H. P. Lovecraft

Life and work

Lovecraft called this period one of the darkest of his life, considering suicide, but his scientific curiosity prevented him from doing so.^[1] Lovecraft never graduated high school and never attended school again, though he maintained he would attend Brown University.^[1] Lovecraft was elected vice-president of the UAPA in mid-1915 and president two years later.^[1] His mother Susie was committed to Butler Hospital in March 1919, and Lovecraft wrote that "existence seems of little value".^[2]

Whipple Van Buren Phillips, Susie's father, had business ventures that meant her family possessed considerable wealth when she married.^[1] Lovecraft's letters indicate that his perspective was shaped by astronomy starting in 1902, and he used a hectograph to print the Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy.^[1] Starting high school in fall 1904, Lovecraft achieved strong academic results, with his best subjects being chemistry and physics.^[1] A fellow student from high school reported that Lovecraft had "terrible tics" and would unexpectedly leap from his chair.^[1]

A newspaper in 1912 printed Lovecraft's first poem that was not self-published.^[1] For most of the next ten years, Lovecraft was deeply involved in amateur journalism, arguing that amateur work was better than commercial writing.^[3]

What the cited sources add

Clara Hess's memory, as reported by de Camp 1975 and Bonner 2015, was of Susie saying Lovecraft was "so hideous that he hid from everyone".^[4] Joshi 2001 is the source for the fact that a fire at Butler Hospital destroyed Susie's medical documents.^[5] Lovecraft 2000 contains Lovecraft's strong emotional response to his mother's institutionalization, where he expressed a desire that "it might terminate".^[2]