Walking with Cthulhu

In HM #262, Richard Caldwell's The Lottery Party mentions this book, "Walking with Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft as Psychogeographer" by David Haden.  I sought it out and found the author offered it for free in a secured .pdf on his website.  I got it and read through it and thought I'd mention it here.

The book discusses H.P. Lovecraft's time in New York City.  I only know Lovecraft from HM references, such as the H.P. Lovecraft themed issue October 1979, and a couple other stories like "Rats in the Walls" by Corben in March 1999, (and the deified monster Uhluhtc in Den).  I was aware of his reputation as a writer, but I don't know his work well.

The book is written for those with a much deeper interest in Lovecraft and his history.  It makes plain its focus on his time in New York and speculation on how the environment affected his work.  It presumes a depth of interest and knowledge of Lovecraft in the reader that I don't have, and I was often lost in the references to other work and other studies of his life and letters, and the footnotes upon footnotes, sometimes taking more of the page than the text itself.  I admit it's a bit amusing to me the level of devotion demonstrated by the author and other Lovecraftian scholars, but my interest in the even more obscure and trivial Heavy Metal is certainly no more noteworthy.

David Haden has produced several other works, including others about Lovecraft.  I did admire his effort and diligence in seeking his resources and researching his subject.  There are many interesting connections he attempts with the field of "psychogeography", apparently the study of effects of location on the psyche, as well as other work and movements.  Frank Boas, surrealism, the Situationalists, the occult, and comic books, are all wound in.

What interested me most was descriptions of New York in Lovecraft's time.  NYC only became more interesting to me when someone I know moved there.  I've visited a few times since.  Having grown up in a big city I'm less than excited about the crowded dirty smelly aspects, but I know that a big city has a lot to offer.  It's so active and kinetic that it's easy to forget it hasn't always been so modern.  Knowing that NYC has been big and getting bigger for a couple hundred years, and the frankly amazing way millions of people have existed in such a small area, learning a bit about its history was interesting to me.  The transportation was transitioning away from horses, and the car had not taken over.  The subways are often nasty but fantastically effective at moving many people at all hours.  Learning they were only more crowded and dark and disturbing adds to my perceptions.

Also interesting were description of his night walks, the basis for the discussion of psychogeography.  Apparently Lovecraft and some groupies would wander the city and gather impressions of mystery and fear.  Some of these impressions are believed to have been digested into some of his work.  The thought of wandering the streets of NYC at all hours may seen ridiculous, but even in Lovecraft's time, as now, there are parts of the city that are active and bustling at any hour.

So I enjoyed reading through this and learned a few interesting things.  The piles of footnotes and references to other research were excess scholarship to me, but I'm sure there are many who would find this valuable and insightful.  People with interest in Lovecraft and some of the back alleys of history of  New York may find it enjoyable as well.