The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest is a Gothic novel written by Karl Friedrich Kahlert under the alias Lawrence Flammenberg and translated by Peter Teuthold that was first published in 1794.
[2] Set in the Black Forest in Germany, the novel consists of a series of lurid tales of hauntings, violence, killings and the supernatural featuring the adventures of Hermann and Helfried and the mysterious wizard Volkert the Necromancer, who has seemingly come back from the dead.
"What might have been an anthology of separate legends and supernatural tales about the Black Forest was hastily amalgamated into a nearly incomprehensible Germanic Gothic meant to allure the [publishing company's] readers.
"[7] Another article says of the novel that "It exposes the arts which have been practiced in a particular part of Germany, for carrying on a series of nocturnal depredations in the neighbourhood, and infusing into the credulous multitude a firm belief in the existence of sorcery.
"[9] In 1944, Michael Sadleir noted that "For magniloquent descriptions of 'horrid' episodes, for sheer stylistic fervour in the handling of the supernatural, the work can rank high among its contemporaries.
"[11] Herman and Hellfried, two former university classmates and friends, reunite on a stormy night after thirty years of separation due to occupations that forced them to travel.
While recounting their past travels, the conversation quickly turns to the supernatural, and the two begin to relate a series of wondrous adventures.
Herrman and the Baron soon discover that the vacant castle in the village is haunted by its former lord, “a very wicked and irreligious man who found great delight in tormenting the poor pesants.”[12] After joining forces with a Danish lieutenant, the group encounters a slew of supernatural and horrific events, culminating in a dark ritual in a dungeon involving an old sorcerer who is revealed as the Necromancer.
This foreign Baron later writes to the officer, accusing him of “infernal torrents by supernatural means,”(70) and hastens his arrival to the town to proceed with the duel.
While traveling, the Lieutenant seeks lodging at a suspicious woodman’s cabin and is ambushed in the night by “three fellows of a gigantic size” (116).
The Necromancer starts to recount all of his deceptions and supposed sorceries, including the story of the fiancé and the village and the duel, which was staged.
He admits his devious machinations shamefully: “[I] suffice to say, that a complete account of my frauds would swell many volumes…I had, for the space of six years, carried on my juggling tricks with so much secrecy, that few of my criminal deeds were known…I always suffered myself to be blinded by the two powerful charms of gold and false ambition” (151).
The narrative then commences with the trial of the bandits, including the testimony of an innkeeper named Wolf who often led the criminals (“the captain of the robbers”) and who made a majority of the deceptions possible (190).
The Necromancer is notable in that it is told by way of multiple nested frame narratives; either verbal or epistolary sequences by characters who tell their own stories to enhance realism.
By the time of the novel's publication these sequences had been absorbed by the Gothic genre and had become signposts for contemporary readers confirming the work as fiction, or at least of suspect origin.
The out-most frame of the story is told by a semi-omniscient narrator, who we learn at the end of book 1 is Hellfried looking back on his visit at Herman's home.