In his story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," H.P. Lovecraft unveils a mysterious house with deep connections to witchcraft. The narrative follows Charles Dexter Ward as he delves into the dark history of his ancestors and encounters the supernatural power that resides within the old house. The story begins with Ward's increasing obsession with his family's past, particularly his ancestor Joseph Curwen, a notorious figure involved in witchcraft and black magic. As Ward investigates Curwen's life, he becomes drawn to the abandoned house where his ancestor once lived.
As Ward investigates Curwen's life, he becomes drawn to the abandoned house where his ancestor once lived. Lovecraft masterfully creates an atmosphere of dread and mystery as Ward explores the house, with its eerie corridors and hidden chambers. It is within this house that Ward discovers the secrets of witchcraft and the forbidden knowledge that his ancestor had sought.
“The Dreams in the Witch House” is a bad story. And yet…
Hardly anybody likes H.P. Lovecraft’s short story The Dreams in the Witch House. Even H.P. Lovecraft didn’t like it, and subsequent readers have generally considered it one of his worst.
And, by pretty much any objective measure, it’s a bad story. For one thing, there’s no surprise or subtlety to it—Lovecraft beats the reader over the head with the legend of Keziah Mason, and her rat-like familiar, Brown Jenkin. I think he was trying for ambiguity, but he was failing spectacularly at it. Walter Gilman, the doomed protagonist of the tale, should be able to see what’s coming a mile away; the reader certainly can.
In a good weird tale, there should be some question as to whether the supernatural doings are real, or simply a hallucination by the protagonist. Lovecraft was trying to do this, but he didn’t. The evidence favoring the supernatural explanation is simply overwhelming. And needlessly drawn out. When an author tells you on page one that a witch and a rat-like monster are up to no good, the final page should contain a bigger pay-off than “a witch and a rat-like monster were up to no good.”
Lovecraft, I’ve come to realize, had no idea how to hint or imply something. This is a problem when writing horror, because it is a genre that depends heavily on subtle hinting. And Lovecraft kind of knew this, but he couldn’t do it. So what he would do instead is write this:
“Eventually there had been a hint of vast, leaping shadows, of a monstrous, half-acoustic pulsing, and of the thin, monotonous piping of an unseen flute—but that was all. Gilman decided he had picked up that last conception from what he had read in the Necronomicon about the mindless entity Azathoth, which rules all time and space from a black throne at the centre of Chaos.”
He seems to have believed that by prefacing an outright statement with “A hint of…” that it would count as an actual hint.
Also, there are a number of lines that just sound downright silly. Like:
“What made the students shake their heads was his sober theory that a man might—given mathematical knowledge admittedly beyond all likelihood of human acquirement—step deliberately from the earth to any other celestial body which might lie at one of an infinity of specific points in the cosmic pattern.
Such a step, he said, would require only two stages; first, a passage out of the three-dimensional sphere we know, and second, a passage back to the three-dimensional sphere at another point, perhaps one of infinite remoteness.”
It sounds so easy! And then we have this masterful bit of understatement:
“May Eve was Walpurgis Night, when hell’s blackest evil roamed the earth and all the slaves of Satan gathered for nameless rites and deeds. It was always a very bad time in Arkham…”
In addition to these technical flaws, Witch House is one of Lovecraft’s nastiest tales. The sacrifice scene at the end is grotesque, and of course, it wouldn’t be Lovecraft without casual racial bigotry. What’s truly odd is that Lovecraft creates a story in which the poor, un-educated, and superstitious immigrants are clearly right in their beliefs, and the WASP upper-class is demonstrably wrong, and yet Lovecraft likes the WASPs better anyway.
It’s a badly-constructed, badly-written, and badly-paced tale, with a heavy emphasis on gore and none of the subtlety that Lovecraft at his best was capable of. And it comes with a side-serving of class arrogance and racial hatred. (BTW, I am a descendant of Eastern-European immigrants to the northeast United States, rather like the ones Lovecraft treats with utter contempt in this tale. Who are you calling “clod-like,” HPL?)
So, why do I re-read this horrible little tale every April?
Part of it is, I read it for the first time as a college student during spring term, and so I had some instant sympathy for poor Walter Gilman. Studying for exams is stressful enough without being abducted by long-dead witches and taken into other dimensions.
Also, Gilman is, in his own way, kind of heroic. He does ultimately fight back against the evil cosmic forces, and to some extent succeeds in thwarting them—even if it doesn’t work out well for him. Unusually for a Lovecraft character, he doesn’t just observe the horror and go mad, but takes some sort of corrective action. I kind of like that, even though the scene itself is six different kinds of ugly. (Also: why does the witch recoil from the crucifix? Oops, did someone have to undercut his entire atheistic literary philosophy in order to make his plot resolve itself?)
