While part III didn’t seem to progress the story or the characters much, this installment into Herbert West finally does.
In his attempt to reanimate a corpse Herbert West concocts a new preservative so that any corpse they procure can be kept fresh. When the narrator is out of town, West gets an exceedingly fresh corpse of a man who was visiting the town, but from St. Luis. West lets the narrator know the corpse will keep until the narrator returns.
When he does they set up the experiment again, and West injects the corpse with the revitalizing potion. When the corpse opens its eyes, the narrator asks it all manner of questions. When the reanimated man finally speaks he says some condemning words, though what they are I’ll leave up to readers to discover.
As a whole, some revelations are certainly presented in this section. It is also devoid of bigoted rhetoric, which is a nice change. I had a friend mention the other day that it’s great to know HPL didn’t get any money from my purchase of this book. His literary contributions notwithstanding, I would be appalled to have validated this man during his lifetime.
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