A Haunted Mind
Posted by: Nick Redfern on August 14th, 2012
A couple of days ago, I received in the mail a copy of Dr. Bob Curran’s new book: A Haunted Mind, which is a study of the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft – with most of the book devoted to addressing the very intriguing theory that much of the man’s fictional work was possibly based on his secret knowledge of all-too-real things malignant, ancient and other-worldly.
And, of course, it could be argued that Lovecraft brought to his readers an incredible body of stories on terrible beasts that, today, we might be very inclined to place into a definitive cryptozoological category. On this same matter, the book contains some fine artwork of the sorts of creatures that inhabited the mind of Lovecraft.
I’m about 50-pages into the book and it’s excellent reading. If you’re already a fan of Lovecraft’s work, are intrigued by the possibility that there might be actual truths behind the fiction, or are new to the man and his writings, Bob’s book is one I definitely recommend!
I’ll be doing a full review of A Haunted Mind right here once I have finished reading it.
PS: On a very refreshing note, Bob does not present Lovecraft as some untouchable god-like writer who is to be revered and praised on bended knee at all times. No. Instead, Bob shows the man as he was: deeply weird, massively flawed, odd, eccentric, racist, asexual, not at all likable, socially-challenged, and someone with an overwhelming and ridiculous sense (an incorrect sense, of course) of his own superiority and importance over others. Yes, Lovecraft was a tremendously gifted writer. But as a man? Well, put it this way: just be content to remember him as a great writer…
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
Lovecraft scholars positively hate this book. It is full of lies and outright ignorance. It is doubtful that the ‘author’ has read more than a few of Lovecraft’s stories. It is painfully obvious that “A Haunted Mind” is no more than a feeble attempt to capitalize on H. P. Lovecraft’s popularity. Dr. Curran should be very grateful that the Mythos are mere fiction, or otherwise H. P. Lovecraft fans would be summoning a virtual army of unearthly horrors to settle his hash.
Nick I don’t know if this point’s brought out in the book but to be fair to Lovecraft nowadays many of his difficulties’d be attributed to autism with all the inabilities to relate to or identify with others and even oneself that can bring about.
Add to which he was born to elderly parents by the standards of the time with all the social and emotional remoteness that can result from that.
Plus he lived with the knowledge from an early age not only’d his dad gone off his rocker but he himself might eventually end up in a padded cell too.
I profoundly disagree with calling him a “tremendously gifted writer.” He wrote like a 9th grader who had just been introduced to Roget’s Thesaurus. That, together with a ridiculously exaggerated fear of seafood, is all that distinguishes him from any of a thousand hacks.
I wonder if the author touches on Lovecraft’s relationship with Conan the Barbarian creator (among other great fictional characters) Robert E. Howard, another gifted writer with few social skills and a penchant for bigotry.
Well, Lovecraft liked cats, so that is a plus in my book….