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clark ashton smith by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - December 16, 2000 |
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| Where no terrestrial dreams had trod My vision entered undismayed and Life her hidden realms displayed To me as to a curious god. The Star-Treader -- Clark Ashton Smith. Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) is best known for his prose poetry and horror/fantasy fiction, and often considered as influential as 'Cthulhu Mythos' architect H.P. Lovecraft and 'Conan' creator Robert E. Howard. Smith's writings were published in over fifty magazines including 'Weird Tales', 'Amazing Stories' and 'Wonder Stories'. Self-taught, Smith also experimented with paintings, drawings, and stone sculptures, which were the focus of his creative impulse from the late 1930s until his death. Although Smith wrote many tales in the Cthulhu Mythos genre popularised by Lovecraft, he also created many memorable settings such as the medieval realms of Averoigne and Malnéant, and the dying civilization Zothique. His hyperborean tales extended the Cthulhu Mythos timescape into new environs for the Old Ones, and many of Smith's creations and genre innovations were utilised by Lovecraft himself. Another key difference to Lovecraft was that Smith's tales featured more prominent female characters. His heroes battled both Romantic and Misanthropic impulses, and were more likely to be thieves or rogue magicians than Lovecraft's cosmic-gazing intrepid adventurers. Consumed by an ever-present fear of death, Smith's characters only won their battles against stronger adversities on few occasions. They capture aspects of the human psyche not readily apparent in modern civilization. The allegation that Smith was just an imitation Lovecraft is blatently false. Smith's subjective Vision is the last flowering of a grotesque 'decadent' literary tradition that can be traced via Edgar Allen Poe and Robert W. Chambers to the work of Baudelaire, the Symbolists, Ambrose Bierce, William Blake and Goya. But Smith's writings were unique, tapping into a mythopoeic and atavistic vein to rival exotic Eastern mythology. His stylistic imagery is of fallen civilizations; dying worlds; the resurgence of Black Magic; daimonic intelligences run amok; worlds adrift out of the familiar space-time continuum. Smith evidently knew the writings of Theosophist Helena Blavatsky, but the unqiue psychological atmosphere that pervades his writings was also due to early depression and nervous disorders. Due to the socio-political impact of the Great Depression, Smith's writings are infused with a dark pessimism regarding human nature, organizational structures and ethics that anticipated aspects of the Goth and Industrial subcultures; the 'Dark' magical current; Evolutionary and Paleo-psychology and Apocalyptic strains of religion and politics. Although less famous than Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith has influenced many contemporary horror and fantasy writers, including Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg and Harlan Ellison. Thanks to a small band of enthusiasts, critics and fans, Clark Ashton Smith's legacy has been kept alive for generations to come. |
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Farewell To Eros Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith: The Eldritch Dark A Tribute To Clark Ashton Smith 1893-1961 Clark Ashton Smith Necronomicon Press Monsters From The Id WBYT: Clark Ashton Smith Miskatonic University Arkham House Price Guide Tsathoggua Press Catalogue History Of The Necronomicon A Brief Essay On Literary Satanism A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography A Selected Bibliography Of Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith Ultimate Science Fiction Poetry Guide: Clark Ashton Smith's Poetry Disinformation Dossier On The Cult Of H.P. Lovecraft |
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