Studi Lovecraftiani No.1

11 Saturday May 2013

Posted by in Scholarly works

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The Italian Lovecraftians have reprinted the scholarly journal Studi Lovecraftiani No. 1 (Dagon Press, new edition 2013, in Italian). My translation of the contents list…

Editorial
Introduction to Lovecraftian Studies, S.T. Joshi.
Guide to reading Lovecraft, Fabrizio Claudio Marcon.
The “Copernican revolution” of the dreamer from Providence, Massimo Berruti.
H.P. Lovecraft In Italy: a special dossier.
The disciples of Erich Zann: Lovecraft and the music of Bruno Gargano, Elvezio Sciallis and Andrea Bonazzi.
[The Theosophist] Scott-Elliott : Inspiring Lovecraft, by Gianluca Formwork.
The Library of R’lyeh : a review of literature.
Necronomibooks : a review of news and overview of new Lovecraftian developments.

“This is a reprint, re-edited and corrected, the no. 1 of SL, released in small editions [60 copies] in 2005 and immediately sold out. In addition to new graphics, new material is added to the original content.”

Strange fearful & true newes

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Odd scratchings, Scholarly works

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What exactly was the providence that gave Lovecraft’s Providence its name? There’s a book on that, Providence in Early Modern England — which has a chapter on mysterious signs and portents associated with providence… “‘Tongues of Heaven’: Prodigies, Portents, and Prophets”.

Update: it was a free chapter when I linked it, but now seems to be paywalled! Sorry about that. But it’s mostly available free on Google Books: search “Prodigies, Portents, and Prophets”.

graphic020
The first fanzine for weird tales? Strange fearful & true newes, London 1606.

graphic029
They loved their weird giant tentacle monsters, even way back. The discription of a rare or rather most monstrous fishe, London 1566.

Lovecraft and the Northern Gothic Tongue

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Historical context, Scholarly works

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There’s a new article from Roger Lockhurst at the Oxford Dictionaries, ahead of the Oxford University Press edition of Lovecraft, on “H.P. Lovecraft and the Northern Gothic Tongue”…

“There is a very specific language of Gothic and horror literature that has its roots buried deep in the history of English: doom has been around since Old English; dread carries over from Middle English; eerie, that sense of vague superstitious uneasiness, enters Middle English through Scottish. The adjectives are harsh and guttural: moons are always gibbous, the trees eldritch.”

The tunnels under College Hill

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by in Historical context

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It’s interesting to find out that Providence had and still has, a 2000ft tunnel under Lovecraft’s beloved College Hill. In 1914 it replaced a cable-car system, and trolleys (trams) ran through until 1948. It still serves buses today.

Then and Now 5A.jpg

providence_subways

There was a serious plan to create a subway system, but the First World War put it on hold. The idea was revived in the 1920s, but never happened.

Apparently there was also a mile-long Providence East Side Railway Tunnel, which likewise went under College Hill. Opened 1908 and stopped carrying passengers circa 1938. Some of the basements on the hill would rumble when a train passed beneath. It’s still there, but boarded up.

insiderisdtunnel

Which suggests that the 1926 “Pickman’s Model” could have had a model in Lovecraft’s Providence underground train experiences, as well as those on the New York subway and the short Boston Subway?