Lovecraft's The Picture in the House

Although this is one of Lovecraft's shorter stories, it has a similar impact of his longer works. The story revolves around a genealogist who takes shelter in a seemingly abandoned house to wether out an approaching storm. Inside, he finds a collection of antiques, books and furniture from before the Revolution. While searching through the books, he disturbs an old man who was sleeping upstairs. The pair meet and the old man explains his fascination with the Regnum Congo, a survey of the Congo kingdom from the late 1500s. The old man explains his fascination with the book, especially the pictures. He claims that the book created a craving to attempt similar dark acts from the book, although he's never done so. The old man's lies are revealed when a splatter of crimson lands on the book. The narrator looks up to see a pool of red on the ceiling and realizes he's in a room with a hundred year old cannibal. Before either can act the storm destroys the house and the narrator escapes. 

Like his other works, Lovecraft uses forbidden books as a plug for something darker. I'm unsure if the Rengum Congo contains pictures of human butchers since I've never read it. But like the Necronomicon, it invites the reader to paint the image themselves of what's inside. I've always loved this teasing Lovecraft does with his audience. He gives us enough to make up our own minds about the events without showing the mandate leaves breadcrumbs for us to follow all the way to the witch's house. I recall reading this story when I was a teenager but my mind seems to have changed some details. I thought the narrator escaped before the storm hit. Just a reminder to myself that my memory doesn't always catch all the details. I mistakenly thought the old man had a line like "doesn't the pictures make you want to do them?" 

Like his other works, Lovecraft wastes no time in building up thst feeling of dread in the reader. The old man has a Yankee dialect that was supposedly lost to time. Add this to the pre Revolution furniture and the strange antiques and it makes us feel as we've stepped into something wrong. Something that should have been buried a long time ago. The old man in the house is clearly living beyond his intended years. Even as the danger dawns on the narrator, the storm rips apart the house ending the story. 

Of course, the Rengum Congo's racist implications are prevalent in Lovecraft's story. I question how many readers of the early 1900s knew what the Rengum Congo was or what implications it had for the residents. Maybe it was Lovecraft showing off his reading skills. 

I should note that unlike most of his stories, this one has a quick wrap up that kills the ending. It's obvious what's happened to the victim upstairs and the plans the old man has for the narrator. This quick ending feels like it was added in later. As if Lovecraft didn't know how to end the story. 

Overall, this was more of a trip down memory lane for me. I always go after the short stories first when I read collections. This one, despite it's scope and lack of a good ending, remains in my mind to this day.