Quote:Sawfish
I'm going to pass the link to my wife and daughter. My daughter, especially, really likes this sort of stuff.
Thanks, Hespire!
I thought you and your family might find it interesting. Have fun! Using the "random yokai" option, I discovered several things even I never knew, like a shadowy black monk that crawls into your home to steal your breath in your sleep, and a large crustacean with an ape's face that only leaves the ocean at night, and the various histories of foxes that disguise themselves as humans!
Quote:charaina
Are there a lot of references to things like monsters, weird dreams, etc. and the like in Lovecraft’s letters with folks like CAS, Wandrei, etc.?
Plenty. That "behemothian Sending" I quoted is perhaps the most impressive, with its mention of Indonesian, Inuit, and English monsters. Lovecraft and his friends had a lot of enthusiasm for myths and folk beliefs, and often referenced them casually in their letters. I recall HPL and CAS mentioning Persian mythical traditions (such as Rustam, Simorgh, the Shahnameh, etc.) in relation to their orientalist friend Hoffmann Price. And in one letter exchange HPL and Robert Barlow discussed the linguistic and cultural history of Satyrs. Robert E. Howard shared quite a few things with HPL out of Voodoo folklore and Texan ghost stories, some of which would later be integrated into his horror and adventure stories. And of course HPL and CAS got a kick out of referencing their own alien mythologies.
Quote:Dale Nelson
Would anyone (other than me) like to tell about how you became interested in folktales, what you've read and the books you've collected and so on?
An excellent place to start, Dale, and a fascinating history you've shared! Like you, my enthusiasm began in my early childhood. I was too different from the other kids to make friends with them easily, so books took up some of my time, especially my school's books on Greek myths, which excited me as a fan of Ray Harryhausen's films
Jason and the Argonauts and
Clash of the Titans, but I also got to read the myths of Aztec, Inca, Hindu, and other traditions. My interest in these subjects never waned, though as I grew older and found history and anthropology more interesting, I started delving even deeper into the cultural development of myths, and found myself identifying with these lost times and distant countries more deeply. They gave me a feeling of belonging, mysticism, and nature's splendor in a highly urbanized area I didn't like.
Your passions and cultural preferences are fascinating, and it goes to show how unimaginably huge the world of folk beliefs really is. I like to learn all I can about different traditions (which admittedly does not make me an expert in any of them), but as I grow older I find myself becoming most interested in the traditions of northern cultures, such as the Inuit, Icelandic, and Finnish people (the Finns had their own myths! They did not worship Thor or Odin!). The quiet, snowy, wooded North suits my personality well. And I also find myself increasingly drawn to Japan, my mother's homeland. Japanese stories are so utterly strange, so unbelievably imaginative, compared to most traditions I've explored, but with a sense that all these surreal things are simply a normal part of life.
I'm a bit swamped at the moment, but I will give Kittelsen a try and comment on it later! I'm also interested in checking out the books and stories you listed.
Quote:Dale Nelson
It's not to say that, if your passion is for CAS, these would be the folktales you would like more than any others. That's probably not true. The Norwegian tales are redolent of forest and mountain, of peasants and an appreciation of the mother wit that gets someone out of a scrape. My sense is that Smith's taste was more for the elegant, the bizarre, the perfumed, the bejewelled, and perhaps the folktales from Persia and the Arabian peninsula would supply them. I'm frankly not much acquainted with those, although I note that the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore library includes a volume. But I'm not sure that those are the qualities one would actually find in the authentic Arab folktales. Does someone know more about them?
CAS is one of my favorite authors ever, but I appreciate myths and folk beliefs from all around the world, especially the North, which is quite different from most of what CAS wrote! Even his stories of Hyperborea, which take place in prehistoric Greenland, have more in common with the Arabian Nights and Medieval European adventures than with the Eskimos or Vikings. As a bit of a writer myself, I wish to express some of the vivid weirdness CAS impressed in me while embracing a more earthy, folksy feel. I think this is more than possible, and I think Japanese traditions come relatively close to that feeling. Ancient and Medieval Japan had such bizarre monsters, weird supernatural ideas, an appreciation for beauty and ephemerality, and a good sense of humor, all qualities of CAS' best stories, but with the simpler perspective of farmers, fishers, etc.
Regarding Arab folklore, my early days as an HPL fan drove me to read as much of the Arabian Nights as I could, and I can confirm that CAS' fiction has a lot in common with it. In the 1001 Nights you'll find stories of foolish or adventurous royals, horrific deaths, ancient riches, ruined cities of mystic grandeur (including one in which the dead are posed as they were in life, a very Zothique-y idea, yes?), and the hidden worlds of entities far older than humanity. The influence is definitely there, and CAS even mentions things like afrits, jinns, and the Roc and Simorgh in some of his work. That's not to say they're exactly the same, of course, and I know very little of Arab traditions beyond the 1001 Nights and some Islamic beliefs.
Lafcadio Hearn was an author CAS admired greatly, and while I'm not sure how much CAS knew about Japan, he certainly knew some things, and I can see a subtle influence from Hearn's books in his writing.
Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 29 Aug 20 | 02:49PM by Hespire.
