The Terrible Old Man
"The Terrible Old Man" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written on January 28, 1920, and first published in The Tryout, an amateur press publication, in July 1921. It's notable as the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport.
Lovecraft scholar Peter Cannon describes the story as "little more than a polemic against the intrusion of people he regarded as 'foreigners,' that is, the non-English immigrants who came in the nineteenth century as cheap labor to fill the factories of an increasingly industrialized America." [1]
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler The Terrible Old Man is strange elderly man "so old that no one can remember when he was young, and so taciturn that few know his real name". He lives alone in ancient house on Water Street in the town of Kingsport. Even among the locals, few know the details of the Old Man's life, but it is believed that he had captained East Indian clipper ships in his youth and had accumulated great jewels and riches over his life. Those who had visited the property had seen bizarre collections of stones on the front yard and observed the Old Man carrying on conversations with bottles on his table. Most locals care to avoid the Old Man and his house.
The story focuses on three robbers, Angelo Ricci, Joe Czanek and Manuel Silva, who are "of that new and heterogeneous alien stock which lies outside the charmed circle of New England life and traditions". Not being locals, they do not care much for the strange rumours surrounding the Terrible Old Man. They do, however care for the rumours of the treasure he had stored away somewhere. Their plan is for Ricci and Silva to go inside and "interview" the Old Man about the location of his riches, while Czanek waits outside in the motor-car. The two head inside while Czanek waits impatiently for a long while. After a time, the gate of the house opens, but it is not his colleagues who emerge.
References
- Lovecraft, Howard P. (1984) [1921]. "The Terrible Old Man". In S. T. Joshi (ed.) (ed.). The Dunwich Horror and Others (9th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-870-54037-8.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) Definitive version.
Note
- ^ More Annotated Lovecraft, S. T. Joshi and Peter Cannon, p. 2.