AugSep 2022: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

[Dan]

This month we read Lovecraft's other novel, also published in 1943 six years after Lovecraft's death. This novel, unlike last month's The Dream- Quest of Unknown Kadath was published before 1943 in serialized version in two issues of Weird Tales in 1941, albeit in abridged version. It must have been too hard to publish an entire novel, not even one as short as this, in just two magazine issues without abridging it. As complicated as Lovecraft's plots are, I can't imagine abridging his work improves it at all. What would one leave out of Kadath, for example? I'm glad we're reading the entire short novel.

The Wikipedia page on this book provides excellent background if you want to know more before deciding to commit to this novel. I'm definitely reading it this month. I like the fact it touches on Lovecraft's dream quest rather than is actually a part of it. I recognize a lot of elements of a group read we did earlier by Alan Moore, his graphic novel, must have been based on this particular Lovecraft novel.

[Thom]

I just started this the other night. I'm reading one of the Vampire Hunter D books at the moment, but I had a headache and didn't want to look at my phone anymore, so I busted out The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death wherein there is a version of "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward."

Took me about twenty pages to remember the story, but here it is. Gonna finish it, because I started it, ha.

[Dan]

I started this and am really impressed with the quality of the storytelling. Gone is July's long dreamlike sequences of imaginary worlds. This story takes place concretely in Providence, Rhode Island. I am going to continue this novel for September and call a hiatus to going on to the next story, "The Colour out of Space" for now.

So, if you haven't finished this (or even started it) you have a month's extension!

[Dan]

I have finished the first three parts of the story, meaning not that much more than 15% of the way in, and it's quite a story. Charles Dexter Ward is a man institutionalized for insanity in a modern setting. We have reason to believe he may not actually be crazy. Then the story abruptly shifts to an ancestor (maybe) named Curwen who seems immortal. We learn of his disregard for respectability, then his quest for it, the marriage he forced, the birth of his daughter, all against a backdrop of nefarious doings never quite pinned down.

The amazing thing about the story is how far removed the narrator is from the events he is trying to relate. He can barely write anything definitive. It makes me wonder why he even bothers to try. Yet it is this same remove from the events that lend credibility to the narrative and add to its verisimilitude. No one does this better than Lovecraft. It's quite an ironic effect: the more distant the relating, the truer it becomes.

[Perry]

I read "Charles Dexter Ward" some years back and I loved it--maybe because I had read everything else by Lovecraft first, and this came as a surprise. I liked the detective work involved, especially exploring the underground chambers. Small wonder the story was turned into a fun video game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/30...

[Dan]

Cool video game, if old school by today's standards.

Well, I finally made it through the work and I think I probably need to give it another read one day when I'm less impatient. This story seemed to take forever to develop. Here's my review, if you're interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dan]

I've not done this novel justice, am rereading it, and enjoying my second read through much more than my earlier venture. I know where to read more quickly now -- the descriptions of the countryside, the many named people and their roles that never feature again - and where to spend my time -- Ward's family tree, the dates for births and deaths and name changes, and the actual actions of the key figures. This is truly a complex, rich, and unique story. I've never seen a treatment of immortality and a secret society done anything like this one.

[Ronald]

I think Lovecraft was strong on ideas.