C
Lovecraft’s second story is even less interesting than his first. The story of a cursed family living in a decrepit castle has little to do with the cosmic horror Lovecraft is known for. The sorcerer who cursed the main character’s lineage revealed that the curse itself was not real, but his own doing as if it were a Scooby Doo mystery, and the supernatural element is that he figured out how to live eternally in a dark depressing dungeon. How eternal life was achieved is completely glossed over and why he did it is assumed to be nothing more than to keep murdering some dude’s next of kin over and over and over again. It’s amusing, but not any more horrifying than any classic revenge tale. The Alchemist is a decent short story on its own, but this is not emblematic of H.P. Lovecraft’s appeal.
Lovecraft’s second story is even less interesting than his first. The story of a cursed family living in a decrepit castle has little to do with the cosmic horror Lovecraft is known for. The sorcerer who cursed the main character’s lineage revealed that the curse itself was not real, but his own doing as if it were a Scooby Doo mystery, and the supernatural element is that he figured out how to live eternally in a dark depressing dungeon. How eternal life was achieved is completely glossed over and why he did it is assumed to be nothing more than to keep murdering some dude’s next of kin over and over and over again. It’s amusing, but not any more horrifying than any classic revenge tale. The Alchemist is a decent short story on its own, but this is not emblematic of H.P. Lovecraft’s appeal.