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El otro hombre
John Ozias Talbot, un niño delicado, introvertido y pudoroso, creció atormentado por James Oliphant Tunstall, un compañero de escuela fanfarrón y manipulador. Diez años después, Talbot ha heredado el negocio de antigüedades de su padre en un pequeño pueblo costero de Inglaterra, es un novelista de escaso éxito, se ha casado y espera su primer hijo. Pero su vida segura y rutinaria empieza a sufrir un cambio cuando Tunstall reaparece en su vida de forma inesperada: convertido en pintor de éxito, regresa para instalarse en su pueblo natal y vuelve a comenzar su incesante e insidiosa persecución de su antigua víctima de la infancia. Todo parece repetirse hasta que un acontecimiento fatal hace que cambien las tornas. Esta novela de terror psicológico explora la mente de la víctima y del asesino que conviven dentro del mismo cuerpo.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1942
9 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Walpole
407 books85 followersSir Hugh Seymour Walpole was an English novelist. A prolific writer, he published thirty-six novels, five volumes of short stories, two plays and three volumes of memoirs. His skill at scene-setting, his vivid plots, his high profile as a lecturer and his driving ambition brought him a large readership in the United Kingdom and North America. A best-selling author in the 1920s and 1930s, his works have been neglected since his death.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 30, 2024
Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of my all-time favorite works of literature, and so when I learned that Hugh Walpole, one of my favorite writers, made a 20th Century version of it, I was excited to try it. Does this book honor the legacy of the original, while being creative enough to be its own thing?
I would say "yes," but it certainly doesn't earn classic status, nor does it rank as one of Walpole's finest. But it actually was quite good.
Let's get the negatives out of the way. The first half is almost unbearable. The novel is told from the point of view of a man who is writing his justification for a murder he committed, so that people won't judge him as criminally insane. Well, you know immediately that this is an unreliable narrator. He weaves this long and depressing story, starting from childhood, about how he is an introvert that has been picked on his whole life. This is clearly a semi-autobiography on the part of Walpole, and I'm sure it was cathartic for him, but--oh my--it is tedious for the reader! The main character is such an awkward milquetoast that he literally screws up any potential for decent social interaction or friendship. It's cringe-inducing and painful to read about for page after page.
I found myself bored to tears, and almost did not finish. In the introductory remarks by John Howard, the length of the novel is noted as being brief. The Valancourt edition is 189 pages, so I'd count that as brief. But it sure seemed that each page crammed in an awful lot of text. I was shocked to discover that, after only 40 pages into the story, I felt like I had already read an entire novel! And it seemed that no matter how long I kept reading, I wasn't making any progress. I began to ask myself, "Just how long is this thing, REALLY?!" Perhaps that was a testament to how little I was enjoying this book. I've never experienced this with a Walpole story before.
But once you reach the halfway mark, things pick up. I don't want to reveal exactly what happens, but let's just say it's a solid premise that would make a great episode of the Twilight Zone.
I can tell you what this book is about via a personal allegory. I had a friend in New Orleans who was a lot like me in every way, but he embodied the more bold, reckless, bacchanal, and adventurous side of my personality. Sometimes he could aggravate me, or even frighten me, but it was always because I saw those impulses in myself. I would tease him that he was the devil on my shoulder. Conversely, I think he saw some of my more timid features to be a bit of an annoyance. I certainly was no saint, nor have I ever been an introvert, but he almost felt it was his duty to encourage me to take more chances and be spontaneous. Most interesting of all, whenever I did some wild and crazy things of my own accord, his shock (and perhaps a little disappointment) was palpable. I think that's because he respected my grounding influence, and even relied on it. Our other friends would joke that he was the one who wanted us to fly to the sun, and I was the one who made sure our wings didn't melt off from the heat. In short, the best of both our personalities could certainly compliment each other. And after I moved to the Midwest and didn't see him nearly as much, I felt his influence more strongly, perhaps too strongly at times, an influence that could be destructive, but in the right doses could be healthy and liberating for myself and even others, an influence that encourages one to turn off the television and crank up the music, to let loose at a party, to be the first to rip your shirt off and dive in the river on a float trip, to be confident at work and in the bedroom, to be friendly to people you don't know.
Well, this very idea is explored in this book. It's an interesting psychological study of what attracts us to friends and lovers, of the mental phenomena of repression and splitting, of the struggle between superego and id. Overall, "The Killer and the Slain" is a clever reimagining of the Jekyll and Hyde motif in a post-freudian age.
