El misterio del cementerio

by H.P. Lovecraft

Cuento "El misterio del cementerio" (The Mystery of the Grave-Yard).

Genres: Lovecraftian, Horror, Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Fantasy

ebook

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.

Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.

Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

— Wikipedia

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ]

The Mystery of the Grave-Yard is Lovecraft's attempt to write a mystery. It is so ridiculously silly with its short chapters and its all-over-the-place story that it ends up being entertaining.
Fortunately for us Lovecraft had stuck to horror stories.

[Brid Baas]

3 ⭐️

Todo ocurre con demasiada prisa y las ideas de no se llegan a formar del todo.

**Actualización**

Acabo de enterarme que Lovecraft escribió esto a los 8 años 🤡🤡
Si bien me falta información tiene la estructura de las novelas policiacas y me cobra sentido que falte información.
Recordatorio de que necesito leer más sobre el contexto y las circunstancias del autor al momento de escribir. Mi culpa 🙈

[Atlas]

we have to give lovecraft credit for his imagination...I mean he was about 9 years old when he wrote this short story yet you find it detailed bretty good
His parents taught him well I must say :)

[Ujjwal Srivastava]

What on earth was it!!?💀well just a poorly crafted mystery short story. Don't judge the author on the basis of this story tho-

[Liam]

Before continuing with my chronological reading of Lovecraft’s stories, I went right back to this one - from when he was 8 or 9 years old.

The plot and execution are hilarious, as you’d find in most stories created by young children. Lovecraft does have a vocabulary far beyond his years, but I have read more coherent stories from kids this age. Nevertheless, this was enjoyable and I do think some of the humour was intentional!

1.5-2 stars.

[Keith]

“The Mystery of the Grave-Yard” is the third oldest story by H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), written when he was eight years old. It is very weird and difficult to follow, as many stories by kids that age are. Perhaps the strangest part is that the detective character is named King John. He’s a citizen of England, so he’s not an actual monarch. Maybe “King” is his first name and “John” is his family name.

Title: “The Mystery of the Grave-Yard” or “A Dead Man’s Revenge: A Detective Story”
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Year:1898
Genre: Fiction - Short story, horror
Word count: 1,276 words
Date(s) read: February 6, 2022
Reading journal entry # 29 in 2022

Link to the story:
The Mystery of the Grave-Yard

[gabs 🫧]

WOW! For an early work, probably of a child? That's dang good! The plot could have been more explored, but the main theme, the idea, the characters were there. Loved it, just wished it was a bit longer, but, well, what can you do.

[Carolina]

Way to convuloted, found the story complicated and hard to follow, because of the writing and the way things were presented

[Faizan]

hahaha.. it was funny indeed.. dead man plan..

[Blanche_Raldu]

Son 2,5 ⭐️
Un curioso caso de una venganza vecinal.

[Tony Ciak]

Weird, horror, short story by a master,with Great Narration!!

[Stephanie]

Es un buen relato.
Un hombre es enterrado y otro al cumplir su última voluntad, desaparece dentro de la tumba.

[Laura]

The Mystery of the Grave-Yard is another story that is simply too short to leave much of an impression. Before the mystery has a chance to develop or build any real suspense, the story is already over.

More than anything, this feels exactly like what it is: a story written by an eight-year-old. The plot races from one event to the next with little explanation, characters appear and disappear almost at random, and the resolution arrives so quickly that there is barely any time to process what happened. While there are glimpses of Lovecraft's early fascination with mysterious settings and Gothic imagery, they never have the opportunity to grow into a satisfying narrative.

As a piece of literary history, it's mildly interesting to see how one of horror's greatest writers began. As an actual story, however, there's very little to recommend beyond that curiosity. Reading it feels less like solving a mystery and more like trying to keep up with an eight-year-old excitedly explaining the plot of the movie they watched last weekend.

Official verdict: 1 star (2/10). An understandable juvenile effort that clearly shows Lovecraft was only eight years old when he wrote it, but not a story that stands on its own merits.

