Morthylla: how to classify?
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 30 October, 2004 10:38AM
I just re-read this, and in light of the stimulating and salutary effects of the various discussions on this board, I looked at it with a somewhat different eye.
This is a very beautiful and wistful story, and the dialog between the two unconsumated lovers in the cemetary is really very tender. I was quite impressed with how evocative this story is in establishing an almost palpable mood. Since Smith is so good at this, it makes me wish I read poetry...but, alas! Like the lovers' carnal consumation in this story, I fear it is not to be!
I'm thinking that nowhere more than in this story is the influence of Poe more apparent: the whining over irretrievably lost loves that he (Poe) indulges in, combined with his rather morbid conception of death, and the confusion of the two (like a Woody Allen title: "Love and Death"), seems to be the obvious inspiration for this story.
But Smith is profoundly, but subtly, different!
Where Poe's "mortuary romances" *feel* like the fever dream of a maladjusted, doomed bohemian poet, Smith captures the dreamlike quality of impossible love without actually giving in to the morbidity of Poe--who would like to dwell there, it seems--and soon did.
We have Smith's main character true to Poe's pattern: a young dissolute profoundly unsatisfied with life, like an angst-ridden upper-middle class teenager from Palos Verdes, but instead of a spiritual object for his unfulfillable passion, he is duped by what amounts to a high-class courtesan on sabatical. The wistfulness of mood is by no means dissipated by the ultimate disappointment he feels when he discovers the reality of the situation, and Smith indulges in a neat trick: he essentially puts the filmstrip back on the spool, and replays a portion of the story, implying an infinite loop in the spirit world.
I wonder if the editors objected to Smith reusing the same 3 or 4 paragraphs, and tried to beat him down in price for this story?
So, we have the well-adjusted, but wry, bohemian poet (Smith) informing and extending Poe's concept of love that is impossible to consumate. I find this to be a profoundly satisfying experience!
As a side note, to the degree that I may surmise, Smith appears to me to have had a well-rounded and happy life, complete with the panziac enjoyment of that which the full living of life has to offer. I see little or no angst, nor self-destructive or excessive undercurrents, only a sort of detached amusement, and a deep understanding of human nature--or deeper, at least, that most other fantasy writers. I think Smith really did understand wine, women, and song, and knew, from personal experience, *why* this simple saying resonates across all times and cultures. I think he was a remarkably *wise* writer.
Your thoughts, fellow smith-o-philes?
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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