Re: Pilgrimage to Auburn
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 14 December, 2018 11:38PM
Pharpetron Wrote:
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> Hey, thanks Sawfish and Dale. I’m glad you both
> approve of the post.
>
> I have not been back east since I was a
> kid/teenager, and then I was only in the big
> cities, so I haven’t really experienced the
> ‘feel’ of the areas HPL wrote about. Indeed,
> on the day I went out to Auburn, it was a very
> nice, cloudless day, not at all creepy. On the
> other hand, it’s not at all hard to picture the
> area smothered in fog with twisty oak trees only
> half peeking through.
>
> Sawfish – Comparing CAS and HPL is cracking open
> a can—nay, a tub—of worms. I largely agree
> with your assessment, though: CAS at his best is
> nigh-unbeatable, but HPL is more consistent.
> Still, there is really only one CAS story that I
> actually consider bad: The Dart of Rasasfa. Not
> sure what happened with that one, but it could be
> the topic of an interesting thread, perhaps.
At some point I would like to engage in a discussion about CAS's stories, and their preceived relative qualities. Me, I've never read the story you mention, so now I'll find it and read it. Too, I am not the sort of person who wants to argue about whether your perceptions or mine are right/wrong. I don't see things like that. I'd merely point to why I think specific stories are good (or not as good), and would be interested in your views, which I'd hold as equally valid.
To give you something to think about until then, I'd put forth all of the Zothique/Hyperborea stories as excellent and written as if CAS was artistically motivated to write them--the muse was upon him. Perhaps my favorite is not associated with those story cycles: it's "The Double Shadow".
On the opposite end of my rankings come the "spaceman" stories, where CAS will have a couple of central characters who engage in labored dialogues that are supposed to sound hard-boiled; they'll then explore Venus, or something like that. To me, these stories he was merely writing to put money in the bank, food on the table.
CS seems aware of eroticism, exoticism, sardonic humor, and basic human motivations, however mundane or even earthy, in ways that Lovercraft seems completely unaware of, or considers unimportant to his narrative goals.
>
> Regarding the pilgrimage I went on, I think I’ve
> made a little mistake regarding the library. I
> assumed the one I visited was the one CAS spent
> much of his time in, devouring books. But it
> appears that is not the case. I’ll have to look
> around and find out where this other library is.
> I’d maybe like to visit that as well.
It may be that it no longer exists.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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