Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovecraft's Masterpiece, Jun 18 2004
At 48,000 words, this is the longest tale that H.P. Lovecraft ever wrote. It is also his best.This novel has both good plotting and an otherworldly atmosphere that pervades the book. The setting is 1920's New England where there was a revival in interest in the occult. However, the key to the tale is the 18th Century New England scene that Lovecraft had a lifetime interest in. The character of Charles Dexter Ward was based on Lovecraft himself: a lonely intellectual who was an antiquarian who detested the Industrial Revolution. Ward's research into the occult leads to the reincarnation of one of his ancestors who in turn hatches a plot with both Ward and one of Ward's friends for a mass resurrection of the dead who would become mindless zombies dedicated to both the destruction of heavy industry in America as well as the forced expulsion, if not mass murder, of the Roman Catholic immigrants who Lovecraft detested so much from America. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a fantasy/horror novel that tells you a lot about its author. H.P. Lovecraft was a self-styled aristocrat from a decadent Old Money family who bitterly hated the Roman Catholic Church and especially the Irish and Italian immigrants who by 1928, when this novel was first published, had already assumed a position of political power at the expense of the WASP elite that Lovecraft was a member of. Clearly, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward was reflective of Lovecraft's religious bigotry and his hateful tendencies towards certain ethnic and religious groups. It should come as no surprise that during the 1930's, Lovecraft frequently praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a uniquely powerful and compelling work by a master of horror fantasy.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Obsolete Viewpoint, April 15 2004
By A Customer
The impact of this novel is materially diminished by its reliance on obsolete paradigms of the previous century. Science seeks to reanimate creatures of the past not with incantations, wall inscriptions and the usual mumbo gumbo of witchcraft and sorcery, but with the information storing capacity of DNA macromolecules and cellular implants. In Lovecraft's works, as in certain scriptural references, matter is endowed only with minimal capacities to create the inorganic realm - but living creatures need to have the influence of nonmaterial spiritual influences from BEYOND. Lovecraft hints at methods and materials used in the "experiments" he describes, but relies too heavily on "fancy" language to create atmosphere...a practice losing its impact after frequent repetition. His work would have proved prophetic if he invisioned the capacity of inanimate matter to link free energy with self-organizing potential. Beyond these failures of prescience, the novel also exhibits artistic failures: the plot develops much too slowly......the material would have fit more comfortably in a short story or a novelette....... it seems H. P. might have started writing a handbook for tour guides of Providence, R. I. and took a sudden turn on Route 2 in Cranston - that excursion being included is an obvious diversion from the main story line. The reader might also consider an amusing thought postcard of the of the REAL Providence and its appeal - consisting until recent times - mainly of sidewalk art of prostrate bodies, crowds of pan-handling bums, or rats scurrying about freely in daylight along the canal. In spite of these comments I would recommend this book. Read this volume and then go for a walk in the environs described therein ---watch out for ..."shunned culverts, hideously dark - wherein lurk formless masses rubbing softly in the depths...evoking delerious thoughts of sodden, ravenous rats....."
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Obsolete Viewpoint, April 15 2004
By A Customer
The impact of this novel is materially diminished by its reliance on obsolete paradigms of the previous century. Science seeks to reanimate creatures of the past not with incantations, wall inscriptions and the usual mumbo gumbo of witchcraft and sorcery, but with the information storing capacity of DNA macromolecules and cellular implants. In Lovecraft's works, as in certain scriptural references, matter is endowed only with minimal capacities to create the inorganic realm - but living creatures need to have the influence of nonmaterial spiritual influences from BEYOND. Lovecraft hints at methods and materials used in the "experiments" he describes, but relies too heavily on "fancy" language to create atmosphere...a practice losing its impact after frequent repetition. This novel also develops much too slowly......the material would have fit more comfortably in a short story or a novelette. In addition, I think H. P. might have started writing a handbook for tour guides of Providence, R. I. and took a sudden turn on Route 2 in Cranston. The thought is amusing to this writer to consider the REAL Providence and its appeal - consisting until recent times - mainly of sidewalk art of prostrate bodies, being accosted by pan-handling bums, or rats scurrying about freely in daylight along the canal. In spite of these comments I would recommend this book. Read this volume and then go for a walk in the environs described therein ---watch out for "incomplete" rats......
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