Evil, Mystery & Proust

Finally done with Hopscotch!!!! I actually finished it a few days ago, then decided to start The Case of Charles Dexter Ward on my Kindle. It was a wonderful book, though a bit sad at the end; I maintain the recommendation for everyone. Hopscotch tests the accepted form of the novel (and often the patience of the reader) but it works.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, very short (only a little more than 200 pages) and wirtten by H.P. Lovecraft, deals with demonology, the occult, and immortality. It is really fun to read, though the old language, as it was written in the 1920s, might bother some readers ("u" instead of "v", "ye" instead of "the." etc.). Charles Ward grows up as a normal boy, albeit one with an uncanny interest in all things antiquarian...that is, until he uncovers the existence of an unknown ancestor who lived in the 1700s. This ancestor, Joseph Curwin, is most certainly not normal, his inability to grow old being only one indication of his strange character. Charles learns through letters and documents he uncovers of Joseph's unnatural studies held in a farm, often the source of unearthly noises, lights and smells. The discoveries Charles makes, however, change him for the worst: he loses his sanity and falls into the mindset of someone who lived centuries before. Subsequently, he is unable to live properly in his 1920s world and must be kept in asylum. I am only about half way through, but really am enjoying this read. It is nothing terribly intellectual, and the date of the novel definitely shows in the writing, but the story line is extremely intriguing. It seems (and here comes a spoiler alert) that Joseph Curwin and Charles Ward have some type of connection more than just ancestry. A salvaged portrait of Joseph shows an identical physical makeup as his descendant, and, more ominously, old papers tell of Joseph breeding something "Outside ye Spheres" that "will draw One who is to Come...and he shal think on Past Things and look back thro' all ye Years." If Charles is Joseph reborn, I do not know for sure, but clearly something along those lines must be the case. I once read House on the Borderland, an early science-fiction/horror novel first published in 1908 and written by William Hope Hodgson that brought great changes to the genre. The novel dealt with a house occupied by a hermit, as well as by some evil pig-like creatures that come from another world or plane out of a ravine by the house. I LOVED this eerie book, and it turns out Lovecraft loved Hodgson's work, too, and was heavily influenced by him. So far I think House on the Borderland was better (much scarier and with a crazy cosmic trip, literally, at the end), but I'll decide when I finish The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

I am also going to read Swann's Way, the first volume in Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Being quite an ambitious reader, I really hope to one day read the whole novel, all seven volumes. The first time I read Swann's Way I didn't finish it, I think because the plot was a little boring (society circles and such), but by my underlinings and notes I can see I left only less than 200 pages unread! Only around page 20, I will wait to write more.

I will post again in a couple of days or so, hopefully having finished Lovecraft and ready to discuss Proust!