Lobolover
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LBL Review # 11:The House of the Black Ring-Fred Lewis Pattee (1905)
Having come across this in J.D.'s listing of some lesser known weird tales from Lovecraft's library,I ordered it as Kelmscott,as it was up for only ten bucks and signed.
The 1927 edition is all black and has this nice,simplistic drawing of a red cabin with a black ring around it,by the way.
So,skiming through the book:I will be honest-I know why Lovecraft never mentioned this tale in his essay.For one thing,its got romance.And we all know someone didnt like that in his weird stories.
However,understanding where he was pointing to,I can say he was a litle too stuborn with Hall's "Shuned House",seeing how briliant it is and how the romance is very on the surface and serves as an important part of the tone of the tale.On the other hand,he hooks full line and sinker with "The Night Land",where the medievil possesionist tone of the narrator,presenting wife beating as needed and declaring his "mastery" over the maid a hundred times on one page and where he makes her out to have no inteligence and to be completely stupid,reckless,naivé and demented-this all makes the "romance" (read
ossesionism ,arogance ,etc.)unbearable.
Its not actualy a weird tale per se.Its a comon,though well writen novel placed among Pensylvania germans,which features the Monteque/Capulete situation.The seting is original,however.Also,alot of folk colour.
But now to the "meat"-it has about as much wierdness,in fact a bit more then the first volume of Lytton's "A strange story".Also,it only apears elsewhere then where the bulk of the novel takes place.There are alot of implications in the second chapter,called "Where the devil treads,who looks for snow?" and as well in the visits to Gran'ma-whose power is in fact the only supernatural aspect left unexplained.Her husband,apearing before, sudenly takes on a diferent character and the Gran'ma itself is a horrendous hag.
The story also shows how Pattee,the bulk of whose works were literary critics and histories,was overprotective of his characters.Just as something is about to happen to them,he brings them out of the fuss before it even starts.This is a minor point,however.
The very end of the story is kind of......well,it reminds me of "The Necromancer" but SOLELY because it uses a gang of robbers -it also explains the ring away.
So overal-7/11 for the enjoyability.
The 1927 edition is all black and has this nice,simplistic drawing of a red cabin with a black ring around it,by the way.
So,skiming through the book:I will be honest-I know why Lovecraft never mentioned this tale in his essay.For one thing,its got romance.And we all know someone didnt like that in his weird stories.
However,understanding where he was pointing to,I can say he was a litle too stuborn with Hall's "Shuned House",seeing how briliant it is and how the romance is very on the surface and serves as an important part of the tone of the tale.On the other hand,he hooks full line and sinker with "The Night Land",where the medievil possesionist tone of the narrator,presenting wife beating as needed and declaring his "mastery" over the maid a hundred times on one page and where he makes her out to have no inteligence and to be completely stupid,reckless,naivé and demented-this all makes the "romance" (read
ossesionism ,arogance ,etc.)unbearable.Its not actualy a weird tale per se.Its a comon,though well writen novel placed among Pensylvania germans,which features the Monteque/Capulete situation.The seting is original,however.Also,alot of folk colour.
But now to the "meat"-it has about as much wierdness,in fact a bit more then the first volume of Lytton's "A strange story".Also,it only apears elsewhere then where the bulk of the novel takes place.There are alot of implications in the second chapter,called "Where the devil treads,who looks for snow?" and as well in the visits to Gran'ma-whose power is in fact the only supernatural aspect left unexplained.Her husband,apearing before, sudenly takes on a diferent character and the Gran'ma itself is a horrendous hag.
The story also shows how Pattee,the bulk of whose works were literary critics and histories,was overprotective of his characters.Just as something is about to happen to them,he brings them out of the fuss before it even starts.This is a minor point,however.
The very end of the story is kind of......well,it reminds me of "The Necromancer" but SOLELY because it uses a gang of robbers -it also explains the ring away.
So overal-7/11 for the enjoyability.
