Clark Ashton Smith by Steve Behrends

Author:Steve Behrends
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy writers, horror writers, author study, H.P. Lovecraft, lovecraft circle
ISBN: 9781434446718
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2013-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

113. “Where Fantasy Meets Science Fiction” (PD).

114. Letter to Barlow, 16 November 1933.

115. Letter to Lovecraft (#36, LL), ca. early November 1933.

116. “Realism and Fantasy” (PD).

117. Letter to Lovecraft (#14, LL), ca. 21 October 1930.

118. Letter to Derleth, 3 November 1931.

119. “Where Fantasy Meets Science Fiction” (PD).

120. Fantasy and Human Experience” (PD). This belief echoes Lovecraft’s dictum that “the true hero of a marvel tale is not any human being, but simply a set of phenomena” (“Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction”). It is interesting to note that while Lovecraft considered his statement as advancing the cause of realism in literature, Smith’s own statement was a reaction against the realist school. In fact, both men were fundamentally in agree­ment with one another. Both considered the generation of atmos­phere the most important job for a writer of imaginative fiction. For Lovecraft, the height of a weird story came when a single unnatural event was revealed against a meticulously constructed realistic background of people and places. He was interested in an atmos­phere of abnormality, created through contrasts of the prosaic and the impossible; “realism” was crucial in developing the sense of normalcy against which the impossible is portrayed. On the other hand, Smith’s own interests centered on descriptions of the wondrous or unnatural events themselves, on the creation of an atmosphere of awe and mystery. Fritz Leiber has noted this: “[Smith] seldom put realistic details into his stories simply for the sake of making the fantastic events more plausible, though describ­ing such fantastic events with the greatest possible realism” (“Clark Ashton Smith: An Appreciation”, IM).

Smith and Lovecraft disagreed only on the question of em­phasis, on the balance of the mundane and the fantastic in their stories, and both employed detailed, “realistic” descriptions to create atmosphere and mood. But, because the moods they wished to generate were different, Lovecraft chose to emphasize and describe the mundane or realistic aspects of his stories, whereas Smith concentrated on the fantastic.

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