000-0569
000-0569
FROM H. P. Lovecraft
TO Robert E. Howard
3-Oct-1932

Abstract

Lovecraft sending material under separate cover; on the merits of barbarian vs. civilized life; on games and sports (such as chess, and on fights and combat); on Howard's description of his father Dr. Isaac M. Howard; more on the supernatural (including asides on education, scholarly theory vs. practical experience, and philosophy); on the dangers of social revolution (and wealth-distribution) related to the "bonus army" (with reference to the American Legion) and Communism, with Lovecraft prognosticating on future developments (and agreeing with Howard on the Southwest being the last to join a socialist revolution); on the possibility of a new international war and the rise of life on Earth; on international matters following Howard's letters (the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, American citizens in Mexican prisons, etc.); a lengthy continuation on their argument on law, order, violence, police corruption, etc. in East vs. West (with an aside on the old gangs of New York, seguing into and argument on the mental versus the physical, tying back in at the end to frontier life vs. civilized life); Lovecraft visited the Devil's Punch-Bowl in Natchez, MI; on the Harpe brothers (and praising Howard's historical fiction); on the doom of the French Market in New Orleans (and the "poor boy" sandwich, Lovecraft's dislike of seafood, not having heard "The Lakes of the Pontchartrain," etc.); on the weather getting cooler and its effect on Lovecraft; on a trip to Newburyport with W. Paul Cook to see the eclipse; on Lovecraft's trip to Montreal and Quebec; on the authorship of Shakespeare's plays; Donald Wandrei's new temporary address in New York (with Wandrei planning a trip to meet Clark Ashton Smith in California); on Farnese' proposed weird drama; praise for Smith's "The Maze of Maal Dweb" and episode of Vathek (and humor as a diluting element in a weird tale, noting this in Frank Belknap Long's work); on Derleth's citation for "Old Ladies" and "Nella."

Note: As pointed out in the reviews in Lovecraft Annual 4, this letter appears to be out of order in A Means to Freedom; since it appears to be directly answering 033-0198.

Cited By

Included In

Preceded By 032-0066 Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard Followed By 032-0068
Preceded By 032-0066 A Means to Freedom Followed By 032-0068
Preceded By 000-0568 Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft Followed By 000-0570
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