Book Review: H.P. Lovecraft: the Complete Fiction

H.P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2011. ISBN: 9781435122963.

Genre: horror

Subgenre: U.S. classics

Format: Hardback

Source: I own this one. 

It took me a while, but I finished this. The volume collects all of Lovecraft's short fiction, including short novels, a juvenalia section (some works from early youth, 1897-1902), and his long essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," which Stephen King, in his book Danse Macabre (link to review), recommends that horror readers should read. The book starts with an introduction by S.T. Joshi, a Lovecraft scholar and biographer. Joshi has also written works on supernatural fiction. He also provides short introductions to each of the tales adding bits of trivia, biographical notes, and publication details. If you are a Lovecraft fan, or you just like historical notes like I do, you may find those notes interesting too. 

Many of these tales have been published before in various collections, mostly the classics most people recall when they think of Lovecraft such as "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Dunwich Horror," and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." Some folks may recall "Herbert West-- Reanimator" if they've seen the film version. Those tales and more are in this volume. The tales run in publication order, so you can see how Lovecraft grew as a writer. 

To be honest, the quality of tales does vary. True, he eventually writes tales that earn him the status of master in the genre, but some of those early works to get there are seriously rough. Yet if you are interested in the writing craft, reading some of his early lesser known works is worth it. If you want to learn more about Lovecraft and how he eventually wrote his more classic works, you may want to read his early works. As I say though, quality does vary; some tales are better than others. 

Overall, I would say this is a volume for fans of Lovecraft and/or literature completists. If you are happy with the basics, any smaller edition of selected works will do. If you want more, or want to read works rarely published elsewhere, then this is for you. This volume is part of the classics series published by Barnes and Noble. It does look nice, and the volume has some additional touches such as gilded edges and some nice endpaper art. I'd say if you want a good volume of Lovecraft's work, this would be a good option for your home library. 

4 out of 5 stars.