American Supernatural Fiction: From Edith Wharton to the Weird Tales Writers (Garland Studies in l9th Century American Literature)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, in spite of a little accuracy problem.
Review: Most of the essays were very informative. The only problem I found was in James Campbell's essay on H. P. Lovecraft. On page 179 Campbell described the narrator of 'The Call of Cthulhu'as being nameless and insane. The narrator's name is Frances Wayland Thurston, he is dead at the time that the read sees the story. I quote from the first line of 'The Call of Cthulhu'('The Dunwich Horrors and Others' Arkham House 1984):

(Found among the papers of the late Frances Wayland Thurston, of Boston)

The narrator is named, and being dead, his sanity is problematical. In 1984 Arkham House printed 'The Dunwich Horror and Others" in which this story was found. These volumes were different from what Campbell used. Campbell's essay was well written, but it should be checked against the revised text before being used for research purposes.