Perhaps what makes the whole product so uneven was because of Walpole's state of mind when he wrote this. He had been deeply impacted by World War I, and he communicated that impact brilliantly in his earlier novels. I think he was so shocked and disillusioned that we were heading into a second great war that he went into a serious depression while writing this book. Also, as John Howard hints in his introduction, Walpole had been hungry for a best friend, and was at a time in his life where he felt that such a close bond was never going to be in the cards. So this novel is a cynical lament on relationships and human nature. Therefore, it feels less mature and more nihilistic than you'd expect from such a seasoned author. His language even lacks his usual poetic style and vivid imagery, at times feeling very pedestrian and dull. If you read this side-by-side with his books from twenty years prior, it can be shocking how regressive it is, as though it had been a self-published debut novel from an angry teenage emo, albeit one with considerable talent and potential for understanding the human condition.
Ironically, this is one of his better known works, so it is unfortunate that this novel isn't one of Walpole's most beloved--because this was his last, released posthumously after the author died of heart failure and complications of diabetes.
So, if you found my review because this is the only Walpole novel you've come across, please do not let me put you off this writer! In the end, lovers of supernatural horror fiction will likely enjoy this tale--IF they can make it through the first half. But it sure as hell wouldn't be my recommendation to start your Walpole journey here.
SCORE: 2.5, rounded to 3 Jekylls out of 5
I would say "yes," but it certainly doesn't earn classic status, nor does it rank as one of Walpole's finest. But it actually was quite good.
Let's get the negatives out of the way. The first half is almost unbearable. The novel is told from the point of view of a man who is writing his justification for a murder he committed, so that people won't judge him as criminally insane. Well, you know immediately that this is an unreliable narrator. He weaves this long and depressing story, starting from childhood, about how he is an introvert that has been picked on his whole life. This is clearly a semi-autobiography on the part of Walpole, and I'm sure it was cathartic for him, but--oh my--it is tedious for the reader! The main character is such an awkward milquetoast that he literally screws up any potential for decent social interaction or friendship. It's cringe-inducing and painful to read about for page after page.
I found myself bored to tears, and almost did not finish. In the introductory remarks by John Howard, the length of the novel is noted as being brief. The Valancourt edition is 189 pages, so I'd count that as brief. But it sure seemed that each page crammed in an awful lot of text. I was shocked to discover that, after only 40 pages into the story, I felt like I had already read an entire novel! And it seemed that no matter how long I kept reading, I wasn't making any progress. I began to ask myself, "Just how long is this thing, REALLY?!" Perhaps that was a testament to how little I was enjoying this book. I've never experienced this with a Walpole story before.
But once you reach the halfway mark, things pick up. I don't want to reveal exactly what happens, but let's just say it's a solid premise that would make a great episode of the Twilight Zone.
I can tell you what this book is about via a personal allegory. I had a friend in New Orleans who was a lot like me in every way, but he embodied the more bold, reckless, bacchanal, and adventurous side of my personality. Sometimes he could aggravate me, or even frighten me, but it was always because I saw those impulses in myself. I would tease him that he was the devil on my shoulder. Conversely, I think he saw some of my more timid features to be a bit of an annoyance. I certainly was no saint, nor have I ever been an introvert, but he almost felt it was his duty to encourage me to take more chances and be spontaneous. Most interesting of all, whenever I did some wild and crazy things of my own accord, his shock (and perhaps a little disappointment) was palpable. I think that's because he respected my grounding influence, and even relied on it. Our other friends would joke that he was the one who wanted us to fly to the sun, and I was the one who made sure our wings didn't melt off from the heat. In short, the best of both our personalities could certainly compliment each other. And after I moved to the Midwest and didn't see him nearly as much, I felt his influence more strongly, perhaps too strongly at times, an influence that could be destructive, but in the right doses could be healthy and liberating for myself and even others, an influence that encourages one to turn off the television and crank up the music, to let loose at a party, to be the first to rip your shirt off and dive in the river on a float trip, to be confident at work and in the bedroom, to be friendly to people you don't know.
Well, this very idea is explored in this book. It's an interesting psychological study of what attracts us to friends and lovers, of the mental phenomena of repression and splitting, of the struggle between superego and id. Overall, "The Killer and the Slain" is a clever reimagining of the Jekyll and Hyde motif in a post-freudian age.
