I trust the above remarks sufficiently suggest that, even when one differs with Waugh’s analyses and conclusions, they nonetheless stimulate thought to an exceptional degree and compel one to come to terms with one’s own understanding of the Providence writer. Substantial as The Monster in the Mirror is, it by no means embodies Waugh’s final words on Lovecraft. Several previously published essays (to say nothing of the essay included in this number of the Lovecraft Annual) do not appear in the book, and so Waugh already has the nucleus of a second volume of essays. It is to be hoped that some of our leading scholars absorb the variegated intellectual nourishment this book has to offer, so that they may be reminded that the work of interpreting Lovecraft is far from over.
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Briefly Noted
The fifth and final volume of the Hippocampus Press edition of Lovecraft’s Collected Essays has now appeared. Volumes 1 (Amateur Journalism) and 2 (Literary Criticism) appeared in 2004; Volumes 3 (Science) and 4 (Travel) appeared in 2005; and Volume 5 (Philosophy; Autobiography and Miscellany) is now available. A CD-ROM containing the full text of all the volumes, along with a transcript of the entire contents of Lovecraft’s amateur journal, the Conservative (1915–23; 13 issues), scanned images of all issues of the Conservative, a complete chronology of Lovecraft’s writings (fiction, poetry, and essays), and other matter, will be available shortly. With this five-volume set, in addition to the four Arkham House volumes of fiction and revisions, the remaining fiction contained in Miscellaneous Writings (1995), and the collected poetry found in The Ancient Track (2001), readers will possess the Collected Works of H. P. Lovecraft, exclusive of letters. A review of the Collected Essays will probably appear in the next issue of the Lovecraft Annual.
The Library of America edition of Lovecraft’s Tales (2005), aside from completing his definitive inclusion in the canon of American literature, was one of the best-selling volumes published by the Library of America, selling 25,000 copies within the first few months of publication. It received wide, if mixed, reviews in major newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Review of Books, and elsewhere. Assembled by Peter Straub and using the corrected texts established by S. T. Joshi, the volume includes 22 stories covering the entire chronological range of Lovecraft’s fiction-writing career, although it contains none of the “Dunsanian” fantasies. Perhaps a second volume, containing some of these stories along with essays, poems, and letters, should be contemplated.
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