Grotesque and serious stories. Lovecraft is too often perceived as a neurotic, misanthrope, unhappy, racist writer … and his stories to harrowing and dark atmospheres.
This overlooks his many friends wo were amateur writers in very American clubs such as «Amateur Journalism». His enormous correspondence is a proof of that. This also overlooks Lovecraft’s playfulness when he made some of his friends or correspondants into characters of his short stories (Robert Blake for Robert Bloch). Let’s also quote this invented book «The Cult of Ghouls» of the count of Erlette as a nod to his friend August Derleth.
Most of the time the presence of play and fun has often been overlooked in Lovecraft’s work . It is necessary to read it a lot to finally understand the dramatic irony that dwells in each of his stories