Quote:Is it your judgment that the book gives a objective and sympathetic, and untainted portrait of Lovecraft and his times?
In part--although objectivity
and sympathy might also be mutually exclusive, at times. Joshi's book is better than nothing, and it is better by far than the work that preceded it.
I well understand your feelings about Joshi's work. He is a self-promoting independent scholar who does not have the force or the security of an academic institution or tenure behind him, and who therefore has to trumpet his own importance and correctness very loudly. I find his occasional arrogance amusing when I contrast it with the very basic mistakes he often makes in his rush to publish as much as possible. That said, however, I think that Joshi's work and legacy for the field of the weird tale are more positive than negative. Those who dislike critical analysis or scholarly apparatus can always skip them.
Both in general and in the Lovecraft biography, Joshi's opinions are indeed intrusive, at times. Most often, however, he at least gives reasons for his opinions. Also, I think that his opinions are clearly signaled as such, and therefore stand separately from the majority of the book. My view is that Joshi's biography of Lovecraft is as objective and accurate a portrait as we can expect of a man, such as Lovecraft, who excites such wildly varying reactions, and even provokes insecurities, among so many of those who read him.