I have a batch of CAS tales torn out from the pulps they appeared in, and am curious about the "Quest of the Gazolba," as "Euvoran" was retitled in 1947 by Dorothy Mcllwraith, who replaced Farnsworth Wright as WT editor. Lin Carter did not specify any other changes she may have made, but it became a tale of Zothique rather than of Hyperborea. Editorially astute changes or not, I don't find mention of them in Smith's letters. Incidentally, there is a fine Boris Dalgov illustration in this Sept. 1947 Weird Tales publication. Farnsworth Wright had rejected it in 1933, but Smith liked it and "The Double Shadow" as well as any of his tales.

jkh

Kipling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a batch of CAS tales torn out from the
> pulps they appeared in, and am curious about the
> "Quest of the Gazolba," as "Euvoran" was retitled
> in 1947 by Dorothy Mcllwraith, who replaced
> Farnsworth Wright as WT editor. Lin Carter did not
> specify any other changes she may have made, but
> it became a tale of Zothique rather than of
> Hyperborea. Editorially astute changes or not, I
> don't find mention of them in Smith's letters.
> Incidentally, there is a fine Boris Dalgov
> illustration in this Sept. 1947 Weird Tales
> publication. Farnsworth Wright had rejected it in
> 1933, but Smith liked it and "The Double Shadow"
> as well as any of his tales.

That's interesting about a Hyperborea-to-Zothique change in grouping.

I've always thought that the overarching mood of the Zothique stories and the Hyperborea stories is quite distinct, and this is one of the things about CAS at his best, is that he has a sense of consistency of mood between the settings he employed. So most of Zothique is pretty bleak, and you definitely feel that the end of days is within sight, whereas with Hyperborea, there seems to be little to no decadence, but more like a new and untapped world is just outside. There is a level of expansionary vigor.

Hard to say about Evoran, though. There are elements that suggest that Euvoran is maybe an early decadent, and fits Zothique, but he could also be just a silly and vain royal, doing ill-advised things like the guy in 7 Geases.

If I had to choose, I'd say Hyperborea, though.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 30 Mar 22 | 12:07PM by Sawfish.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kipling Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have a batch of CAS tales torn out from the
> > pulps they appeared in, and am curious about
> the
> > "Quest of the Gazolba," as "Euvoran" was
> retitled
> > in 1947 by Dorothy Mcllwraith, who replaced
> > Farnsworth Wright as WT editor. Lin Carter did
> not
> > specify any other changes she may have made,
> but
> > it became a tale of Zothique rather than of
> > Hyperborea. Editorially astute changes or not,
> I
> > don't find mention of them in Smith's letters.
> > Incidentally, there is a fine Boris Dalgov
> > illustration in this Sept. 1947 Weird Tales
> > publication. Farnsworth Wright had rejected it
> in
> > 1933, but Smith liked it and "The Double
> Shadow"
> > as well as any of his tales.
>
> That's interesting about a Hyperborea-to-Zothique
> change in grouping.
>
> I've always thought that the overarching mood of
> the Zothique stories and the Hyperborea stories is
> quite distinct, and this is one of the things
> about CAS at his best, is that he has a sense of
> consistency of mood between the settings he
> employed. So most of Zothique is pretty bleak, and
> you definitely feel that the end of days is within
> sight, whereas with Hyperborea, there seems to be
> little to no decadence, but more like a new and
> untapped world is just outside. There is a level
> of expansionary vigor.
>
> Hard to say about Evoran, though. There are
> elements that suggest that Euvoran is maybe an
> early decadent, and fits Zothique, but he could
> also be just a silly and vain royal, doing
> ill-advised things like the guy in 7 Geases.
>
> If I had to choose, I'd say Hyperborea, though.

I agree that Hyperborea is a better fit, both for the bulldozing intensity of the sardonic mood and the variety of settings. The vocabulary is astonishing-- imagine someone reading this as their first exposure to Smith! It takes the prize in that department. Why was it altered, though? Did Mcllwraith think it would motivate Smith to write more? I don't get it.

jkh

Kipling, can you remember your first CAS story?

Mine was Master of Crabs. I can still recall buying Zothique at a bookstore (Mithras Books) that fronted an arthouse cinema I liked to go to, The Unicorn Theater, in La Jolla, CA, probably in 1970 or so.

--Sawfish

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

So, the original, much longer version was condensed into "Quest of the Gazolba" to make a sale. Will Murray called it "tinkering," when it's really a complete hatchet job. The perfected style of the original, particularly the brilliant phrasing, use of vocabulary and relentless sarcasm, is mostly lost in "Quest of the Gazolba". But what interests me is why, with its aura of impending doom, it wasn't firmly placed in prehistoric Hyperborea, a setting that fits better overall than the Zothique cycle it got shoe-horned into.
"Alone, with bare head and unshod feet, as was ordained by heirarchal law, he entered the dim adytum where the image of Geol, potbellied, and wrought of earth-brown faience, reclined eternally on its back and regarded the motes in a narrow beam of sunlight from the slotted wall" (Zothique 251, 1970).

jkh

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kipling, can you remember your first CAS story?
>
> Mine was Master of Crabs. I can still recall
> buying Zothique at a bookstore (Mithras Books)
> that fronted an arthouse cinema I liked to go to,
> The Unicorn Theater, in La Jolla, CA, probably in
> 1970 or so.

The first story I read by CAS was "The End of the Story", in The Neville Spearman reprint of Out of Space and Time (1971) made available thru Arkham House. Plowed thru it, awestruck, and read Lost Worlds right after. Late 1972 or 1973.

jkh