|
Review of The Dunwich Horror
Like his two previous works that we've read, Lovecraft imbues this story with a sense of the immense. Even though it is a lower key intensity in terms of scale, its still bigger than a vampire or a ghost story.
I think I know why Lovecraft is so popular among horror writers and enthusiasts. Most horror writers write nameless things. Zombies shamble out from behind tombstones, ghouls attack at night, madmen wield power tools and the perverted torture and maim.
There's no rhyme or reason. Things happen for sensationalism. Lovecraft, on the other hand, understands that true horror goes beyond a scream or a disgusting zombie. He created a world where the very foundation was scary, and then tapped into the world in his stories, giving the reader a glimpse of the unthinkable.
Few horror writers create mythologies. Fantasy writers do, sci-fi writers do, but horror writers do not. Lovecraft created an enduring mythology, and that may be his greateest contribution to horror literature.
The Dunwich Horror, in my opinion, drags a bit. Lovecraft is at his best when he tells one story from one perspective all the way through, like The Shadow Over Innsmouth. When he starts a stary from the point of view of the Dunwich folk, then switches to a Whateley, then to Armitage, then to more townsfolk, then back to Armitage, I think he ruins the horror element.
I also think Lovecraft gives away too much in the early pages of his works. All horror writers use foreshadowing to build suspense, but I sometimes think Lovecraft uses it a bit too much. The Innsmouth foreshadowing let you know that something major happened, but you have no idea as to what. This one tells you the plot early.
As a result, the technical aspects are not nearly as good as Shadow. The Mythos elements are there in full force - Akrham, Dunwich, Miskatonic University, Yog-Sothoth, and the Necronomicon among others. You get a real sense of his world as he intended it, and you get a good sense of Lovecraft as his best. That sense is fleeting however.
Of the Lovecraft trilogy (The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Dunwich Horror) that every horror fan should read, this is the weakest.
As such, four out of five stars.
|