Re: CAS and Philip K. Dick
Posted by:
MarzAat (IP Logged)
Date: 26 February, 2006 03:00PM
Scott,
Thanks for the information about GENIUS LOCI.
You're quite right that even if we had a copy of it with margin notes by Dick, we couldn't establish any direct inspiration. Many authors admire works they never try to imitate. And I'm not really interested in any evidentiary chain that shows Dick copied "Vulthoom". In the brief reading I've done on Dick's remarks about THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, I've never seen him mention CAS. And, frankly, given Dick's prankster tendencies, I'd be skeptical of it anyway.
However, I am wondering, if you grant the possibility "Vulthoom" inspired Dick's novel, if any one detailed the similarities between the two. A listing of similar quacks and waddles might be interesting.
Yes, it was Arcana I saw Powers at.
Julian,
I did think CAS was a bad Lovecraft imitator -- before I read more than "The Return of the Sorceror" or "Ubbo-Sathla" or any of his poems. I certainly don't have that opinion now. (I still maintain those are not very good stories though "The Return of the Sorceror" at least earned CAS some money in his later years.)
As to which is better, I think they were trying to often do two different things. Lovecraft, in his best work, was doing clinically toned hoaxes. Smith, from what I've read so far, was often conjuring up prose dreams using his poetic gifts. I would certainly agree that, as poets, CAS is clearly the superior talent.
Tim Powers has said Dick liked at least some CAS, but, so far, I haven't noticed any obvious similarities between the two apart from the possible "Vulthoom"-STIGMATA link (after it was pointed out to me). However, while I've read most of Dick, I haven't read everything, and my knowledge of CAS is definately limited.
I think Lovecraft had a much more obvious influence on Dick than Smith.
I wouldn't go so far as saying Dick and CAS wrote in different genres. Their differences in tone and approach doesn't seem much more different than HPL and CAS. HPL and PKD's science fiction was all about a starting point of something resembling the modern world (even if a bizarre or satirical version in Dick's near future tales)and violations of consensual reality in that world. CAS rarely bothers (again, from my limited readings) with that starting point. The exoticness is more pronounced from the beginning whether it's in the characters' jobs or the setting
Randy Stafford