Sunand Tryambak Joshi (born June 22, 1958) is an American literary critic whose work has largely focused on weird and

fantastic fiction Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. F ...

, especially the life and work of H. P. Lovecraft and associated writers.

Career

His

literary criticism Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...

focuses upon the

worldview A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...

s of authors. His ''The Weird Tale'' examines horror and fantasy writing by

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen (; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His ...

Algernon Blackwood Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951) was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary crit ...

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...

, and Lovecraft.

Personal life

S. T. Joshi was born on June 22, 1958 in Pune, India to Tryambak M. Joshi and Padmini T. Joshi. When he was four, his family moved to the United States and settled in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. He discovered the work of Lovecraft at age 13 in a public library in Muncie, Indiana. He also read L. Sprague de Camp's biography of Lovecraft, '' Lovecraft: A Biography'', on publication in 1975, and began thereafter to devote himself to Lovecraft. This devotion led him to decline offers from Yale and Harvard so that he could attend

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. He is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Currently, he lives in Seattle, Washington. Joshi married Leslie Gary Boba on September 1, 2001. They divorced in December 2010. In August 2014, Joshi opposed the campaign to change the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

statuette from

Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...

's bust of Lovecraft to one of African-American author

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship ...

, and returned his World Fantasy Awards in protest.

Notable publications

Books

*''Lord Dunsany: A Bibliography'' (1993) (co-writer: Darrell Schweitzer) *'' H. P. Lovecraft: A Life'' (1996) *''

Sixty Years of Arkham House ''Sixty Years of Arkham House'' is a bibliography of books published from 1939 to 1999 under the imprints of Arkham House, Mycroft & Moran and Stanton & Lee. It was released in 1999 by Arkham House Arkham House is an American publishing ho ...

: A History and Bibliography'' (

Arkham House Arkham House is an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had ...

, 1999) *''I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft'' (2010) *''Lord Dunsany: A Comprehensive Bibliography'' (2013)

Edited volumes

*'' Miscellaneous Writings'' by H. P. Lovecraft (Arkham House, 1995). *''

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories ''The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories'' is Penguin Classics' first omnibus edition of works by seminal 20th-century American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in October 1999 and is still in print. The volume is named for the Love ...

'' by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 1, 1999). *''

The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories ''The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories'' is Penguin Classics' second omnibus edition of works by 20th-century American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in October 2001 and is still in print. This edition is the second in Peng ...

'' by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 2, 2001). *''

The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories ''The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories'' is Penguin Classics' third omnibus edition of works by 20th-century American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in September 2004 and is still in print. This edition is the third in ...

'' by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 3, 2005).

Awards

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joshi, S. T. 1958 births Living people American literary critics American male biographers American book editors American speculative fiction critics American speculative fiction editors American atheists Brown University alumni American male writers of Indian descent H. P. Lovecraft scholars Indian emigrants to the United States Science fiction critics Science fiction editors World Fantasy Award-winning writers Writers from Pune Cthulhu Mythos writers American satirists Weird fiction writers Weird fiction publishers American editors Critics of religions 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Writers from Seattle People from Muncie, Indiana