> Skip to content
  • Published: 7 December 2011
  • ISBN: 9780143106487
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $32.99

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)



A definitive collection of stories from the unrivaled master of twentieth-century horror in a Penguin Classics Deluxe edition with cover art by Travis Louie

Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as "The Outsider" to the overpowering cosmic terror of "The Call of Cthulhu." More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical - and visionary - American writer.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

  • Published: 7 December 2011
  • ISBN: 9780143106487
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island on August 20, 1890. His father, a traveling salesman, suffered a nervous breakdown three years later and was hospitalised until his death in 1898, from a form of syphilis. Lovecraft's family experienced financial difficulties after the death of his grandfather in 1904, and the shame of this deeply affected the young writer. His relationship with his mother was severely troubled, and she was also hospitalised after a nervous breakdown in 1919. After a brief marriage and a period living in Brooklyn where he first began publishing his stories in the magazine Weird Tales, Lovecraft returned to Providence where he continued to write stories, and supported himself through ghost-writing. He continued to be plagued by money problems, and died in relative poverty on March 15, 1937. His numerous stories, novellas and poem were never collected and properly published during his lifetime.

Also by H. P. Lovecraft

See all