E. B. Hudspeth
Autor von The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black
Werke von E. B. Hudspeth
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- Hudspeth, E. B.
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- 20th century
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- male
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- USA
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?? have butchered many men. All are innocent and equaled when they are on the table. All are exquisite and grotesque."
Thus writes the passionate, deeply troubled and fanatical subject of The Resurrectionist - a man who lives up to such a title in every way, and is now ironically on display himself, the available fragments of who he is served up to the reader for dissection and analysis. And the story that unfolds is morbid yet fascinating. Dr. Spencer Black is the product of a time where medical knowledge was still in its youth, death had lost its sacredness and disabilities were popular shock-value entertainment. On the one hand, it might be said that these various influences combined to make him who he was; but on the other, how much was he predisposed to follow in his father's footsteps, the latter also being a resurrectionist with no thought of how his youngest child might be affected by nightly grave robberies? It's a nature-vs-nurture question that also comes up in Black's quest to prove the existence of mythical creatures, going so far as to construct them from human and animal components in a manner reminiscent of Frankenstein. And in doing so, he neglects to answer other important questions: Does the end justify the means? Do we have the right to manipulate nature and introduce things that don't exist? Where should the lines be drawn when your studies and/or experiments involve living creatures?
Unfortunately, though this is a work of fiction, these questions still remain highly relevant today. The history of ethics violations is almost as long as the history of science itself. And given the popularity of grave-robbing, "freak shows" and cabinets of curiosities in the 1800s, it's chilling yet not surprising to consider that someone like Spencer Black might actually have existed. I was thus impressed with the way this book was written - half a biography and half a codex of Black's "specimens" - because in my opinion no other format could have driven home how real this type of mindset was in our recent history.
Full disclosure, I normally avoid anything resembling a biography, but this one gives you the impression of piecing together a mysterious person's life from a variety of sources - and I love that amateur detective feeling that comes with it. A novel would have perhaps taken the vein of Frankenstein, with more insight into each of the characters, but I would have read it with the underlying knowledge that it was fiction, and perhaps wouldn't have sought out as much of the historical background it's based on. Also, the drawings of mythical animals in the Codex are done with such attention to detail, both aesthetic and biological, that I was struck by the author/artist's skill.
The only thing I wanted more of (despite it being a deliberate and necessary choice for the story) was more clues to the fates of Bernard, Elise and Alphonse, Spencer being a bit low on the list. And, perhaps, whether any of Black's "creations" managed to survive and make their own way in the world. Lots of unanswered questions, in keeping with any true historical personage you try to research, but I really hope there will be more to come in this creepy little slice of the late 1800s / early 1900s. A good reminder that even though every generation thinks they've reached the pinnacle of civilization, we are usually farther from that point than we think we are, and perhaps we're doomed never to reach it.
Some other quotes that struck me:
"It's clear throughout Black's writings that he thought of death as an abstract concept; he often calls death 'the phenomenon of the living' and even regarded the passing of his own father as more of a curiosity than a tragedy."
"He leapt into my father's grave with all his heart, chasing after death to seek out its hiding place."
"When one dies they neither ascend to the heavens nor descend to hell, they instead become cured - freed from an illness and healed from the suffering of mortality. Our consciousness, our awareness, is a symptom of our body and it is secondary to the mystery of our physical chemistry."
?? must know why five fingers are intended before I can discover the cause of six.??br/>
??ur consciousness, our awareness, is a symptom of our body and it is secondary to the mystery of our physical chemistry.??br/>
"Such evanescence; to emerge from the ground after such a long time and then transform, gaining wings. They are born once again from the womb of their own body, which is abandoned as an empty shell, and then they leave the world... After such a long time in darkness, we can live for only a short while."… (mehr)