulp - recycled pulp and low-quality cheap paper made from it), with all the neglect of them by highbrow intellectuals, actually performed a very important function. They made it possible to read literature - albeit not the best - for those who were not able to pay dearly for it. Workers and employees on a penny salary who wanted to relax after work. Children and teenagers, who had even less money - and food for the imagination was required. Or just people who had to go somewhere or wait a long time for someone: you can’t take a book with you, it’s expensive, but a one-time magazine is fine.

The first American pulp magazine was The Argosy (originally called Golden Argosy), which began publication on December 2, 1882 and ran until 1978. Initially, it was aimed at children, published once a week and cost five cents, but it soon became clear that such a publishing policy did not pay off. So since 1894, the magazine became a monthly and a dime and began to publish detective stories, mysticism, westerns, gothic, stories about travelers, pirates, gold diggers ... Exactly what you need to get distracted and have fun.

Others followed The Argosy: The Popular Magazine, Adventure, All-Story, Blue Book, Top-Notch, Short Story, Cavalier… In the first decade of the 20th century, their number was already dozens - and they began to actively change (and form) mass culture.

SALVATION FOR THE HERMIT

“Changes happened during sleep. I cannot remember in detail how it all happened, because my sleep, being restless and full of various visions, nevertheless turned out to be quite long. When I woke up, I found that I was half sucked into the slimy surface of a disgusting black bog, which stretched around me in monotonous undulations as far as the eye could see.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft "Dagon"

Describing the next period of Lovecraft's life, it is extremely difficult to resist the feeling that events do not take place at the beginning of the 20th century, but a century later. Indeed, imagine this picture. An eighteen-year-old young man, whose all interests at that time were astronomy and literature, lives with his mother in a small apartment, practically does not communicate with anyone and only reads, reads ... Something is missing to complete the image, isn't it? Active correspondence on Facebook or Vkontakte there, flamboyant posts that generate kilometer-long feeds of comments, with massive friend-off-friends, swearing and likes? Well, why is not enough - and it was too!

Issue of The Argosy where Frederick Jackson's story was published

Since by that time not only Mark Zuckerberg, but even his parents had not yet been born, the place of Facebook was taken by the pulp magazine for teenagers The Argosy - where in 1913 the story of Frederick Jackson that caught Lovecraft's eyes was published. Why did he dislike the completely ordinary love story(at that time there were more than enough of them in pulp magazines), it's hard to say, but Howard wrote an extremely emotional letter to the editor, in which he rattled Jackson's work to smithereens. Naturally, Jackson's fans reared up, and a long, furious correspondence began on the pages of the magazine, into which many people gradually became involved. Including Edward Daas, who then headed the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA), this organization united young American authors who published their own magazines and wrote in them.

Looking closely at Lovecraft during the discussion, Daas invited him to join UAPA. Lovecraft agreed and began publishing The Conservative magazine (a total of 13 issues came out in 1915-1923), where he published his poems, articles and essays. The most important thing is that he (apparently, having felt the demand) was finally able to leave the house and live a much more full-blooded life: surrounded by people, and not just books.

The books were fine, though. Lovecraft returned to writing stories: in 1917, The Crypt and Dagon were published, then Memoirs of Dr. Samuel Johnson, Polaris, Beyond the Wall of Sleep, The Reincarnation of Juan Romero ... Tormenting him as a child Lovecraft's nightmares were melted down into fantastic works - fortunately, with such an anamnesis, there was no shortage of material.

Apparently, social activity - writers' conferences, meetings with colleagues and readers, copious correspondence with numerous addressees - helped Lovecraft to suffer another blow. In 1919, after years of depression, his mother's condition deteriorated sharply. Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft was hospitalized in the same Butler Hospital, where at one time they unsuccessfully tried to cure her husband. Her condition was, however, somewhat better - at least she could write letters to her relatives, and mother and son continued to maintain close relations until the death of Sarah Susan in 1921.

Sonya Green - writer, publisher and just a beauty

It is difficult to say what would have happened to Lovecraft - he experienced the death of his mother hard - if he had not had an outlet in the form of various writing events where they were waiting for him. A few weeks later he went to Boston for a conference of amateur journalists - and there he met Sonia Haft Green. A successful hat shop owner, a self-made woman who was widowed five years ago after a very unsuccessful marriage, she was also a pulp writer, amateur publisher and sponsor of several fanzines. Common literary interests brought Howard and Sonya closer, and on March 3, 1924 they got married.