Perhaps what makes the whole product so uneven was because of Walpole's state of mind when he wrote this. He had been deeply impacted by World War I, and he communicated that impact brilliantly in his earlier novels. I think he was so shocked and disillusioned that we were heading into a second great war that he went into a serious depression while writing this book. Also, as John Howard hints in his introduction, Walpole had been hungry for a best friend, and was at a time in his life where he felt that such a close bond was never going to be in the cards. So this novel is a cynical lament on relationships and human nature. Therefore, it feels less mature and more nihilistic than you'd expect from such a seasoned author. His language even lacks his usual poetic style and vivid imagery, at times feeling very pedestrian and dull. If you read this side-by-side with his books from twenty years prior, it can be shocking how regressive it is, as though it had been a self-published debut novel from an angry teenage emo, albeit one with considerable talent and potential for understanding the human condition.
Ironically, this is one of his better known works, so it is unfortunate that this novel isn't one of Walpole's most beloved--because this was his last, released posthumously after the author died of heart failure and complications of diabetes.
So, if you found my review because this is the only Walpole novel you've come across, please do not let me put you off this writer! In the end, lovers of supernatural horror fiction will likely enjoy this tale--IF they can make it through the first half. But it sure as hell wouldn't be my recommendation to start your Walpole journey here.
SCORE: 2.5, rounded to 3 Jekylls out of 5
August 17, 2020
Accountably neglected…
John Talbot always hated Jimmie Tunstall from the time they were boys at school and extrovert Jimmie would torment the introverted John. Now, years later, Talbot writes down the story of their relationship to prove, so he tells us, that he is not mad. Of course, whenever a narrator tells you he’s not mad, then you kinda know he is. After several years of absence, Tunstall returns to the town where Talbot still lives, now with a wife he adores but who doesn’t love him, and a young son who’s not fond of him either. They both quite like Tunstall though. Unable to put up with Tunstall’s overbearing personality any longer, Talbot murders him. But soon he begins to feel that Tunstall is still around – is, in fact, in some way controlling Talbot’s behaviour, making him do things he would never have dreamed of – bad things! Guilt? Madness? Or is something supernatural going on…?
I don’t know. I got bored with being bored halfway through and decided I didn’t care. I often wonder why already successful authors sometimes decide to rip off a great classic and then do it so badly. It must be the ultimate in hubris. "Aha!" I imagine Walpole thinking to himself one day, "I know what I’ll do! I’ll take the basic premise of Jekyll and Hyde, tell it sort of from the perspective of Hyde, fill it with lots of sex and endless, repetitive and exceptionally dull padding, and everyone will see what a great and original talent I am!" Poor Walpole, with your 27 ratings on Goodreads – looks like the reading public felt that the greatness and originality all belonged to Robert Louis Stevenson (373,463 ratings).
Martin Edwards must see something in this that I missed, since he included it in his The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Novels. As well as mentioning Jekyll and Hyde, he also says it’s reminiscent of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and yes, there is a similarity, but again, that was original and great, whereas this is a rip-off and dull. Edwards says it’s “unaccountably neglected” – I would argue that it’s accountably neglected, very accountably…
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John Talbot always hated Jimmie Tunstall from the time they were boys at school and extrovert Jimmie would torment the introverted John. Now, years later, Talbot writes down the story of their relationship to prove, so he tells us, that he is not mad. Of course, whenever a narrator tells you he’s not mad, then you kinda know he is. After several years of absence, Tunstall returns to the town where Talbot still lives, now with a wife he adores but who doesn’t love him, and a young son who’s not fond of him either. They both quite like Tunstall though. Unable to put up with Tunstall’s overbearing personality any longer, Talbot murders him. But soon he begins to feel that Tunstall is still around – is, in fact, in some way controlling Talbot’s behaviour, making him do things he would never have dreamed of – bad things! Guilt? Madness? Or is something supernatural going on…?
I don’t know. I got bored with being bored halfway through and decided I didn’t care. I often wonder why already successful authors sometimes decide to rip off a great classic and then do it so badly. It must be the ultimate in hubris. "Aha!" I imagine Walpole thinking to himself one day, "I know what I’ll do! I’ll take the basic premise of Jekyll and Hyde, tell it sort of from the perspective of Hyde, fill it with lots of sex and endless, repetitive and exceptionally dull padding, and everyone will see what a great and original talent I am!" Poor Walpole, with your 27 ratings on Goodreads – looks like the reading public felt that the greatness and originality all belonged to Robert Louis Stevenson (373,463 ratings).
Martin Edwards must see something in this that I missed, since he included it in his The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Novels. As well as mentioning Jekyll and Hyde, he also says it’s reminiscent of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and yes, there is a similarity, but again, that was original and great, whereas this is a rip-off and dull. Edwards says it’s “unaccountably neglected” – I would argue that it’s accountably neglected, very accountably…
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Want to read
June 5, 2025Synopsis: when they were kids, John tormented Jimmie incessantly. They lose track of each other, but it starts again as adults. And then murder.
