The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

By: H. P. Lovecraft

Narrated by: Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot

FNH Audio presents a complete and unabridged audio book of H.P. Lovecraft’s novel "The case of Charles Dexter Ward". Charles is a young man, a young man with a passion, a driving passion, a love of the past. What starts as the curious interest of a young boy, growths up with the youth to become the obsession of the man.

His friends turn their back on him, he becomes reclusive. His few new friends are dark and mysterious, ominous even. And then... Charles starts to change. Follow the exploits of Charles' family as they try to discover the truth about what is happening to their beloved son. Feel their dread and despair as they aided by the family doctor, discover the horrifying truth.

©2011 FNH (P)2011 FNH

Well Done Performance for a Rather Tough Read.

Good story! Lovecraft does, indeed have a very antiquated style writing, even for his own age. Interesting nonetheless. The "Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a fun story and well worth the effort! Enjoy! I have gotten to rather enjoy hear this narrator, Herriot, for most of the Lovecraft stories I listen to. He has a well-suited voice for theses stories!

Classic Novel, Horrible Reader

Would you try another book from H. P. Lovecraft and/or Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot?

From Lovecraft? Absolutely. I am a long-time fan. Read by Herriot? Absolutely not.

What did you like best about this story?

This is one of Lovecraft's strongest novels, with a mounting sense of dread and perpetual mystery that builds to a masterful climax.

Would you be willing to try another one of Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot’s performances?

No. I have listened to two of his performances ("The Case of..." and "At the Mountains of Madness") and the man CONSTANTLY mispronounces words (palimpsest, paroxysm, alembic, Adirondacks, Metatron, and many, many more) and then continues to mangle them throughout the reading. What is more, while his voice is not unpleasant, there is no variation in his tone and no emotion. All characters sound the same, and he sounds like he is simply reading the text without being aware of what is being read. It was alternately infuriating and tedious.

Did The Case of Charles Dexter Ward inspire you to do anything?

As a boy, it inspired me to study antiquities and ancient religious and magical practices in my professional life.

Any additional comments?

Lovecraft forever! Herriot never!

My favorite story by HPL

Fantastic reading of a great novella. The New England accent really brought the reading of this story up a notch.

Great Story Hobbled by Narration

Where does The Case of Charles Dexter Ward rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Frankly, this is not so good as most other Lovecraft offerings.

What other book might you compare The Case of Charles Dexter Ward to and why?

It is fair to compare this with the other works of Lovecraft. As a story, and in the overall context of Lovecraft, this is worthy of attention.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I found the narration throughout more distracting than compelling. Initially, I was surprised to hear a British reader taking on a quintessentially American story. After that, however, I was more surprised at the number of mispronounced words and awkward phrasing. By about the halfway point, I found myself listening for more errors. Definitely not the listening experience I was hoping for.

Any additional comments?

Get the ones read by Wayne June. Terrific narrator.

Dry Scientific Horror

If you could sum up The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in three words, what would they be?

Dry Scientific Horror.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I don't thing there's a favorite character as its written in more of a case study style.

What does Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I Love the Narration of this one. But be warned that he delivers it in a very dry style. It makes me think of a english doctor trying to not get emotional about a case that was strange and personal. He underacts it but to me at least it comes of as dry but not boring it seems more the style that HP wrote it in.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is one of the few books I return to again and again when I'm looking for something else to read. This book really doesn't provoke any type of extreme reaction its not really meant to.

Any additional comments?

There are some other comments on how dry this book is and boring it gets. But I think its charm. Its a tale of the strange that the requires a bit of background knowledge in the mythology that is slightly hidden in the margins. Like many of Lovecrafts stories it tries to take it self seriously and at first the narrator doesn't want to believe that odd things are happening and finds mental safety in trying to be detached and scientific. But slowly things become irrefutably unexplainable and the protagonist must ether except and work with the new rules of the strange world or go mad and let evil in the world run unchecked.

Lovecraft's Best Work

Would you consider the audio edition of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's not a character driven novella. It is an account of events

What three words best describe Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot’s performance?

misspeaking refined snooty

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

This is an amazingly well crafted tale of horror out of time. The typical Lovecraftian use of language accentuates the awful powers unleashed on the world. Despite being only five hours long, you will replay it to tie together all the loose ends you don't realize you didn't connect. Just an amazing story.FNH is a bit of a pratt. He slips in the odd wrong word, or wrong pronunciation (editing anyone). These minor trips of the tongue don't take away from the narration and he has an otherwise good reading voice.Buy this. Despite being 85 years old, this is one creepy tale.

I enjoyed the story and the voice talent

I enjoyed the story and the voice talent. It is a great Lovecraft story. The narration is a solid job of reading the text, nothing more. But, nothing less also.

Lovecraft's best story, but a poor narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Lovecraft's book is not a problem. The plot is unusually creepy and original. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is arguably Lovecraft's best story and the fullest realization of his literary style. Having said that, I must complain that the Herriot narration doesn't do justice to Lovecraft's deliciously macabre language and cadences. Indeed, the dry and awkward narration diminished my enjoyment of the story. (see below)

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lovecraft's gift was for narrative. He was not a 'character' writer. I find no tendency in his work to develop his characters in any sense of the word. He didn't usually employ much in the way of dialogue. When he did, his characters are mainly making speeches without any emotional/dialectical interaction.

Would you be willing to try another one of Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot’s performances?

Frankly, I doubt it. His delivery is virtually expressionless. Some of the appeal of Lovecraft's style depends upon his use of unusual and archaic words, names, spellings and expressions. It would be an understatement to say that Herriot has difficulty pronouncing many of these. I was especially annoyed by his substituting 'antiquitarian' wherever the original text reads 'antiquarian'. The two words aren't precisely equivalent; in any case what call does Herriot have to edit the author's text?

Did The Case of Charles Dexter Ward inspire you to do anything?

Over the years The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has been reprinted in very many editions without much attention to faithful reproduction of the original autograph wording. Minor corruptions have naturally abounded. This problem is not without a remedy. I keep a notebook of my own commentaries and annotations to Lovecraft's stories; particularly this one, which is my favorite. Someday perhaps I'll compose these random notes into a fully annotated critical edition of the work... Or maybe not.

Narrator

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The Narrator can hardly speak. Its almost like he whispers.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot?

Wayne June

Any additional comments?

The narrator ruined the experience.