As with all Wheatley's novels, they reflect the social presumptions of the British upper classes in the inter-war years. An older England is reflected here, and it has been described as snobbish, racist and verging on the fascist. (Wheatley was a great admirer of Mussolini and Franco and - right up till the onset of war - of Hitler). Wheatley is also not shy of digressing into pages of political diatribe masquerading as dialogue, about why the Left is not just wrong but evil, ther working classes are too stupid and incapable of education beyond a basic level to lead, and can only follow, and therefore how only benevolent dictatorship can save Britain. Get past this pineapple, however, and this book remains one of the greatest - if flawed - works of horror fiction. Genuinely chilling; Hammer Horror meets Lovecraft.
Literature the Devil Rides Out
As with all Wheatley's novels, they reflect the social presumptions of the British upper classes in the inter-war years. An older England is reflected here, and it has been described as snobbish, racist and verging on the fascist. (Wheatley was a great admirer of Mussolini and Franco and - right up till the onset of war - of Hitler). Wheatley is also not shy of digressing into pages of political diatribe masquerading as dialogue, about why the Left is not just wrong but evil, ther working classes are too stupid and incapable of education beyond a basic level to lead, and can only follow, and therefore how only benevolent dictatorship can save Britain. Get past this pineapple, however, and this book remains one of the greatest - if flawed - works of horror fiction. Genuinely chilling; Hammer Horror meets Lovecraft.