The Natural Dissolution of Fleeting-Improvised-Men is an utterly terrifying book. While one might expect the prescribed distance of the meta-textual frame, and the faux-academic conceit of an annotated edition to somehow soften the terror of insanity and the disgusting squalor and physical decay described both in Lovecraft’s letter and Blackwell’s notes, the novel’s structure and tone serve only to heighten the terror and disgust.
