Re: Have you actually been creeped out by a work of weird fiction? Namely?
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 9 March, 2020 10:32AM
Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dale Nelson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ... some of us would say that myth may be the
> form in which something very real had to present
> itself to our
> > minds; we can "unpack" it in prosaic exposition,
> ...
> >
> > C. S. Lewis: “For me, reason is the natural
> > organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of
> > meaning. ...
> >
>
> I think often the most satisfying fantasy fiction
> is written by authors with deep insight into
> mythological and archetypical energies, and are
> able to intelligently work with precise symbols
> (without being overly explicit) for this that
> strike deeper cords within us. I think Fritz
> Leiber is extremely apt at doing this with his
> rich fantasy details surrounding Fafhrd & the Grey
> Mouser. Representing the implications of a more
> mundane level of existence (as opposed to grand
> events); he appreciates and understands the small
> things in everyday life.
This last observation is very interesting, Knygatin, in that it brings to mind that authors write within a sort of scope. This is to say that with Leiber, in the Mouser stories, for example, the scope is confined to the two main characters and their environment .Much of CAS is also like this, but is somewhat broader, at times.
But Lovecraft is often of a very broad scope; his stories read as if whatever awful thing happens to the narrator, or to the main character, could just as easily happen to all of humanity. His tales convey existential threat for the universe as we know it. Smith's tales are on a much more personal scale.
Something like reading Fail Safe or watching Dr. Strangelove versus reading Candide.
...
HAH! As I edit out an error in punctuation, it comes to me that Lovecraft offers no hope, or destroys it, in his most apocalyptic tales. Basically, it's the logical result if the Mythos held true, and even in his tales like Dreams in The Witch House, he is at best neutral.
This is not the case with much of CAS's best prose work, where, for example, all you have to do is avoid X, and you'll be all right.
Therefore, in Isle of the Torturers, since you'll never be king, no worries. Similarly, if you stay the hell out of musty vaults, as in Weaver in the Vaults, you should be strictly OK.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 9 Mar 20 | 10:47AM by Sawfish.