The year 2020 marks the centennial anniversary of CAS' well-known poem The Hashish-Eater; or, The Apocalypse of Evil. In Donald Sidney-Fryer's CAS bibliography, the poem is dated 2/20/1920, and Joshi and Schultz's notes to the Hippocampus Press edition of The Complete Poetry and Translations assign the same date of completion.

The poem is of course available right here on The Eldritch Dark: [www.eldritchdark.com]

It's not my favorite poem from CAS (I blogged about it last year: [www.desertdweller.net]) but it's nonetheless a significant work from the corpus of a great poet, and worth remembering one hundred years on!

I always found "The Hashish-Eater" just slightly overrated, and I learned from the old posts of Dr. Farmer that CAS himself never considered it his magnum opus. Your interesting review reminded me of moments which made the poem rather sluggish and awkward to trudge through at parts. Even so, I agree it deserves its reputation, with its vast scale and deep appreciation of unrestrained fantasy and cosmic wildness. I can recite a few verses with ease, and gladly remember the crystal reefs, antic dwarves, ten-winged roc, marble apes, and that white eyeless Face that would surely devour Azathoth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 22 Feb 20 | 03:31PM by kojootti.

kojootti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always found "The Hashish-Eater" just slightly
> overrated, and I learned from the old posts of Dr.
> Farmer that CAS himself never considered it his
> magnum opus. Your interesting review reminded me
> of moments which made the poem rather sluggish and
> awkward to trudge through at parts. Even so, I
> agree it deserves its reputation, with its vast
> scale and deep appreciation of unrestrained
> fantasy and cosmic wildness. I can recite a few
> verses with ease, and gladly remember the crystal
> reefs, antic dwarves, ten-winged roc, marble apes,
> and that white eyeless Face that would surely
> devour Azathoth.

The imagery is appropriate to a title that references the Apocalypse.

Me, I *like* reading this kind of stuff; it is hallucinogenic. It's like a drug trip, and should be read with that understanding at the outset.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, my experience with drugs is limited to medication, so maybe I just didn't have the right mindset while reading this. It is amazing how each scene just melts into the very next, as if the nameless narrator is seeing these things by breaking down the very fibers of reality and mixing them into sheer primal chaos.

kojootti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always found "The Hashish-Eater" just slightly
> overrated, and I learned from the old posts of Dr.
> Farmer that CAS himself never considered it his
> magnum opus. Your interesting review reminded me
> of moments which made the poem rather sluggish and
> awkward to trudge through at parts. Even so, I
> agree it deserves its reputation, with its vast
> scale and deep appreciation of unrestrained
> fantasy and cosmic wildness. I can recite a few
> verses with ease, and gladly remember the crystal
> reefs, antic dwarves, ten-winged roc, marble apes,
> and that white eyeless Face that would surely
> devour Azathoth.

kojootti, I think you've really nailed down what is fascinating and simultaneously frustrating about The Hashish-Eater: "its vast scale and deep appreciation of unrestrained fantasy and cosmic wildness" is what makes it such an important work despite the flaws.

It seems as though the poem could benefit from a dramatic reading by a skilled voice actor, perhaps with sound effects and some sort of musical accompanient, along the lines of the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre productions from the HPLHS. Donald Sidney-Fryer has done a full reading of the work, but his stately pacing seems not quite right, given the manic energy that animates The Hashish-Eater.