This essay has been replaced by the greatly expanded essay in my new book of revised, expanded, and footnoted versions of my recent Tentaclii essays, Lovecraft in Historical Context: fifth collection.
“A mighty woodcutter”: Bernard Austin Dwyer and his possible influence on Lovecraft
13 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in Historical context, New discoveries
“A drawing by Bernard Austin Dwyer, 1927.” survives in the Wandrai archive… http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00194.xml
Well, damn. If I hadn’t moved from Beacon, NY, last spring, I’d be all over that. The reservoir is a lovely place, and Kingston is a great place to visit.
Fascinating information concerning Dwyer. I believe he had art and poetry published in George Macauley’s amateur magazine O-Wash-Ta-Nong. The main collection of original CCC camp magazines is held at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but access (via microfilm) is through an academic library center in Chicago. It would indeed be interesting to read Dwyer’s “Old Dark House.” Dwyer was probably the heaviest of HPL’s correspondents during his lifetime, although August Derleth may have eventually attained a greater weight. I think Dwyer weighed in the vicinity of 250 pounds. Best regards, Ken Faig, Jr.
Another snippet… A letter in the John Hay Library collection, probably circa late 1920s…
“Long, Frank Belknap, Jr. to Wandrei, Donald.
New York, NY.
Contents Note: A cover sheet for Flash by Bernard Austin Dwyer. …”
Could this have been for a planned book of Dwyer’s poems?
Found two poems by Dwyer. Also that Lovecraft did not have a high opinion of the socialistic CCC work camps, frowning on… “…a system of artificially created & distributed jobs at starvation wages on the C.C.C….” (Selected Letters V, p.326).