Lovecraft's aunts did not approve of his novel - therefore they became aware of the wedding of Howard and Sonya only after the fact

Sonya Green - nee Shafirkina, daughter of Simon and Rakhil Shafirkin from the city of Ichnya, Chernihiv province - by origin, did not seem to fall into the category of “correct”, “ours”, so important for Lovecraft - by origin at least, judging by his works. However, when theoretical declarations and real life, most often the advantage is not on the side of declarations. Meeting a smart and charming lady pushed Howard's mentality into the background ... but only for a while.

ROUNDTRIP

“Gilman settled in ancient Arkham, where time seemed to stand still and people live only in legends. Here, peaked roofs rise to the sky in silent rivalry; below them, in dusty attics, Arkham witches hid from the persecution of the Royal Guard in colonial times.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Dreams in the Witch's House

At first, the marriage of Howard and Sonya was successful. The newlyweds moved to New York, where Lovecraft joined a group of writers and intellectuals, informally called the Kalem Club. He began to publish in the pulp magazine Weird Tales: editor Edwin Bird published many of Lovecraft's stories, despite criticism from some readers. Finally, Sonya took care of Howard's health - and her husband, previously painfully thin, thanks to his wife's culinary talents, recovered pretty well.

Then things got worse. Sonya left for Cleveland, trying to improve the business of her company - but the bank, where she kept her savings, went bankrupt. In addition, she also fell ill - so, in theory, Lovecraft was supposed to provide financial support for the family. However, he had absolutely no habit of systematic work and professional skills were lacking.

At the same time, Lovecraft could reject even very profitable working options if they were associated with at least some inconvenience for him. So, he was offered a job as an editor at Weird Tales - but for this he had to move to Chicago. “Just imagine what a tragedy this move would have resulted in for an old ruin like me,” Howard, 34, mournfully replied.

While sick Sonya traveled around the States, trying to earn money, Lovecraft found himself in New York, more and more dissatisfied with this city every day. He (living on the money that his wife managed to send him) was forced to move into an apartment on Clinton Street in Brooklyn, where there were many immigrants belonging to different nationalities and races - this both infuriated Howard and horrified him. It was there that he began to write "The Call of Cthulhu" - one of his most famous works about a cruel deity worshiped by disgusting sectarians and who is able to send deadly nightmares to people (and just eat them).

Lovecraft rated the Cthulhu story as rather average, and the editor of Weird Tales (Furnsworth Wright had become by that time) initially rejected it altogether - and published it only when one of Lovecraft's friends lied that Howard would send the work to another magazine. The Call of Cthulhu, on the other hand, was described by Robert Howard with great flattering words: “A masterpiece that I am sure will live on as one of the highest achievements of literature ... Lovecraft occupies a unique position in the literary world; it has taken over, in every way, worlds beyond our paltry ken."

Admittedly, at least in regard to horror literature, Robert Howard was right.

Of course, Lovecraft could not stand such a life for a long time - and returned to his native Providence. His marriage, in fact, quietly broke up, but before official divorce the matter never came to fruition. He never saw Sonya again. And Providence - along with nearby Salem - became the prototype of Arkham, the famous city from the work of Lovecraft.

YOUR NOT-OWN

Father Ivanitsky can be found at Arkham Cemetery or in the Secret Society of Dagon. Very useful ally - saves from the curse

As a rule, when it comes to xenophobes, you can define them quite clearly. For example, the author is an anti-Semite. Or a white racist. Or black... But not so with Lovecraft. His xenophobia did not fetter himself with rigid frameworks - why bother with trifles? Indians, Eskimos, Negroes, Egyptians, Hindus - everything, literally all of them, with the help of their nightmarish rituals, are going to destroy civilization, humanity and the Earth!

However, there were people who, not being WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, that is, according to the then concepts, the only full-fledged and one hundred percent Americans) and even Western Europeans, nevertheless did not fall into the category of “alien” for the writer . These are Poles.

The fact is that the turbulent history and not always prosperous economic situation of Poland in the 19th century led to mass emigration abroad - primarily to the United States. There were quite a few representatives of the Polish diaspora in New England, where Providence is located. And the Poles, familiar from childhood, apparently, did not embarrass the quivering soul of Howard Phillips. From which one can draw a not particularly original conclusion “the more you know, the less you are afraid.” And playing in board game"The Arkham Horror", you can take the local priest, Ivanitsky's father, as an ally.

