An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia

HPL introduced the recurring character Randolph Carter in “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” in which Carter is modeled after HPL from an actual dream. In “The Unnamable,” Carter, who narrates the story, is briefly identified (by last name only) as a writer of weird fiction, like HPL. The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadathis a picaresque narrative of Carter’s adventures in his search for the sunset city of his dreams. In “The Silver Key” (written before Dream-Quest), Carter, a disillusioned man past middle age, is not so much a character as a fictional exponent of HPL’s philosophical outlook. As an elderly man, Carter finds he has “lost the key to the gate of dreams.” In a dream, his deceased grandfather (unnamed) tells him of an ancestral “silver key,” which Carter finds in the attic upon waking. Having found the key, Carter then disappears. In “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” Carter is presumed dead, and others step in to settle his estate. The Swami Chandraputra tells of what happened to Carter following his disappearance. The Swami is revealed to be Carter himself, but residing in the body of Zkauba the Wizard from the planet Yaddith.

The W. in Carter’s name appears only in the “stationery” that HPL and R.H. Barlow designed for HPL in June 1935. Although HPL clearly identified with Carter on many different levels, Carter is not as autobiographical a character as many others in HPL’s fiction; he is, instead, a construct representing various of HPL’s philosophical and aesthetic views.

Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The.

Short novel (51,500 words); written late January–March 1, 1927. First published (abridged) in WT (May and July 1941); first collected in BWS;corrected text in MM;annotated version in TD. Joseph Curwen, a learned scholar and man of affairs, leaves Salem for Providence in 1692, eventually building a succession of elegant homes in the oldest residential section of the city. Curwen attracts attention because he does not seem to age much, even after the passing of fifty or more years. He also acquires very peculiar substances from all around the world for apparent chemical—that is, alchemical—experiments; his haunting of graveyards does not help his reputation. When Dr. John Merritt visits Curwen, he is both impressed and disturbed by the

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number of alchemical and cabbalistic books on his shelves; in particular, he sees a copy of Borellus with one key passage—concerning the use of the “essential Saltes” of humans or animals for purposes of resurrection—heavily underscored.

In an effort to restore his reputation, Curwen arranges a marriage for himself with the well-born Eliza Tillinghast, the daughter of a ship-captain under Curwen’s control. This so enrages Ezra Weeden, who had hoped to marry Eliza himself, that he begins an exhaustive investigation of Curwen’s affairs. After several more anomalous incidents, the elders of the city—among them the four Brown brothers; Rev. James Manning, president of the recently established college (later to be known as Brown University); Stephen Hopkins, former governor of the colony; and others—decide that something must be done. A raid on Curwen’s property in 1771, however, produces death, destruction, and psychological trauma among the participants well beyond what might have been expected of a venture of this sort. Curwen is evidently killed, and his body is returned to his wife for burial. He is never spoken of again, and as many records concerning him as can be found are destroyed.