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''The Case of Charles Dexter Ward'' is a short epistolary novel (51,500 words) by H. P. Lovecraft, written in early 1927, but not published during the author's lifetime. Set in Lovecraft's hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, it was first published (in abridged form) in the May and July issues of ''Weird Tales'' in 1941; the first complete publication was in Arkham House's ''Beyond the Wall of Sleep'' collection (1943). It is included in the Library of America volume of Lovecraft's work. The novel, set in 1918, describes how Charles Dexter Ward becomes obsessed with his distant ancestor, Joseph Curwen, an alleged wizard with unsavory habits. Ward physically resembles Curwen, and attempts to duplicate his ancestor's Qabalistic and alchemical feats. He eventually uses this knowledge to physically resurrect Curwen. Ward's doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willett, investigates Ward's activities and is horrified by what he finds. ==Inspiration== In August 1925, Lovecraft's Aunt Lillian sent him an anecdote about the house at 140 Prospect Street in Providence. Lovecraft wrote back, "So the Halsey house is haunted! Ugh! That's where Wild Tom Halsey kept live terrapins in the cellar--maybe it's their ghosts. Anyway, it's a magnificent old mansion, & a credit to a magnificent old town!"〔H. P. Lovecraft, letter to Lillian D. Clark, August 24, 1925; cited in S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, "Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The", ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia'', p. 33.〕 Lovecraft would make this house—renumbered as 100 Prospect—the basis for the Ward house. The following month, September 1925, Lovecraft read ''Providence in Colonial Times'', by Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, a 1912 history that provided him the anecdotes about John Merritt and Dr. Checkley that he incorporated into his novel.〔Joshi and Schultz, p. 33.〕 A possible literary model is Walter de la Mare's novel ''The Return'' (1910), which Lovecraft read in mid-1926. He describes it in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" as a tale in which "We see the soul of a dead man reach out of its grave of two centuries and fasten itself on the flesh of the living."〔Cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 33.〕 The theme of a descendant who closely resembles a distant ancestor may come from Nathaniel Hawthorne's ''The House of the Seven Gables'', which Lovecraft called "New England's greatest contribution to weird literature" in "Supernatural Horror in Literature".〔Joshi and Schultz, p. 107.〕 Another proposed literary source is M. R. James' short story "Count Magnus", also praised in "Supernatural Horror in Literature", which suggests the resurrection of a sinister 17th century figure.〔Richard Ward, "In Search of the Dread Ancestor", ''Lovecraft Studies'' No. 36 (Spring 1997); cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 131.〕 The germ of inspiration came from Lovecraft reading Cotton Mather and running across a quote from Borellus. Borellus is Petrus Borellus aka Dr Pierre Borel, a well-known French doctor and alchemist. The quote refers to old experiments of the alchemists in creating life/rebirth from death using essential salts. The entire quote is as follows: "The essential Saltes of Animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious Man may have the whole Ark of Noah in his own Studie, and raise the fine Shape of an Animal out of its Ashes at his Pleasure; and by the lyke Method from the essential Saltes of humane Dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal Necromancy, call up the Shape of any dead Ancestour from the Dust whereinto his Bodie has been incinerated."〔Mather, Cotton. (Scanned page on archive.org ), ''Magnalia Christi Americana'', retrieved 2014-07-12.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Case of Charles Dexter Ward」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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