An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

in a movie theater in downtown Providence and has also noted that in 1936 HPL was horrified at the stories of Nazi atrocities as related to him by an acquaintance (a Mrs. Shepherd) who had visited Germany. Brobst visited HPL frequently in Butler Hospital during the latter’s terminal illness. He wrote letters to R.H.Barlow on March 2 and March 13, 1937, describing HPL’s condition, and saw HPL two days before his death, asking him how he felt; HPL replied, “Sometimes the pain is unbearable.” Brobst and his wife attended HPL’s funeral service and burial on March 18, 1937. Subsequently Brobst gained a B.A. in psychology from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent many years teaching at Oklahoma State University. His extensive recollections of HPL are recorded in “An Interview with Harry K. Brobst” ( LSNos. 22/23 [Fall 1990]: 24–42; abridged version in LRas “Autumn in Providence: Harry K.Brobst on Lovecraft”). Brown, Luther.

In “The Dunwich Horror,” a hired boy at George Corey’s farm who sees the huge footprints of Wilbur Whateley’s monstrous twin brother in the vicinity of Cold Spring Glen.

Brown, Walter.

In “The Whisperer in Darkness,” the “surly farmer” whose dealings with the aliens from Yuggoth result in his mysterious disappearance.

Bruce, Malcolm.

In “Ashes,” the assistant of the scientist Arthur Van Allister. Bruce mistakenly thinks Van Allister has used his secretary in an experiment to test his newly discovered chemical compound, and after a struggle he subjects the scientist to the same formula.

Bullen, John Ravenor (1886–1927).

Canadian poet and amateur journalist. He possibly introduced HPL to the Transatlantic Circulator (an Anglo-American correspondence group) in 1921. Some of his poetry later appeared in HPL’s Conservative . When Bullen died, his mother asked HPL to prepare an edition of Bullen’s poetry, and HPL did so. The Recluse Press (W.Paul Cook) published White Firein 1927 (a second edition was printed in 1929 but never bound). HPL’s preface is a revised version of his essay “The Poetry of John Ravenor Bullen” ( United Amateur,September 1925).

“Bureau of Critics.”

Series of articles in the National Amateur(1923–36), reviewing contributions by amateur journalists of the NAPA. The articles appeared as follows: “Bureau of Critics” (March 1923); “Bureau of Critics” (December 1931); “Critics Submit First Report” (December 1932); “Report of Bureau of Critics” (March 1933); “Report of Bureau of Critics” (June 1933); “Bureau of Critics Comment on Verse, Typography, Prose” (December 1933); “Chairman of the Bureau of Critics Reports on Poetry” (September 5, 1934); “Report of the Bureau of Critics” (December 1934); “Report of the Bureau of Critics” (March 1935); “Lovecraft Offers Verse Criticism” (June 1935); “Some Current Amateur Verse” (December 1935).

The articles are similar to the “Department of Public Criticism” pieces HPL wrote for the UAPA. Here, however, he generally focused on amateur verse; he

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usually managed to persuade other critics (e.g., Helm C.Spink, Edward H.Cole, Rheinhart Kleiner) to write sections on prose, typography, and other subjects.

Bush, David Van (1882–1959).

Itinerant lecturer, would-be poet, and popular psychologist; revision client of HPL. He joined the UAPA in 1916; he first came in touch with HPL through the Symphony Literary Service (a revision service operated by HPL, Anne Tillery Renshaw, and others) in early 1917. Bush was at the time the author of several poetry volumes (not revised by HPL), including Peace Poems and Sausages(1915) and Soul Poems and Love Lyrics(1916). HPL revised many poetry volumes and psychology manuals during the period 1920–25, including Grit and Gumption(1921), Inspirational Poems(1921), Applied Psychology and Scientific Living(1922; HPL admits to writing two or three chapters; other chapters were written by Bush’s staff), Poems of Mastery and Love Verse(1922), Practical Psychology and Sex Life(1922), etc. HPL met Bush in Boston in the summer of 1922 (see SL1.185–88); he wrote the essay “East and West Harvard Conservatism” (an account of Bush’s lecture in Cambridge) for Bush’s magazine Mind Power Plus(c. 1922). (No issues are known to exist; only a clipping of HPL’s essay survives in JHL.) Bush provided HPL with a steady income through the mid-1920s, as HPL charged $1 for 8 lines of poetry revised.