The Brahmin's Wisdom
Posted by:
casofile (IP Logged)
Date: 25 June, 2004 12:00AM
The story "The Brahmin's Wisdom" was included in UNTOLD TALES of CLARK ASHTON SMITH (Crypt of Cthulhu #27) and a copy is also found among the CAS papers at Brown University, but apparently this tale was NOT written by CAS. I've asked both Steve Behrends and Donald Sidney-Fryer about this, and while they agree the tale is not by Smith, neither one can recall exactly why not. Evidently while the manuscript is unsigned, there are sufficient differences between it and the authentic CAS papers to rule out CAS as the author. After re-reading the story (it can be found on site among the writings/short stories) I agree that it does not read much like Smith, although the title, theme, and ironic content do seem much like CAS.
The question is: If not CAS, then who wrote this tale? Was it Donald Wandrei, E. Hoffmann Price, or another of Smith's literary friends? Or was it something that some unknown friend or fan sent CAS to evaluate? I'd be curious to learn what others think of the story, so have a read and let us know what you think. (It's quite short)
I hope to get a copy of the manuscript at some point and see what the actual evidence is, but in the meanwhile perhaps Boyd could add a note to this tale mentioning that the authorship is in doubt.
-Ron