Re: Editing of "Voyage of King Euvoran"
Posted by:
Kipling (IP Logged)
Date: 30 March, 2022 02:20PM
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