The Rats in the Walls [short fiction]
by H. P. Lovecraft
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When an American man discovers that he's the last descendant of the De la Poer family, he travels to England to take over their crumbling estate. Accompanied only by his cat, the man follows the incessant sound of rats to a dark place beneath the estate, unearthing horrible, dark, gruesome secrets about his ancestors and the type of activities they partook in. Taken by madness, the man falls into a dark pit of despair and commits unthinkable crimes. This jarring story from a renowned writer show more of horror fiction utilizes fear-inducing themes to entice its audience. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I'm a weenie when it comes to scary stories, reliably hearing ominous creaks and other peculiar noises in my quiet house while reading about horrors stalking the unwary, but, not having inherited an ancestral mansion with a shadowed past (and if I did I sure's heck wouldn't excavate the sub-sub-basement!), I found “Rats in the Walls” not scary and... well, campy good fun! Lovecraft's lurid prose and slow reveal of the Ancient and Inescapable Horror (the opening reminded me very much of du Maurier's “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”) makes this a quick and compelling story. On reading
we wonder, “Will our narrator, a hitherto sensible older gentleman, listen to the warnings of 'superstitious caution'?” Not a chance! And thank goodness, because things would go better for him but be pretty dull for us then, wouldn't they? Our non-superstitious narrator comes back with a crack team and opens “the gate to a new pit of nameless fear.” And discoveries ensue! show less
”we paused, in doubt whether to abandon our search and quit the priory forever in superstitious caution, or to gratify our sense ofshow more
adventure and brave whatever horrors might await us in the unknown depths,”
we wonder, “Will our narrator, a hitherto sensible older gentleman, listen to the warnings of 'superstitious caution'?” Not a chance! And thank goodness, because things would go better for him but be pretty dull for us then, wouldn't they? Our non-superstitious narrator comes back with a crack team and opens “the gate to a new pit of nameless fear.” And discoveries ensue! show less
Mad people going mad. Don't run. Because it will do no good. Just let it coat you and pull you down. Relish in the madness.
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1,929+ Works 73,920 Members
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, 1890 - 1937 H. P. Lovecraft was born on August 20, 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft and his father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman for Gorham & Co. Silversmtihs. Lovecraft was reciting poetry at the age of two and when he was three years old, his father show more suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to Butler Hospital. He spent five years there before dying on July 19, 1898 of paresis, a form of neurosyphillis. During those five years, Lovecraft was told that his father was paralyzed and in a coma, which was not the case. His mother, two aunts and grandfather were now bringing up Lovecraft. He suffered from frequent illnesses as a boy, many of which were psychological. He began writing between the ages of six and seven and, at about the age of eight, he discovered science. He began to produce the hectographed journals, "The Scientific Gazette" (1899-1907) and "The Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy" (1903-07). His first appearance in print happened, in 1906, when he wrote a letter on an astronomical matter to The Providence Sunday Journal. A short time later, he began writing a monthly astronomy column for The Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner - a rural paper. He also wrote columns for The Providence Tribune (1906-08), The Providence Evening News (1914-18), The Asheville (N.C.) Gazette-News (1915). In 1904, his grandfather died and the family suffered severe financial difficulties, which forced him and his mother to move out of their Victorian home. Devastated by this, he apparently contemplated suicide. In 1908, before graduating from high school, he suffered a nervous breakdown. He didn't receive a diploma and failed to get into Brown University, both of which caused him great shame. Lovecraft was not heard from for five years, re-emerging because of a letter he wrote in protest to Fred Jackson's love story in The Argosy. His letter was published in 1913 and caused great controversy, which was noted by Edward F. Daas, President of the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA). Daas invited Lovecraft to join the UAPA, which he did in early 1914. He eventually became President and Official Editor of the UAPA and served briefly as President of the rival National Amateur Press Association (NAPA). He published thirteen issues of his own paper, The Conservative (1915-23) and contributed poetry and essays to other journals. He also wrote some fiction which titles include "The Beast in the Cave" (1905), "The Alchemist" (1908), "The Tomb" and "Dagon" (1917). In 1919, Lovecraft's mother was deteriorating, mentally and physically, and was admitted to Butler Hospital. On May 24, 1921, his mother died from a gall bladder operation. While attending an amateur journalism convention in Boston, Lovecraft met his future wife Sonia Haft Greene, a Russian Jew. They were married on March 3, 1924 and Lovecraft moved to her apartment in Brooklyn. Sonia had a shop on Fifth Avenue that went bankrupt. In 1925, Sonia went to Cleveland for a job and Lovecraft moved to a smaller apartment in the Red Hook district of Brooklyn. In 1926, he decided to move back to Providence. Lovecraft had his aunts bar his wife, Sonia, from going to Providence to start a business because he couldn't have the stigma of a tradeswoman wife. They were divorced in 1929. After his return to Providence, he wrote his greatest fiction, which included the titles "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926), "At the Mountains of Madness" (1931), and "The Shadow Out of Time" (1934-35). In 1932, his aunt, Mrs. Clark, died; and he moved in with his other aunt, Mrs. Gamwell, in 1933. Suffering from cancer of the intestine, Lovecraft was admitted to Jane Brown Memorial Hospital and on March 15, 1937 he died. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is contained in
Fantastic Stories Presents: Fantasy Super Pack #1: With linked Table of Contents by Robert E. Howard
The H. P. Lovecraft Collection: Deluxe 6-Book Hardcover Boxed Set (Arcturus Collector's Classics, 3) by H. P. Lovecraft
H.P. Lovecraft - The Complete Fiction Omnibus Collection - Second Edition: The Early Years: 1908-1925 by H. P. Lovecraft
Inspired
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Rats in the Walls; The Rats in the Walls [short fiction]
- Original publication date
- 1924
- People/Characters
- Delapore (narrator); Alfred Delapore; Edward Norrys; William Brinton; Dr. Trask; Thornton (show all 7); Gilbert de la Poer
- Important places
- Exham Priory, England, UK
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Should not be combined with ISBN: 2266150227 due to the inclusion of the audio CD.
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Statistics
- Members
- 73
- Popularity
- 431,425
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- English, French, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 19
- ASINs
- 5
