For most of his life, Howard Phillips Lovecraft called Providence, Rhode Island his home, drawing upon it for the creation of his unique cosmogony. However, a formative chapter in Lovecraft’s biography has long been overlooked: his two years living in New York City between 1924 and 1926. Contrary to the narrative presented by many scholars and even Lovecraft himself, his collective New York experiences—including his marriage to Ukrainian-Jewish émigré and milliner Sonia H. Greene; his relationships with queer and leftist creatives and intellectuals; and his encounters with immigrants and ethnic minorities—shaped Lovecraft both as an individual and as a writer. His interactions with the city revealed both his admirable traits (e.g., his generous friendships) and his deplorable beliefs (e.g., his strident racism), and helped spur Lovecraft to develop into the author known and enjoyed by a contemporary global audience. Scholar David Goodwin will review Lovecraft’s stories in light of New York’s influence, with reference to the original research published in his book Midnight Rambles: H.P. Lovecraft In Gotham. He will also address a short selection of film and television productions that he has inspired, ranging from Stranger Things to the Hellboy franchise. The audience will come away with an appreciation of the complexity of Lovecraft’s biography and an understanding of the importance of the urban environment to his writing.
David J. Goodwin is the Assistant Director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University and was a Frederick Lewis Allen Room scholar at the New York Public Library from 2020 to 2023. He is a past commissioner and chairperson of the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission and a former Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy board member. His first book, Left Bank of the Hudson: Jersey City and the Artists of 111 1st Street, received the J. Owen Grundy History Award in 2018.
