kojootti Wrote:
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>
> In regards to Dunsany, I think I was a bit hasty
> to call him one of my favorites in the other
> thread, since I'm really only into his "Dreamer's
> Tales", which I feel is his strongest body of
> short fiction, as most of these stories feel less
> like passing dreams and more like deep
> appreciations of both human and inhuman nature.
> For the most part I agree with you about Dunsany's
> fiction resembling, on average, a series of
> passing dreams (though I'm not bothered by that,
> and admire their own cloudy strength), but I think
> he has stories that delve deeper into their
> impressions, some of them glorious and some of
> them haunting. This is all a matter of taste of
> course; I'm not aiming to argue over this because
> people are moved by different things. I just
> wished to express some of what moves me.
>
> I agree that Lovecraft's Dream-Quest is one of his
> least impressive things, and also agree that his
> "Colour Out of Space" is phenomenal for all the
> reasons you mentioned. It's still one of my
> favorite horror stories, and I'll give it another
> read very soon. I think there is much credit to
> some of his Dunsanian things though, like "The
> White-Ship" and "The Strange High-House in the
> Mist." The former probably falls into the "passing
> dreams" category, but Lovecraft expresses those
> dreams with such feverish passion I can never
> forget.
Perhaps I should mention, in fairness to Dunsany, that many years ago I'd spotted a paperback edition of his novel
The Curse of the Wise Woman and bought it, but never felt much appetite for reading it; & then I did read it at last, & found its evocation of the outdoors, at least, pleasing. I think there's a pretty decent chance I'll pick up the Ballantine paperback of
The Charwoman's Shadow again someday and enjoy it; I liked it enough for a couple of readings back in the 1970s.
Thanks for mentioning "The Strange High House in the Mist." For me that's not a compelling one -- but a real fantasy authority, John Rateliff, regards it as HPL's "single best story."
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