On Thursday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the John Hay Library, esteemed author and authority on the literary macabre, Leslie S. Klinger will deliver a biographical overview of H. P. Lovecraft’s life and writing career and an assessment of his influence on subsequent literature. Klinger will also discuss the issue of Lovecraft’s racial views and the impact of such views. There will be a Q&A following the talk and a book sale and signing of Klinger’s The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft. A reception will also follow the Q&A. This event is free and open to the public.

Leslie Klinger is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. Klinger is a member of the Baker Street Irregulars and served as the Series Editor for the Manuscript Series of The Baker Street Irregulars; he is currently the Series Editor for the BSI’s History Series. He is also the Treasurer of the Horror Writers Association. He lectures frequently on Holmes, Dracula, and their worlds, and he teaches regular courses on Holmes and Dracula at UCLA Extension. His introductions and essays have appeared in numerous books, graphic novels, academic journals, newspapers, and Playboy Magazine; he also reviews books for the Los Angeles Times.

In his long-awaited, annotated edition of 22 works of H. P. Lovecraft, Klinger reanimates Lovecraft, charting the rise of the pulp writer, whose rediscovery is almost unprecedented in American literary history. Following a trajectory not unlike Melville or Poe, Lovecraft’s vast body of work—a mythos in which humanity is a blissfully unaware speck in a cosmos shared by ancient alien beings—is increasingly being recognized as the foundation for American horror and science fiction.

With nearly 300 illustrations and more than 1,000 annotations, Klinger illuminates every hidden dimension of Lovecraft’s most canonical works.

Klinger attended the University of California where he received an A.B. in English; he also attended the University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall), where he obtained a J.D. degree. By day, Klinger practices law in Westwood, specializing in tax, estate planning, and business law.

Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Lownes Room, John Hay Library, 20 Prospect Street, Providence