Transmigrations: Lovecraft, Barlow, and Burroughs

Robert Hayward Barlow (1918-1951) has become a subject of intense fascination, and not only because of his association with the great weird writer H. P. Lovecraft. As a teenager Barlow came under Lovecraft’s influence, inviting the older writer to visit him in his Florida home. During the 1930s he generated such exemplary tales as ＂A Dim-Remembered Story＂ and ＂The Night Ocean.＂ After Lovecraft’s death, he became his friend’s literary executor. But, scorned by many of Lovecraft’s colleagues (in part because he was gay), Barlow left the United States, settled in Mexico, and became a celebrated anthropologist. Barlow’s work as teacher and scholar brought him in touch with the young writer William S. Burroughs, and their brief association left a permanent mark on Burroughs’s work. The French scholar Pierre Déléage has written a penetrating monograph assessing Barlow’s literary and scholarly work. This pioneering study advances our understanding of Barlow and also sheds light on his relations with such towering figures in American literature as Lovecraft and Burroughs.