Re: Have you actually been creeped out by a work of weird fiction? Namely?
Posted by:
Kipling (IP Logged)
Date: 13 February, 2022 05:16PM
Sawfish Wrote:
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> ON thinking more about it, I'd say that Smith
> seldom creates a character with whom could--or
> would want to--identify with. This is not because
> they are inadequately developed (some may be, but
> usually the are not cardboard cut-outs or
> stereotypes), but more because they seem to
> function as a narrative POV.
>
> For example, in The Double Shadow, the 1st person
> narrator is penning his final message to the rest
> of the world. He's somewhat typically the acolyte
> one encounter (think Disney's "The Sorcerer's
> Apprentice", but without the playfulness) and
> while he's fairly open with us, he tells us mostly
> about the source of his on-coming and inescapable
> doom.
>
> And most importantly, it is the *concept* of what
> that doom is, and the nature of it's potency that
> makes the story worthwhile, and not any empathy
> for the narrator, or anyone else in the story, in
> my opinion.
To this I would add that the conception of the doom or threat the characters face is more likely to creep the reader out if it is kept offstage and then gradually manifested until it suddenly overtakes them, as in Smith's "The Seed from the Sepulcher". D.K. Broster's "Couching at the Door" is a story that gave me the creeps, but it depends upon strong character development, a sinister "back-story", and ominous dialogue before a powerfully bizarre climax occurs. Actually, I disagree with you about Smith's characters not being easy to identify with, or more precisely, that such identification is only created to facilitate an effective narrative POV. As Kojootti concluded elsewhere in this thread, Smith "offers subtle opportunities for connecting with his characters in one way or another". The two orchid-hunters in "The Seed from the Sepulcher" are a case in point. They are sufficiently contrasted physically and psychologically to draw immediate interest in their predicament. Being sick and lost in the Venezuelan jungle would be sufficient for a lesser writer to feel satisfied with a "stock" characterization. At the time of the Night Shade series, this was Smith's most frequently anthologized story (S.T. Joshi felt that Smith was weak at "pure horror", FWIW). There are one or two points in the plot that are controversial. How does the vampiric plant hypnotize Thone, since he does not have the filthy stuff get all over him like Falmer did, and, is Thone's sickness accidental, or did Falmer cause it in some way so that he could go alone to the shunned ruins and make off with the rumored treasure? Is the ending perfect as is, or merely perfunctory? Finally, which of Smith's several "fantastic plant" tales is the best, or your favorite?
jkh