[Oleksandr Fediienko]

Джозеф Бернз заповідав після своєї смерті зайти в його склеп і покласти там золоту кулю на позначене місце. Пастор Добсон так і робить, але зі склепу він не повертається - він просто зникає. До панни Добсон приходить загадковий пан Белл, який обіцяє за 10 тисяч доларів сказати, де перебуває її батько. Вона телефонує в поліцію і, хоч пан Белл намагається втекти, але його ловлять. Під час суду в залу входить пастор Добсон. Виявляється, його тримали в потаємній кімнаті в склепі.

[Josh Angel]

Well I was working on a chronological read-thru of HP Lovecraft and this story cured me of that idea. Holy crap, his early writings are really bad. Like, it reminds me of the stories I wrote in elementary school. Seriously, this reads like it was written by a grade-schooler, and a not very talented one at that.

I've decided I'll be jumping around and reading his later works where he has (hopefully) improved his craft, as well as focusing exclusively on his Cthulhu mythos stories.

[Sean Harding]

The Clovecraft-afloat (another new name) sails on with story number three.
This was apparently written when he was nine years old, and that is clearly seen.
He had some sort of obsession with secret caves and passages and the like, but maybe that is his age.
The plot os a bit all over the place and the chapters are very short.
Ha! Maybe it is really a James Patterson book?

[AsimovsZeroth]

I've been reading Lovecraft's works chronologically. I had no idea that this meant I'd be starting with shorts he wrote as a child, but honestly, kinda impressive how much Lovecraft improved in such a short time. It's still clearly a story written by a child. It's all over the place really, but the development is fun to see.

[Daniel Peralta]

ESP: El cuento me provoca flojera al momento de escribir una reseña sobre él, espero que esto sirva para hacer comprender a los lectores con qué se encontrarán.

ENG: The story makes me feel lazy when it comes to writing a review about it; I hope this helps readers understand what they'll encounter.

[Rachael]

The plot progression was horribly scattered and I couldn't render any theme or message, unlike his previous two works (which I found quite enjoyable). Keep in mind, though, he was only 9 when he wrote this.

[Esteban Martos]

Es el tercer cuento de Lovecraft, ahora lo podemos observar en su incursión a la novela policíaca con su velo de misterio, el detective para resolver un caso en un poblado pequeño; si realmente Lovecraft escribio este cuento siendo un niño de 8 años me parece impresionante.

[Natalia]

El cuento en sí no es bueno pero para haberlo escrito un niño de 8 años está muy bien. La edición que leí es de un libro con varios cuentos de Lovecraft y es interesante ver cómo fue definiendo sus temáticas y mejorando su estilo

[Carlos Cash]

“Lo que creí que era macabro, vergonzoso y atroz en realidad es maravilloso, iluminador y hasta “glorioso”. Mi juicio previo no fue más que una fase de la eterna tendencia humana a odiar, temer y aniquilar lo que sea “completamente distinto”.

H.P Lovecraft - El que susurra en la obscuridad

[Hernan J Amaiz]

Al momento de que esta historia fue creada, lovecraft tendría entre 7 y 8 años. La estructura, giros y conflictos que busca plantear son asombrosos si mantenemos presente su edad al escribirlo.

Más que terror, esto es una novela policiaca, se ve que aún no tenía definido su estilo.

[Boston Jeffs]

This book is still a good little short story, but it is more of a comedic mystery story rather than his usual cosmic horror stories. I do like how it was just a good story for a short little read and it has a good plot to it and good characters.

[Thor The Redbeard]

5/10

[Jordi]

1,5/5
Es lo más interesante que tiene de pequeño, al menos en esta se esfuerza por intentar crear un misterio. Los resultados no son los mejores, pero vamos mejorando.

[Artem Denysenko]

A total mess, cannot recommend anyone

[C.nick]

It's amusing (not meant to be), and has to be read with the fact he was eight or nine at the time of writing in mind. It's not good, but I've read worse from people who were older.

[May_njah]

I didn't enjoy this short story... the worst that I have read of Lovecraft.
At least is really short.

[FameL]

Dizzy writing from 9 years old Lovecraft. I get it, he was a kid when was writing this story. But it doesn’t save the book from complete incompetence.