“Herbert West–Reanimator” consists of six chapters, beginning with “From the Dark”, which introduces Dr. West through the writings of a medical student at Miskatonic University who becomes fascinated by West’s theories, which postulated that the human body is simply a complex, organic machine which can be “restarted.” The other five chapters are titled “The Plague-Daemon”, “Six Shots by Moonlight”, “The Scream of the Dead”, “The Horror from the Shadows”, and “The Tomb-Legions”. Herbert West is the inventor of a special solution, or “reagent”, that can resurrect the dead. He is portrayed as a brilliant, narcissistic, and intensely driven young man of an amoral nature. His arrogance and lack of respect for life (and death) prove to be his undoing. Most subjects that have undergone the re-animation process turn violent and, after failed attempts to return to their own graves, wreak havoc. Herbert West was ostracized by his fellow medical students because he believed he could overcome death and had only one friend: the unnamed narrator of the story. Critic Bruce Hallenbeck commented that “‘Herbert West: Reanimator’ is not one of Lovecraft’s better tales; it’s over-the-top, clichéd and blatantly racist… What it does possess in abundance is a love of the Gothic horror tale; ultimately, the story is both an homage to and an affectionate parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” The story is the first to mention Lovecraft’s fictional Miskatonic University. It is also one of the first depictions of zombies as scientifically reanimated corpses, with animalistic and uncontrollable temperaments.
First Appearance “Herbert West–Reanimator” in Home Brew vol. 1 #1–6 (Amateur publication, Feb-July 1922)
First Publisher George Julian Houtain
Appearance List Reprints: “Herbert West–Reanimator” in Weird Tales (Mar 1942 – Nov 1943); Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1943) by H. P. Lovecraft — Arkham House collection; Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (1965) by H. P. Lovecraft — Arkham House collection.
Description “Herbert West–Reanimator” consists of six chapters, beginning with “From the Dark”, which introduces Dr. West through the writings of a medical student at Miskatonic University who becomes fascinated by West’s theories, which postulated that the human body is simply a complex, organic machine which can be “restarted.” The other five chapters are titled “The Plague-Daemon”, “Six Shots by Moonlight”, “The Scream of the Dead”, “The Horror from the Shadows”, and “The Tomb-Legions”. Herbert West is the inventor of a special solution, or “reagent”, that can resurrect the dead. He is portrayed as a brilliant, narcissistic, and intensely driven young man of an amoral nature. His arrogance and lack of respect for life (and death) prove to be his undoing. Most subjects that have undergone the re-animation process turn violent and, after failed attempts to return to their own graves, wreak havoc. Herbert West was ostracized by his fellow medical students because he believed he could overcome death and had only one friend: the unnamed narrator of the story. Critic Bruce Hallenbeck commented that “‘Herbert West: Reanimator’ is not one of Lovecraft’s better tales; it’s over-the-top, clichéd and blatantly racist… What it does possess in abundance is a love of the Gothic horror tale; ultimately, the story is both an homage to and an affectionate parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” The story is the first to mention Lovecraft’s fictional Miskatonic University. It is also one of the first depictions of zombies as scientifically reanimated corpses, with animalistic and uncontrollable temperaments.