After many misadventures, Sonia Green went to California, where she married a second time - to Dr. Davis from Los Angeles (and while Lovecraft was still alive, which was generally considered a serious crime), then she was widowed again. Wrote a memoir, The Private Life of Lovecraft, under the name Sonia Davis. And as a result, she lived a rather long and successful life - she died in 1972, at the age of 89.

August Derleth at his workplace

The next few years were the most fruitful for Lovecraft's work. He traveled a lot (mainly in New England, but not only - he also traveled to Quebec, Philadelphia, Charleston, St. Augustine), gained impressions - and, of course, wrote. Works from this time period are sometimes referred to as "Lovecraft's older texts": they include the novels The Ridges of Madness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, the short stories and novellas The Color from Other Worlds, The Dunwich Horror, The Silver key", "Shadow from timelessness", "Whisperer in the Dark". Apart from works of art, at the same time from his pen came out many articles on the most different topics: from politics to architecture, from economics to philosophy. Lovecraft also continued an extensive correspondence both with old friends like Robert Bloch and with young authors (who included, for example, August Derleth and Fritz Leiber).

According to his biographer Sprague de Camp, Lovecraft wrote about 100,000 letters during his lifetime (of which only a fifth has survived). If so, he set an absolute record among all people who have ever lived on Earth. Other biographers, however, believe that de Camp's figures are grossly inflated and Lovecraft wrote only about 30,000 letters. However, even this number means that he is in second place - after Voltaire.

Unfortunately, with all the creative successes, the financial affairs of the writer were getting worse. He published little and rarely, the inheritance - on which he mostly lived - ended. Lovecraft was forced to move into a small house with one of his aunts. Health problems caused by regular malnutrition (he often went hungry to save money on paper and envelopes for correspondence) were exacerbated by the depression that Lovecraft fell into after the suicide of one of his closest friends, Robert Howard. As a result, in early 1937, doctors diagnosed him with intestinal cancer - by that time it had already developed to a state with which medicine could not do anything. On March 15, 1937, Lovecraft passed away.

Lovecraft's tombstone, delivered thanks to his fans

Lovecraft family burial

Initially, Lovecraft did not have a separate tombstone - his name and surname were written on the parental monument. However, when his works became popular, it seemed to the fans that this was not enough. So they raised money and in 1977 set up a separate headstone for their favorite writer in the same cemetery. On it - in addition to the name and two dates - the phrase I am Providence is written (this is not a self-epitaph, but simply a quote from one of his letters). Such a play on words, literally translated into Russian, means both “I am Providence”, and “I am Providence”, “I am God's providence”. Elegant, pathetic and with a slight touch of mystery - exactly as we would expect from Lovecraft.

"DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM, DO NOT MAKE A MISTAKE"

“We live on a quiet island of ignorance in the middle of the dark sea of ​​infinity, and we should not swim long distances at all. The sciences, each pulling in its own direction, have hitherto done us little harm; however, the day will come when the unification of hitherto scattered fragments of knowledge will open before us such terrifying views of reality that we will either lose our minds from what we have seen, or we will try to hide from this destructive enlightenment in the peace and security of the new Middle Ages.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Usually, on the death of a person, his biography ends. But if this were the case with Lovecraft, we would hardly remember the palpator of the 1920s and 1930s. Thousands of them. And a book published in his lifetime (“The Shadow over Innsmouth” was released in 1936 in Pennsylvania) would also hardly have changed the situation.

Howard Lovecraft books published by Arkham House

But when his executors and biographers got to the literary legacy of Lovecraft, the alignment changed dramatically. First of all, of course, thanks to August Derleth (an average science fiction writer, but a brilliant advertiser and book publisher), who created the Arkham House publishing house in 1939 specifically for publishing Lovecraftian works - an extremely rare case in this industry.

August Derleth, an ardent admirer of Lovecraft, did his best to contribute to the publication of his works during his lifetime. However, Lovecraft himself regularly interfered with him: he refused to provide what was written, declared that he had outlived himself as an author, and so on. But from the moment when Derleth was admitted to the posthumous archives without restrictions, everything began to spin - and so far, although eighty years have passed, it continues to gain momentum.

It seems that everything that Lovecraft wrote and that has survived was published (including unfinished works, multi-volume editions of letters and inter-author projects). Of course, not only Arkham House took part in this - other publishing houses also pulled up. Based on the works, about fifty films and anime were shot (starting with The Enchanted Castle in 1963 - he also laid the foundation for the fashion for Lovecraft plus X crossovers, in this case plus Edgar Poe). There are also about fifty computer games different genres and a little less than thirty - desktop. The amount of diverse fanart is generally uncountable. And there is no sign that we will soon forget Cthulhu, Arkham and the Lang Plateau.

