H. P. LOVECRAFT, CREATOR OF THE 'CTHULHU MYTHOS'

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. 

 

She has decided to read, and she has chosen one of her favourite writers, H. P. Lovecraft, the American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction, who was born on a day like today in 1890.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890-March 15, 1937) was an American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction.

Lovecraft is best known for his creation of a body of work that became known as the Cthulhu Mythos.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft spent most of his life in New England. After his father was institutionalized for general paresis in 1893, he lived affluently, but his family's wealth dissipated soon after the death of his grandfather.

After this point, he was living with his mother in reduced financial conditions, until she was institutionalized in 1919. He became involved in the United Amateur Press Association and wrote essays for them. In 1913, he wrote a critical letter to a pulp magazine that ultimately led to his involvement in pulp fiction.

He became active in the speculative fiction community and was published in several pulp magazines. Influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Lord Dunsany, he wrote and published stories that focused on his interpretation of humanity's place in the universe.

In his view, humanity was an unimportant part of an uncaring cosmos that could be swept away at any moment. This is the central point of Cosmicism, which was simultaneously his personal philosophy and the main theme of his fiction. His stories also included fantastic elements that represented the perceived fragility of anthropocentrism.

More information: Vox

Lovecraft moved to New York when he married Sonia Greene in 1924. He then joined the small Kalem Club, and would later become the centre of a wider body of authors known as the Lovecraft Circle. This group wrote stories that frequently shared details among them. They introduced him to Weird Tales, which would become his most prominent publisher. He also became a prolific letter writer, and maintained a correspondence with several authors and literary proteges.

According to some estimates, he wrote approximately 100,000 letters over the course of his life. In these letters, he discussed his world-view and his daily life, and tutored younger authors, such as August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, and Frank Belknap Long. Despite this, his time in New York took a toll on his mental state, which coincided with increased financial pressures.

Finding social and financial conditions there intolerable, he returned to Providence in 1926. After returning to Providence, he became increasingly active in his literary output, producing some of his most prominent works. Among these tales are The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Shadow over Innsmouth, and The Shadow Out of Time. He would remain active as a writer and epistolerian until his death from intestinal cancer at the age of 46.

Throughout his adult life, Lovecraft was never able to support himself from earnings as an author and editor. He was virtually unknown during his lifetime and was almost exclusively published in pulp magazines before his death, but is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors of supernatural horror fiction. This is the result of a literary and scholarly revival that began in the 1970s and 1980s. His writings form the basis of the Cthulhu Mythos, which has inspired a large body of pastiches across several mediums that draws on Lovecraft's characters, setting, and themes.

More information: Reedsy

Lovecraft was born in his family home on August 20, 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the only child of Winfield Scott Lovecraft and Sarah Susan (née Phillips) Lovecraft.

Lovecraft himself guessed that they originated from Gothic novelists like Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, and Charles Maturin It was in this period that Lovecraft was introduced to some of his earliest literary influences such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner illustrated by Gustave Doré, One Thousand and One Nights, Thomas Bulfinch's Age of Fable, and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Lovecraft immersed himself in the world of amateur journalism for most of the following decade. During this period, he advocated for amateurism's superiority to commercialism.

Lovecraft commercialism as writing for, what he considered, low-brow publications for pay. This was contrasted with his view of professional publication, which was what he called writing for journals and publishers that he considered respectable. He thought of amateur journalism as training and practice for a professional career.

Back in Providence, Lovecraft lived with his aunts in a spacious brown Victorian wooden house at 10 Barnes Street until 1933. He would then move to 66 Prospect Street, which would become his final home.

Due to his fear of doctors, Lovecraft was not examined until a month before his death. After seeing a doctor, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the small intestine. He remained hospitalized until he died. He lived in constant pain until his death on March 15, 1937, in Providence.

In accordance with his lifelong scientific curiosity, he kept a diary of his illness until he was physically incapable of holding a pen.

More information: H. P. Lovecraft

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

H. P. Lovecraft

WESLEY E. CRAVEN, THE PIONEER IN THE HORROR GENRE

Today, The Grandma has been watching some terror films at home. She has chosen Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, some of the best films of this genre, whose director, Wes Craven, died on a day like today in 2015.

Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939-August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor.

He was primarily known for creating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (1984-2010) and directing the first four films in the Scream franchise (1996-2011). He also directed cult classics The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), the horror comedy The People Under the Stairs (1991), and psychological thriller Red Eye (2005). His other notable films include Swamp Thing (1982), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Shocker (1989), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), and Music of the Heart (1999).

Craven was known for his pioneering work in the horror genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror clichés with humour and satire.

The cultural impact and influence of his work have often led him to be referred to as a Master of Horror.

In 1995, Craven was awarded the Life Career Award for his accomplishments in the horror genre by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

More information: The Guardian

Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline and Paul Eugene Craven. He was raised in a strict Baptist family. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois and a master's degree in philosophy and writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities' professor at Clarkson College of Technology, later named Clarkson University, in Potsdam, New York. He additionally taught at Madrid-Waddington High School in Madrid, New York.

During this time, he purchased a used 16 mm film camera and began making short movies. When his friend Steve Chapin informed him of a messenger position at a New York City film production co, where his brother, future folk-rock star Harry Chapin worked.

Craven moved into the building where his friend Steve Chapin lived at 136 Hicks St. in Brooklyn Heights. His first creative job in the film industry was as a sound editor.

Craven has cited filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Jean Cocteau, and Francois Truffaut as among his major influences.

Craven's first film, The Last House on the Left (1972), was conceived as a remake of Bergman's The Virgin Spring (1960).

Craven's works tend to explore family dynamics, the nature of dreams and reality, and often feature black humour and satirical elements. A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. New Nightmare has actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, the audience sees on Wes Craven's word processor a script he has written, which includes the conversation he just had with Heather -as if the script were being written as the action unfolds. The Serpent and the Rainbow and Shocker portray protagonists who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality.

More information: ABC13

In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point, Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big film. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers re-enact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings, Woodsboro being the fictional town where Scream is set, occurring in Scream.

Scream included a scene mentioning an urban legend about Richard Gere and a sex act involving a hamster.

Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again. The last film that he directed before his death was Scream 4.

Marianne Maddalena served as a producer on twelve of Craven's films. After working on Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Patrick Lussier became an editor on all of his features up to Red Eye.

Craven tended to employ cinematographers Peter Deming, Mark Irwin and Jacques Haitkin on his films.

Except for Music of the Heart, composer Marco Beltrami worked on all of Craven's films, from Scream to Scream 4. Although he usually wrote his own films, Craven worked with screenwriter Kevin Williamson regularly after Scream.

Craven often used a number of the same actors on his projects, including Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Robert Englund, Michael Berryman, Heather Langenkamp, and Davis Hess.

Craven died of a brain tumour at his home in Los Angeles on August 30, 2015, four weeks after his 76th birthday.

Many actors and fellow directors paid tribute to him, including David Arquette, Adrienne Barbeau, Angela Bassett, Bruce Campbell, Neve Campbell, John Carpenter, Courteney Cox, Joe Dante, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lloyd Kaufman, Jamie Kennedy, Rose McGowan, Kristy Swanson, Edgar Wright, and Amanda Wyss.

The tenth episode of the horror series Scream was dedicated to his memory.

More information: The Guardian

A big part of directing is being strong in certain circumstances
and taking the gamble and hope you don't get fired.

Wes Craven