The author Howard Phillips Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born on 20th August 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His early life was marked by his father s death after a stay in hospital as a psychotic patient. He was brought up by his mother, aunts and grandfather and although a child prodigy he was often ill and had disciplinary problems at school which prevented him from obtaining his high school diploma, a fact which disappointed1 him late into his life. His grandfather s death greatly affected his life: he not only lost the person who had introduced him to the love of Gothic horror, but the financial situation of his family became worse, he even thought about suicide for some time. When he was young and living alone, he started writing poetry, but later he began writing letters to magazines commenting on their stories. Then he started a large network of correspondents and became one of the most productive letter writers of the century. Soon after his mother s death, which was a great shock for him, he married Sonia Greene and moved to New York, but financial difficulties made them separate and he returned to Providence. It was in this last period of his life that he was the most productive, but he became poor and lived in constant pain from malnutrition and cancer until his death in 1937. Several themes appear in his stories: forbidden2 knowledge, for example, the idea that those who had come into contact with living manifestations of the incomprehensible are condemned. Lovecraft s protagonists are not in control of their own actions and cannot escape destiny: they inherit the guilt3 of their ancestors4 and not even death can save them. He believed civilization was continuously fighting against more barbaric and primitive elements 1. disappointed: made him feel sad and unhappy. 2. forbidden: not allowed. 3. guilt: responsibility and blame for something bad that has happened. 4. ancestors: members of your family who lived a long time ago. 29