A last defense against the dark: folklore, horror, and the uses of tradition in the works of H. P. Lovecraft.(Critical Essay)

American horror writer H P Lovecraft (1890-1937) was dedicated to the conception of tradition, including its documentation, preservation, use in literature, and reinvention as an adaptation to changing times. He worn out much of his adult life traveling from one side eastern North America, researching and writing about the folklore and material agriculture of "colonial" sites and advocating historic preservation. This essay places Lovecraft in the words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following of folklorists and historic preservationists who sought "authentic" American traditions in the early twentieth hundred ...