SOURCE: Schweitzer, Darrell. The Dream Quest of H. P. Lovecraft, pp. 5–11, 20–25, 30–35, 38–55. San Bernardino, CA: The Borgo Press, 1978.

In the following excerpt, Schweitzer discusses numerous Lovecraft stories, summarizing the plots, explaining their significance to Lovecraft's literary career, and offering a brief analysis of each story.

Early Horror Tales

There are a few specimens of Lovecraft's juvenilia extant, none of it of any real importance. The oldest story, “The Little Glass Bottle,” dates from his sixth year. “The Mystery of The Graveyard”; or, “The Dead Man's Revenge” shows that for all her Victorian prejudices Lovecraft's mother didn't stop him from reading dime novels, which many parents thought shocking.

At about fourteen he wrote “The Beast In The Cave,” which gives some indication of where his later inclinations would lie. The story is stylistically a mixture of imitation Poe and various 18th Century writers. Lovecraft later recalled it as “pompous and...