Quote:I think the upheavals of the ant-hill are of interest to the anteater as well.
Lol! Indeed, although I'm not aware of any creature that bears such a relation to humans. I suppose that that's where Cthulhu and company figure into the picture. One can hope, I suppose....
Quote:I see it more as a greater degree of [CAS's] insight in the characters as individuals, with individual responses and desires. The Zothique characters strike me as fundamentally earthier, more interested in wine, women and song, than any of HPL's characters, "The Tomb" included.
I think that it's less a question of lack of insight on Lovecraft's part than it is lack of interest. Lovecraft realized that, in a mass society, genuine individuals are almost non-existent. Even then, though, it is true that he did not feel the need to flesh out his professors and dreamers to any great extent. CAS felt similarly, I think, and therefore always had as protagonists individuals who were exceptional from the outset (poets, royalty, and magicians, on the one hand, and socially marginal individuals, on the other). Although I agree that CAS had somewhat more interest and skill in characterization than did Lovecraft, I also think that, before we get too carried away with a portrait of CAS as the Henry James of
Weird Tales, we should recall his own words on the subject of characterization in weird fiction, composed at the height of his own "fiction-writing campaign":
"In a tale of the highest imaginative horror, the main object is the creation of a supernatural, extra-human atmosphere; the real actors are the terrible arcanic forces, the esoteric cosmic malignities; and the element of human character, if one is to achieve the highest, most objective artistry, is properly somewhat subordinated in a tale of ordinary and natural happenings. One is depicting things, powers and conditions that are beyond humanity; therefore, artistically speaking, the main accent is on these things, powers and conditions".
[from "The Tale of Macrocosmic Horror"]
I evaluate the success of both Lovecraft's and CAS's weird fiction by how well they achieve the above-stated aims, and I consider Lovecraft the superior weirdist precisely because he adheres more closely and consistently with the guidelines that CAS outlines, above.
Aside: Regarding CAS's more "earthy" interests and pursuits, I recall a letter from Lovecraft to someone or other saying, in essence, that he could admit CAS as a social equal, but that he could not help feeling superior to those who carried on with women as CAS did. Lovecraft found an excessive interest in "wine, women, and song"*, be it in life or in literature, to be somewhat vulgar, and, for what little it's worth, I rather agree with him!
*The contemporary equivalent of this charmingly antiquated chestnut would be "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll".
Plus ca change....