Re: stories in various cycles of fiction
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 1 February, 2020 11:00AM
kojootti Wrote:
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> Ah, somehow I never considered that! But it's
> true. As Poseidonis is just the tip of Atlantis, I
> think Smith's Atlantean art is worth trying too,
> especially "From A Letter" and "A Vintage from
> Atlantis."
>
> In his Ballantine Hyperborea book, Lin Carter
> concocted a cycle out of Smith's prose poems about
> the world's rim, which includes "The Abominations
> of Yondo," "The Desolation of Soom," and "The
> Passing of Aphrodite." He guessed that Smith was
> making a cycle with these stories, but I highly
> doubt that. It seems to me they are all unrelated
> besides the vague setting of the edge of the
> world, which was likely used for the poetic
> effect. Even so, perhaps others can see what I
> cannot and maybe there is something of a "cycle"
> to them.
I tend to agree about Yondo. It's been vividly stuck in my mind all these years (like Vintage From Atlantis) that I can recall enough about it to conclude that it was merely a general use of the "edge of the world" device--to basically tell the reader that s/he's entered a region where previous rules do not apply--nor is it to be utopian in tone but, rather, eschatological.
I think that Yondo, and others like it, are why I continue to re-read CAS.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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