H.P. Lovecraft
Studi Lovecratiani 17

The Lovecraftian Studies returns, an unmissable magazine for the followers of the Solitary of Providence that always manages to present stimulating material. In this issue 17, we find a real gem that makes this release unmissable: The Moon-Lens (La lente lunare), a story previously unpublished in Italy by the great master of horror Ramsey Campbell. It is a "Lovecraftian" story from the legendary anthology The Inhabitant Of The Lake And Less Welcome Tenants published by the legendary and mythological Arkham House by August Derleth in 1964. In fact, at the beginning of his career Campbell was a great fan of Lovecraft – a passion he actually always maintained as demonstrated by the excellent novel The Revelation of Glaa'ki – so much so that as a very young man he submitted to Derleth several stories in the style and with the same geographical setting as HPL. Derleth then suggested he create a new setting, and so he did. The Severn Valley was born with the imaginary towns of Brichester, Goatswood, Temphill, Severnford, Clotton, and Camside. In The Moon-Lens we find Brichester and Goatswood. The reckless protagonist, after missing the train to Brichester, finds himself lodging, unfortunately, in Goatswood, a desolate town where Shub Niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young, lurks. It's a story full of suspense that will delight fans of both Campbell and Lovecraft. And on the nature of Shub-Niggurath within the "Lovecraftian" canon, we find an interesting essay by Valentina Sirangelo that analyzes The Moon-Lens, a story in which, according to the author, "the relevance of the Moon archetype in the formation of such a deity is confirmed".

Certainly very interesting is the essay by Riccardo Rosati On the Political Thought of HPL which analyzes the book by Massimo Spiga Cthulhu & Revolution. The Political Thought of the Solitary of Providence. Lovecraft was fundamentally a conservative and remained so throughout his life and in this I agree with Riccardo Rosati. Lovecraft was, like everyone else, a son of his times, so some of his positions need to be contextualized and are no longer current today. Certainly, many of his ideas are uncomfortable for certain "nice" criticism and, unfortunately, have recently led to a smear campaign against him so much so that his statue has been removed from the World Fantasy Award. Labeling Lovecraft as "a racist" as I've happened to read I think is a crude judgment full of stupid prejudices that only reveals ignorance. And how can we forget the contemptuous judgments against him by Ursula Le Guin or the discomfort felt by Kij Johnson who still admires his narrative? The writer of Providence felt the decay of his times so much that he admired a text like The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler. It's clear that Spengler strongly influenced a thinker like Evola even though comparing HPL's thought to that of the Italian traditionalist philosopher as Rosati does – and, in the past, De Turris and Fusco – seems a bit forced to me. However, in today's world, HPL would most likely be an enemy of globalization, perhaps a red-brown and an anti-capitalist. The fact that his figure continues to divide so much nowadays just means he was great.

These considerations have taken up a bit of space, but I must say that the other contributions are also very thorough and characterized by a non-trivial approach. This is the case with the article by Stefano Lazzarin The Veiled Face: Hyperbole and Reticence in Howard Phillips Lovecraft where his narrative techniques filled with cumulative horror comparable to "a Piranesi dream" are highlighted. Also good is the contribution of Miranda Gurzo Lovecraft between Prophecy and Apocalypse in which it is argued how the powerful mythology of Cthulhu is the symbol of the crisis of our civilization. The always capable Renzo Giorgetti, in Lovecraft and Lucid Dreams, delves into his dream world, one of his major sources of inspiration while Eileen McNamara analyzes Beyond The Wall Of Sleep, belonging to the early phase of his production. Luigi Catelli Arlini introduces us instead, in his Delirium and Aphasia: The Explosion of Language in Lovecraftian Narrative, to a careful examination of the origins of his particular prose. We can then read The Return of the Wanderer, a poem previously unpublished in our country, written by Lovecraft in 1937 for his correspondent Wilson Sheperd and The Mask of H.P. Lovecraft, a story by Cesare Buttaboni.

Available on the Dagon Press website at the following link http://studilovecraftiani.blogspot.com/ or on Amazon and Lulu.

Lovecraftian Studies 17 – Dagon Press – Summer 2019 – 137 pages -