January 26, 2018
Walpole uses a Dr-Jekyll-&-Mr-Hyde-meets-The-Picture-of-Dorian-Gray conceit to tell the story of a weak man’s slow descent into murderous madness. Queerly suggestive at times, but hardly a gay or homoerotic read. Walpole dedicates the novel to the memory of Henry James, but this is far removed from the excellence of the Turn of the Screw. Not exactly boring, but the premise, albeit good, is far too long-drawn and the whole thing ends up being none too gripping - I found myself constantly seeking excuses to take breaks from the reading. You wish you could be taken to the resolution in half the pages.
September 14, 2022
Hugh Walpole (1884-1941), fue un novelista inglés de gran éxito en vida y que nos ha dejado múltiples trabajos de gran nivel. Desde mi punto de vista, destacan sus cuentos y novelas con un toque de thriller siniestro y psicológicamente complejos, como los contenidos en "La noche de todos los santos" y la novela "En la plaza oscura".
"El otro hombre" comienza con una historia relativamente clásica de un personaje atormentado en su infancia por un matón que le hacía la vida imposible, pero de un modo ambiguo y retorcido, forzando una relación que ni se buscaba ni se quería.
El reencuentro en la edad adulta de ambos personajes, residiendo en una pequeña localidad de la Inglaterra rural, reabre unas heridas que nunca se han cerrado, ni se cerrarán, sobre todo porque el niño matón del pasado, es ahora un pintor de éxito, rodeado de la aureola del mundo artístico. Hasta la esposa del protagonista se siente más atraida por el recién llegado que por su marido.
La tensión y ansiedad psicológica se palpan en el aire, y el asesinato es la consecuencia inevitable. Pero esto no es un spoiler, puesto que el verdadero nudo de la novela viene después, con un sorprendente cambio mental e incluso físico del asesino.
Dejo aquí el resumen, para permitir al lector sorprenderse u horrorizarse a su elección.
"El otro hombre" comienza con una historia relativamente clásica de un personaje atormentado en su infancia por un matón que le hacía la vida imposible, pero de un modo ambiguo y retorcido, forzando una relación que ni se buscaba ni se quería.
El reencuentro en la edad adulta de ambos personajes, residiendo en una pequeña localidad de la Inglaterra rural, reabre unas heridas que nunca se han cerrado, ni se cerrarán, sobre todo porque el niño matón del pasado, es ahora un pintor de éxito, rodeado de la aureola del mundo artístico. Hasta la esposa del protagonista se siente más atraida por el recién llegado que por su marido.
La tensión y ansiedad psicológica se palpan en el aire, y el asesinato es la consecuencia inevitable. Pero esto no es un spoiler, puesto que el verdadero nudo de la novela viene después, con un sorprendente cambio mental e incluso físico del asesino.
Dejo aquí el resumen, para permitir al lector sorprenderse u horrorizarse a su elección.
November 20, 2023
A superposition of a 4-star book and a 2-star one. The early part is intriguing because of the strange bond between John and Jimmy dating back to their school days. What motivates Jimmy, in particular, that he seems almost obsessed with John? There are hints of homoeroticism, envy, an internal struggle about how to deal with finer emotions. I was reminded of all the Edwardian big game hunters whose response to the profusion of wildlife in Africa was to shoot at it.
We lose much hope of exploring Jimmy's motivations when he dies about a third of the way through. The narrative then focusses on John's obsession with Jimmy. As a psychological study this could have been a lot better without the (too many) suggestions that there's something supernatural going on. That just turns it into schlock. Squint and you can still just about see it all as in the narrator's mind, in which case it's better, but you'll get the sense then of fighting against what the author is trying to do.
Walpole did a much better study of love-hate in Mr Perrin & Mr Traill, so I wonder why he made the decision to make this much later story into an old-fashioned horror/possession narrative. If not for the references to Hitler I'd have had a struggle not visualizing all the characters in Victorian dress.
We lose much hope of exploring Jimmy's motivations when he dies about a third of the way through. The narrative then focusses on John's obsession with Jimmy. As a psychological study this could have been a lot better without the (too many) suggestions that there's something supernatural going on. That just turns it into schlock. Squint and you can still just about see it all as in the narrator's mind, in which case it's better, but you'll get the sense then of fighting against what the author is trying to do.
Walpole did a much better study of love-hate in Mr Perrin & Mr Traill, so I wonder why he made the decision to make this much later story into an old-fashioned horror/possession narrative. If not for the references to Hitler I'd have had a struggle not visualizing all the characters in Victorian dress.