Lovecraft Square in Providence

Why did Lovecraft, who was not particularly famous during his lifetime, become so popular after his death? We dare to offer a variant of the answer - although it is rather unpleasant for us. In short, Lovecraft was ahead of his time. Usually, however, this is said in relation to some scientific discoveries or other brilliant insights, but let's be honest: our being does not consist only of outstanding achievements of the past.

Recall the standard scheme of Lovecraftian works: they seemed to live normally, but they stuck their heads where they didn’t need to or discovered what they didn’t need - and because of this, right now, someone else’s evil is breaking into the world, so terrible that it can’t even be described. Moral: and there was nothing to poke around and open, knowledge multiplies not only grief, but also downright chthonic horror.

For people of the late XX - early XXI centuries, such a subgenre of horror has become a real gift. Because - well, let's be honest with ourselves. We lock ourselves away from direct life in the house of virtual reality and remote communication. We involuntarily tense up if there are strangers next to us - that is, people who differ from us in appearance, clothing or religion. Our money is spent on shutting out the rest of humanity, not on space exploration, but we don't mind. We enthusiastically spread horror stories like a terrible thousand tentacles ... GMOs that change us and drink bullshit and charged water. Let us remember at least about the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar - how many representatives of enlightened mankind believed in this secret knowledge, which would look great under the same cover with stories about Yog-Sothoth, Dagon and Nyarlathotep!

It all looks rather pathetic. And in order to ennoble the fear of another synthesized mold or Dolly the sheep, pathos is needed, the more the better. That's what Lovecraft showered us with a generous hand! "Monstrous deities capable of destroying the universe, and their awe-inspiring and disgusting cults" - this sounds much better than "I'm afraid of Vasya and genetically modified corn." Not so ashamed.

Thank you Howard Phillips. You have become a good mirror for us. Well, that the reflection could be better - it's true. And somehow we have to deal with this ourselves.

Even for those who are not familiar with Lovecraft's work, his name is firmly associated with the fantasy genre. Today, August 20, 2015, marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of this mysterious person. In honor of this significant date, we bring to your attention 10 incredible facts from the life of the founder of the beautiful and terrible horror, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

1. Both Lovecraft's mother and father were placed in the same psychiatric clinic but separately and at different times.

Wilfrid Scott Lovecraft was sent to Butler Psychiatric Hospital after being diagnosed with mental disorder. Howard was three at the time. Five years later, my father was released, but he did not live long. In 1898, when Howard was 8, his father passed away. It was later rumored that Lovecraft's father had syphilis, but neither son nor mother had symptoms.

Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft was admitted to the same Butler Clinic in 1919. She maintained a close relationship with her son for two years until she died from complications during surgery.

Lovecraft at age 8

2. Howard Lovecraft dreamed of becoming a professional astronomer, but never graduated

Due to the fact that Lovecraft was very ill as a child, he rarely appeared at school and mostly studied at home. In those years, he loved astronomy and chemistry, and was also fond of gothic writers such as Edgar Alan Poe. But after a "nervous breakdown", as himself Howard Lovecraft named it, he was never able to get a higher education and he had only a superficial knowledge of his hobbies.

3. Lovecraft rarely went out during the day

Howard Phillips Lovecraft he left the house only after sunset, after which he sat up for a long time studying astronomy, reading and writing his books. He slept throughout the day, developing the pale and haggard look for which he is now known. According to rumors, Lovecraft's mother even called him "ridiculous" in childhood and told him to stay at home, away from human eyes. March 27, 1926 in his letter to L. F. Clark Howard Lovecraft writes: “Basically, I am a hermit who will have very little to do with people, wherever he happens to be. I think that most people only make me nervous, I can perhaps only by chance and extremely rarely meet people who would not get on my nerves ... My life is not among people, but among species - my private attachments are not personal, but topographical and architectural... I will only fall into dogmatism, saying that it should be in New England - in one form or another. Providence is part of me - and I am Providence ... ".

