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Rating: 
Summary: Lovecraftian Book Criticism 101
Review: first off, while this is a wonderful book it doesn't actually include any of lovecraft's fiction. highpoints: what you will find is a copy of lovecraft's highly informative essay "supernatural horror in literature". this essay traces the roots of weird fiction from its earliest known appearence up to the present (which would've been the early 1930's when this essay was completed). after you've got the basics of what weird fiction is and how it has evolved, you are treated to the fruits of the works mentioned in the essay. included are de maupassant's "the horla", bierce's "the damned thing", and machen's "great god pan". lowpoints: each story is introduced with a quote from "supernatural horror in literature" which though seemingly good, in some cases divulges the ending of the particular story. this is another thing that can be maddening about the essay. so, if you'd like to read the stories with an unadulterated perspective, i'd recommend reading them before reading the essay or the story's introduction. one minor quibble is that this version of "supernatural horror" doesn't have an index which is included in the dover edition. overall: this is a great collection of late 1800's to early-mid 1900's weird fiction. it includes a sampling of the bulk of the best. the few flaws that are present though rather glaring, do not hinder this from being a fabulous anthology.
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