The Terrible Old Man
Encyclopedia
"The Terrible Old Man" is a very short story
(less than 1200 words) 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
.
dismissively describes the story as "little more than a polemic against the intrusion of people Lovecraft regarded as 'foreigners,' that is, the non-English immigrants who arrived in the nineteenth century as cheap labor to fill the factories of an increasingly industrialized America."
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 an 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 captained East Indian
clipper ships in his youth and had accumulated great jewels and riches throughout his life. Those who had visited the property had seen bizarre collections of stones in the front yard and observed the Old Man carrying on conversations with bottles on his table. Most locals take 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". They take little heed of the locals' cautionary whisperings and disregard them completely when they hear that the Old Man possesses a treasure. They act immediately on their avarice according to their natures, and go to the Old Man's house to commit robbery. Ricci and Silva go inside to "interview" the Old Man about the treasure and its hiding place. Czanek waits outside in their vintage car
. Czanek waits impatiently for a long while. After a time, the gate of the house opens, but it is not his accomplices who emerge but the house's inhabitant.
The bodies of the three robbers are later found horribly mutilated down on the beach, "horribly slashed as with many cutlasses, and horribly mangled as by the tread of many cruel boot-heels".
" in a more benevolent role.
He has a number of similarities with later characters created by Lovecraft, in particular Joseph Curwen, the villain of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
: Both were improbably old, such that no one remembered when they were young; possessed vaguely defined but powerful abilities oriented around storing the dead in peculiar objects and calling them forth to serve them; had access to ancient coinage of precious metals (as do the Whateleys in The Dunwich Horror
); and were objects of loathing and fear in their New England towns.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
(less than 1200 words) by H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the Tryout
Tryout
Tryout was an amateur press journal published from 1914-1946 by Charles W. Smith of Haverhill, Massachusetts. It was connected to the National Amateur Press Association....
, an amateur press publication, in July 1921. It's notable as the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting
Lovecraft Country
Lovecraft Country is a term coined by Keith Herber for the New England setting, combining real and fictitious locations, used by H. P. Lovecraft in many of his weird fiction stories, and later elaborated by other writers working in the Cthulhu Mythos. The term was popularized by Chaosium, the...
, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport
Kingsport (Lovecraft)
Kingsport is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. The town first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Terrible Old Man"...
.
Reaction
Lovecraft scholar Peter CannonPeter Cannon
Peter H. Cannon is an H. P. Lovecraft scholar and an author of Cthulhu Mythos fiction.Cannon first made his name in Lovecraft studies with his graduate theses written in the 1970s - A Case for Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Lovecraft's New England...
dismissively describes the story as "little more than a polemic against the intrusion of people Lovecraft regarded as 'foreigners,' that is, the non-English immigrants who arrived in the nineteenth century as cheap labor to fill the factories of an increasingly industrialized America."
Synopsis
The Terrible Old Man is a strange elderlyOld age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
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 an ancient house on Water Street in the town of Kingsport
Kingsport (Lovecraft)
Kingsport is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. The town first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Terrible Old Man"...
. Even among the locals, few know the details of the Old Man's life, but it is believed that he captained East Indian
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
clipper ships in his youth and had accumulated great jewels and riches throughout his life. Those who had visited the property had seen bizarre collections of stones in the front yard and observed the Old Man carrying on conversations with bottles on his table. Most locals take 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". They take little heed of the locals' cautionary whisperings and disregard them completely when they hear that the Old Man possesses a treasure. They act immediately on their avarice according to their natures, and go to the Old Man's house to commit robbery. Ricci and Silva go inside to "interview" the Old Man about the treasure and its hiding place. Czanek waits outside in their vintage car
Vintage car
A vintage car is commonly defined as a car built between the start of 1919 and the end of 1930 known as the "Vintage era". There is little debate about the start date of the vintage period—the end of World War I is a nicely defined marker there—but the end date is a matter of a little...
. Czanek waits impatiently for a long while. After a time, the gate of the house opens, but it is not his accomplices who emerge but the house's inhabitant.
The bodies of the three robbers are later found horribly mutilated down on the beach, "horribly slashed as with many cutlasses, and horribly mangled as by the tread of many cruel boot-heels".
The Terrible Old Man
The Terrible Old Man reappears in the story "The Strange High House in the MistThe Strange High House in the Mist
"The Strange High House in the Mist" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written on November 9, 1926, it was first published in the October 1931 issue of Weird Tales.-Inspiration:An H. P...
" in a more benevolent role.
He has a number of similarities with later characters created by Lovecraft, in particular Joseph Curwen, the villain of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a short novel by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's liftetime...
: Both were improbably old, such that no one remembered when they were young; possessed vaguely defined but powerful abilities oriented around storing the dead in peculiar objects and calling them forth to serve them; had access to ancient coinage of precious metals (as do the Whateleys in The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales . It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusetts...
); and were objects of loathing and fear in their New England towns.