The only photo in which Lovecraft smiles

4. Howard Lovecraft and Harry Houdini were good friends

In 1924, the editor of Weird Tales asked Lovecraft become a literary ghost (ghost writer) in the column of the famous magician Harry Houdini. After he heard from Houdini the apparently "true" story of how the future magician was kidnapped by an Egyptian guide, and he and he unexpectedly stumbled upon a deity inspired by the Great Sphinx, Lovecraft said it was complete nonsense, but nevertheless took the advance and wrote the story. Under the Pyramids was published a year later, to the great delight of Houdini, who collaborated with Lovecraft until his death.

5. Throughout his life, Lovecraft wrote about 100,000 letters.

If this figure is correct, then Lovecraft ranks second, after Voltaire, in the list of the most ardent copyists. Howard Phillips Lovecraft He wrote constantly to his friends, relatives, and enthusiastic aspiring writers, many of whom adopted the themes, style, and even characters from his work. His most frequent correspondence was with fellow writers such as Robert Bloch (author of Psycho), Henry Kuttner (The Dark World), Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian), and the poet Samuel Loveman.

6 Lovecraft Was Asexual

After the writer's death, his wife Sonya told researchers of his work that when they married in 1924, Lovecraft was 34 years old and still a virgin. Rumored to be before their wedding Howard Lovecraft bought various books about sex to surprise his fiancee on their wedding night. Sonya later said that only she was the initiator of any sex in their lives: “The very mention of the word“ sex ”, I think, upset him. He once stated that if a man cannot marry or is not married during the peak of his sexuality, and in his case it is 19 years old, then marriage ceases to be desirable after thirty. I was shocked by his words, but I didn’t show it.”

Sonya Lovecraft

7 Lovecraft Had Nightmares

But these were not just frightening things, but truly terrible dreams that began to torment him from the age of 6. And these nightmares led to different body movements and screaming, and sometimes long walks in a dream. Myself Howard Lovecraft called the creatures from his dreams "night ghosts". Later, these creatures appeared in his various works in the form of thin, black and faceless humanoids that lure victims into their submission. This illness of Lovecraft grew into his magically nightmarish prose. But precisely literary work Lovecraft's illness was later signed, not allowing him to rest. In 1918, in one of his letters, he said: “Do you understand that for many people it is a huge and profound difference whether things around them are really what they seem? If the TRUTH is nothing, then we must consider our nightly fantasies as the same reality.

8. It was Lovecraft who caused the appearance of Batman, the Black Sabbath group, the South Park series and much more.

Or at least Batman City. The superhero sends the criminals he catches to the Arkham Mental Hospital. This is the name Lovecraft uses for fictional cities in his stories. most famous hero Lovecraft, Cthulhu, appears in one of the episodes " south park and kills Justin Bieber. The album of the Black Sabbath group is named after one of the writer's stories - "Beyond the Wall of Sleep". The Book of the Dead, found in a cabin in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, is superficially based on Lovecraft's fictional Necronomicon. Although today the Necronomicon can be found in any bookstore, without fear of sending a zombie apocalypse.

Shot from the series "South Park"

9 Lovecraft's Body Isn't Actually In His Grave

Lovecraft died in 1937 from rectal cancer. In keeping with his lifelong passion for science, he kept a detailed diary of his ultimately fatal illness. After his death, he was buried in Swan Point Cemetery under his family's family headstone. But to the fans Lovecraft this was not enough: in 1977 they erected a separate headstone for him. And in 1997, one of the most ardent fans tried to dig up the corpse of the writer from under this new tombstone, but after digging 3 meters and not finding anything, he left this idea.

10. Cthulhu is actually the correct pronunciation of "khlul-hlu"

In 1934, in his letter to the aspiring writer Duane V. Rimmel Lovecraft explained how to correctly pronounce the name of his monster: “... the word allegedly represents a clumsy human attempt to convey the phonetics of an absolutely inhuman word. The name of the infernal creature was invented by creatures whose vocal organs were not like human ones - thus, it has no connection with the human speech device. Syllables are defined by a physiological device quite different from ours, and thus cannot be accurately reproduced by the human throat ... The real sound - as far as the human organs of speech can imitate it or human letters convey - can be taken as something like Khlul "-khlu where the first syllable is pronounced guttural and very low. "U" is something like in full; and the first syllable sounds the same as klul; thus, "h" represents a laryngeal seal."

Fantasy, mysticism and horror intertwined in creativity Lovecraft into one amazing whole. He managed to replicate an entire horror empire whose stories and characters have become so iconic that they are known, inspired and used in his work. Created Howard Lovecraft the world has become the basis for many other stories, films, and video games.