And finally, this book introduced me to Walpurgis Night, which is a great way for a Halloween-obsessed lunatic such as myself to get a mid-year fix. It’s not the really strong stuff, but it can keep me going for those long six months.
In his essay Good Bad Books, George Orwell defined same as “The kind of book that has no literary pretensions but which remains readable when more serious productions have perished… They form pleasant patches in one’s memory, quiet corners where the mind can browse at odd moments, but they hardly pretend to have anything to do with real life.”
This is what Lovecraft and a lot of the “pulp” writers of the era were doing. There aren’t any pretensions about these kinds of stories. (Indeed, since Lovecraft never intended to publish Witch House, he had no reason to be pretentious.)
That’s probably why stories like Witch House, that suck by standard measures, still have this quality of being re-readable. They’re authentic—when you read Lovecraft, you’re not getting what editors and publishers thought was a good book. You’re getting undiluted “Yog-Sothothery,” as Lovecraft called his peculiar style, straight from the bottle.
It’s almost like Lovecraft, in spite of his prejudices and unwillingness to curb his own bad writing habits, was able to tap in to some core principles that make for a good horror story.
Describing Keziah Mason, Lovecraft wrote:
[S]ome circumstance had more or less suddenly given a mediocre old woman of the Seventeenth Century an insight into mathematical depths perhaps beyond the utmost modern delvings of Planck, Heisenberg, Einstein, and de Sitter.
Similarly, it seems as if some circumstance gave a mediocre man of the 20th century an insight into writing horror that is perhaps beyond many modern practitioners of the genre.
And finally, this book introduced me to Walpurgis Night, which is a great way for a Halloween-obsessed lunatic such as myself to get a mid-year fix. It’s not the really strong stuff, but it can keep me going for those long six months.
Lovecraft's vivid descriptions transport the reader into a world of arcane rituals, ancient incantations, and malevolent forces. The author's ability to evoke a sense of lingering evil further intensifies the suspense surrounding the house. As Ward delves deeper into the house's secrets, he becomes increasingly entangled in the web of witchcraft, unknowingly awakening a powerful being known as Yog-Sothoth. Lovecraft's portrayal of this otherworldly entity and its connection to the house is haunting and unnerving. Through Ward's experiences, the reader is taken on a terrifying journey into the realms of the supernatural. Lovecraft's exploration of witchcraft in "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" highlights the destructive power of forbidden knowledge and the consequences of meddling with the occult. The house serves as a symbol of the dark forces lurking within humanity's history, a reminder that some secrets are best left undisturbed. In conclusion, H.P. Lovecraft weaves a chilling tale of a house with witchcraft connections in "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Through Ward's exploration of his family's past, the author delves into themes of forbidden knowledge, supernatural power, and the dangers of tampering with the occult. Lovecraft's masterful storytelling and ability to evoke a sense of unease make this story an enduring classic in the genre of horror literature..
Reviews for "The Witch House Legacy: Unraveling Lovecraft's Witches"
1. Julia - 2 stars
I found "Story by hp lovecraft about a house with witchcraft connections" to be quite disappointing. The plot was confusing and lacked coherence, making it difficult for me to fully engage with the story. Additionally, the characters were poorly developed, and their actions and motives felt unrealistic. Overall, I expected more from a renowned author like H.P. Lovecraft.
2. Mark - 1 star
This story by H.P. Lovecraft about a house with witchcraft connections was a complete disappointment. The writing style was overly verbose and convoluted, making it a struggle to follow the narrative. It was as if Lovecraft was more focused on showcasing his vast vocabulary rather than on creating a compelling story. Furthermore, the lack of clear direction in the plot left me feeling confused and disinterested throughout. I would not recommend this particular work by Lovecraft.
3. Sarah - 2 stars
"Story by hp lovecraft about a house with witchcraft connections" fell flat for me. The pacing was incredibly slow, and it took too long for anything intriguing or captivating to happen. Moreover, the descriptions were overly detailed, making the reading experience tedious rather than immersive. I appreciate Lovecraft's ability to create a dark and eerie atmosphere, but I felt that the execution in this particular story missed the mark. It lacked the tension and suspense that I was expecting from a horror story.
4. Ryan - 1 star
I regret wasting my time reading "Story by hp lovecraft about a house with witchcraft connections." The narrative was disjointed and lacked a clear direction, making it challenging to stay invested in the plot. Additionally, Lovecraft's overly complex language and excessive description hindered my ability to connect with the story or its characters. Overall, I found it to be a frustrating and unsatisfying read. I would advise others to steer clear of this particular work by Lovecraft.