H. P. Lovecraft

Biography

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an American writer of weird fiction and cosmic horror who has become one of the most influential horror authors in literary history. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Lovecraft lived most of his life in genteel poverty, publishing primarily in pulp magazines. His stories created the Cthulhu Mythos—a shared universe of ancient, incomprehensible cosmic entities that reduces humanity to insignificance. Lovecraft’s central innovation was “cosmic horror”: the idea that the universe is fundamentally indifferent and unknowable, and that true horror lies not in monsters but in the revelation of humanity’s cosmic insignificance.