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n2doc

(47,953 posts) Sat Mar 19, 2016, 07:42 PM Mar 2016

Lost HP Lovecraft work commissioned by Houdini escapes shackles of history

Manuscript for The Cancer of Superstition, requested shortly before escapologist’s death, is discovered in memorabilia collection

A long-lost manuscript by HP Lovecraft, an investigation of superstition through the ages that the author was commissioned to write by Harry Houdini, has been found in a collection of magic memorabilia.

The Cancer of Superstition was previously known only in outline and through its first chapter. Houdini had asked Lovecraft in 1926 to ghostwrite the treatise exploring superstition, but the magician’s death later that year halted the project, as his wife did not wish to pursue it.

According to Potter & Potter Auctions of Chicago, the 31-page typewritten manuscript was discovered in a large collection of memorabilia from a now-defunct magic shop. Part of the collection consisted of papers kept by Houdini’s widow, Beatrice, and her manager, Edward Saint.

more

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/16/hp-lovecraft-harry-houdini-manuscript-cancer-superstition-memorabilia

6 replies

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Lost HP Lovecraft work commissioned by Houdini escapes shackles of history (Original Post) n2doc Mar 2016 OP

yes, only the first chapter was available for a while--ST Joshi even considers it as a manifesto MisterP Mar 2016 #1

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! xocet Mar 2016 #2

Very interesting if your a fan. highoverheadspace Mar 2016 #3

President Cthulhu????? LongTomH Mar 2016 #4

Why choose the lesser evil? bluedigger Mar 2016 #5

No Lives Matter Shraga5L Sep 2016 #6

MisterP

(23,730 posts)

1. yes, only the first chapter was available for a while--ST Joshi even considers it as a manifesto

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 07:58 PM

Mar 2016

for all Lovecraft's writings

historians of Spiritualism are gonna be all over this, I can tell ya! mostly picking out how Houdini made it a biography more than it was about the usual laundry list of Edwardian anti-superstition (often to separate the true Spiritists from the fakes)

funny thing about the direction both writers took in the end, before they were taken too soon

xocet

(3,871 posts)

2. Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 07:58 PM

Mar 2016

n/t

highoverheadspace

(307 posts)

3. Very interesting if your a fan.

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 08:11 PM

Mar 2016

I grew up on H.P. and Dr. Who so really appreciate this.

LongTomH

(8,636 posts)

4. President Cthulhu?????

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 08:41 PM

Mar 2016

Could Cthulhu trump the other Super Tuesday contenders?:

A mighty bruiser is rising in the US presidential race, aiming to lead the country into ‘a new golden age of mass sacrifice and unmentionable horror’

If you thought Donald Trump in the White House was your worst US presidential election nightmare, think again: none other than HP Lovecraft’s slime-encrusted cosmic horror Cthulhu is running in the 2016 election.

But what do voters need to know on this Super Tuesday about the tentacled candidate who aims to blow open the two-party race? The aspiring leader has a usefully informative website for those interested. Here we learn that like the current Oval Office incumbent, Cthulhu – who is standing on the “eldritch horror” ticket – hails from an island in the Pacific. It’s not Hawaii, though: it’s R’lyeh, the lost sunken city where, according to Lovecraft, Cthulhu waits to take control of the world.

And there’s no point asking to see his passport … millennia-old Cthulhu predates such bona fides. In fact, he predates countries. And people. So why the US – and why now?

I tracked down his campaign manager Eminence Waite to find out. “His influence on US history is subtle but potent; from stock market crashes to rising global tensions. He has been a part of our nation from its inception,” Waite says. “His presidential campaign is about unleashing an unending wave of insanity. He has selected the US population as his chosen people and he will lead them to a new golden age of mass sacrifice and unmentionable horror.”

bluedigger

(17,086 posts)

5. Why choose the lesser evil?

Reply to LongTomH (Reply #4)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 10:11 PM

Mar 2016

Shraga5L

(7 posts)

6. No Lives Matter

Reply to n2doc (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2016, 11:34 PM

Sep 2016

I'm not dead, just dreaming.

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