The Lair of the White Worm

Written and published a year before Bram Stoker died, The Lair of the White Worm (1910) is a horror story with many rapid twists and turns like that of a writhing snake being shot through with charges of electricity. Such is the pace of the narrative, the rate of informative exposition, and progression of action. Whilst easy to read and relatively short in length, this book is one that I really struggled with and honestly found it both boring and hard to comprehend. 

Adam Salton returns from Australia to live with his grand uncle at his Derbyshire estate. Soon after his arrival he meets the Lady Arabella Marsh of Diana’s Grove and Edgar Caswall of Castra Regis both of who’s strange behaviour arouses in him much suspicion. As strange and violent deaths and disappearances start to happen it becomes apparent that the inhabitants of Adam’s neighbourhood, including himself, are threatened by an ancient and mysterious malevolence and Adam determines to rid the area of this threat before those he cares about meet a terrible fate. 

My major problem with this novel was the rapid rate of narration. Everything happens so damned quickly that there is no breathing space provided for the reader to take a step back and actually take in all that is happening. From the first snake incident I found myself completely unable to stay on top of what was going on, and the dense parts of scientific, historical, and geological exposition did nothing to help me in that regard. 

Like Dracula, Stoker loosely based this story on English folklore, primarily a fable from North-East England about a serpentine dragon known as the Lambton Worm and whilst it is primarily a traditional, ‘classic’ tale of good vs. evil, there are a lot of other themes that he explores, which is another front on which I found myself lost and confused. Superstition and folklore is here mingled with geographical history, as well as natural history, and a bit of science. 

I felt that some sort of psychological and instinctual discussion also was taking place, but someone who has read the book and been able to keep track of everything can confirm or refute that if I’m right or wrong. 

Plus there were sometimes parts where a distinct sexist or racist attitude preceded events and this added to the damper that I could feel quickly overspreading this book. 

The quick succession of events and the rapid narrative pace also meant that we weren’t given a lot of time to get to know and form attachments to the characters and, for me, it’s hard to persevere with a book when there is no sort of emotional attachment, good or bad, between me and the characters. 

Negatives aside, Stoker’s imagery, particularly that of the most violent and horrific scenes is very striking and solid, it emblazons gruesome and horrible images into the soft layers of the brain and from there they can never be removed. A woman ripping a mongoose in half, a black man so frightened he turns grey, and then the fountain of blood and gore at the novel’s climax are images that I’ll carry with me for a while. 

Filled with suspense, mystery, drama, violence, action, and romance, The Lair of the White Worm is a book that found too hard to comprehend so I became a dislocated reader. I read the entire book, but because the pace was so fast and there was so much crammed into it, I felt that I couldn’t immerse myself in the world of it because there was just no room. The story itself is an interesting one, to give credit where credit is due, but the rapid narrative pace is what made it a disappointment to my mind.