September 8, 2021
The less known about the plot going in, the better, in my opinion. Most of the blurbs give details, which may or may not spoil the reader's enjoyment. I would have preferred to have known less, though, so I'm only going to say that this follows mild-mannered, often bullied, John Talbot as he becomes a different man after an act of violence.
The story is one of Good and Evil, of the crumbling of the barriers that make a human act "decently", of effects that can snowball from the actions of one person. Walpole's posthumously published macabre psychological study is emotional, suspenseful, believable, and sometimes frightening. It's not a story one "enjoys"; it caused me tension, discomfort, and unease -- as was intended. It is excellently written overall, with a most gratifying ending. As an experience of the depths of a lost mind, the Killer and the Slain was exceptional.
I will note that those not believing in an Agent of Evil and a Deity of Good, may not find it as moving or satisfying as I did.
The story is one of Good and Evil, of the crumbling of the barriers that make a human act "decently", of effects that can snowball from the actions of one person. Walpole's posthumously published macabre psychological study is emotional, suspenseful, believable, and sometimes frightening. It's not a story one "enjoys"; it caused me tension, discomfort, and unease -- as was intended. It is excellently written overall, with a most gratifying ending. As an experience of the depths of a lost mind, the Killer and the Slain was exceptional.
I will note that those not believing in an Agent of Evil and a Deity of Good, may not find it as moving or satisfying as I did.
July 14, 2025
I'm not very familiar with Walpole's works (before this I'd only read some short stories of his), but I was involved all the way through, even if I thought the second part was better than the first.
I do have some gripes with the language used. Truth be told, if not for the references to Hitler and the War, I kept thinking this was set in Victorian times and had to remind myself it wasn't. Every character feels very outdated in manner and tone.
I also wished the ending was a little more mysterious than it is. I like that the narrator becomes progressively more unreliable, but I the ending feels hastened. This book is dedicated to Henry James (or, as stated, "the author of The Turn of the Screw"), so I thought this would be a little more psychological than it is. If you're going to reference that particular book, then I would expect some more ambiguity in its proceedings, but that didn't happen here.
Anyways, the book makes for a brief read, but nothing life changing. I think the introduction adds a little more subtext to the story and that made me sympathise with it more.
I do have some gripes with the language used. Truth be told, if not for the references to Hitler and the War, I kept thinking this was set in Victorian times and had to remind myself it wasn't. Every character feels very outdated in manner and tone.
I also wished the ending was a little more mysterious than it is. I like that the narrator becomes progressively more unreliable, but I the ending feels hastened. This book is dedicated to Henry James (or, as stated, "the author of The Turn of the Screw"), so I thought this would be a little more psychological than it is. If you're going to reference that particular book, then I would expect some more ambiguity in its proceedings, but that didn't happen here.
Anyways, the book makes for a brief read, but nothing life changing. I think the introduction adds a little more subtext to the story and that made me sympathise with it more.
November 15, 2024
Most critics compare this to Jekyll and Hyde, but for me, the thinly veiled subtext is really about, what we would call today, internalized homophobia. Knowing something of the author’s life, it’s difficult not to read the narrator as Walpole, struggling to live as a closeted gay man. It’s about the personas that gay men have to take on when it’s not possible to be ourselves and about the damaging mental toll this can take. It is a horror story, but I find the ending profoundly sad rather than frightening.
October 6, 2020
Favorite passage: I believe - and, more than that, I know - that there are powers of evil as well as of good. They fight together eternally and we - all human souls - share in the struggle. Indeed, it is about us that the battle rages. If we are weak and submit we can be possessed with evil. It can enter us and own us just as good can. God has given us complete free will. We are our own masters.
May 2, 2024
Pretty standard doppelganger/identity absorption type story, though the seaside setting, characters, and overt homoeroticism really pushed it from a 3 star read to a 4 star one for me. Also any story that has a Jekyll/Hyde body changing moment or two is always gonna get my heart racing.
September 10, 2021
I've had this book for awhile and am so glad I decided to pick it up to read. What a ride!! Such a trippy psychological horror book!
Read
April 11, 2025Fue lo que buscaba, pero decidí no leerlo completo.
June 10, 2025
Una versión de Jekyll y Mr.Hyde, el personaje principal es odioso todo el libro, pero es interesante ver su evolución desde el punto de vista psicológico.
August 4, 2020
This was a great novel about the dichotomy and struggles of opposite personalities within one person. It get can a bit repetitive and longwinded at the end, but its ending was spectacular and unexpected. The story seems inspired by “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde“, and it even makes reference to it; however, it has an original edge that makes it different, and ultimately, even more interesting. All in all, it was an amazing read.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews