Re: August Derleth
Posted by:
Glyptodont (IP Logged)
Date: 2 October, 2006 11:48AM
A few comments.
Last I checked, a few weeks ago, the etext library of Lovecraft is still out there.
As for Derleth as a writer, some remarks are appropriate. For one thing, he got dunked for supposedly "Christianizing" the mythos. A couple of well known critics really went after him about 20 years ago, and some of the hostile comments about Derleth today still go back to this negative criticism.
Actually, this is not entirely fair. Lovecraft himself used "evil" and "wickedness" to turn the screw in a number of his tales. "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," for example, has an evil necromancer who is involved in black witchcraft and is -- plain out -- evil. Ditto for old Whateley in "Dunwich Horror." In TCOCDW there's even an old fashioned Salem style witch burning, firewood and all. Demons galore, you name it. The idea that Lovecraft projected "scientific detachment" and eschewed all these superstitious tonalities is a fond belief of some, but doesn't stand up. Lovecraft was not very internally consistent. And like many writers, he would throw in everything but the kitchen sink if it could intensify the atmosphere of his stories.
Also, Derleth's weird tales have seldom been selectively edited. Everything is lumped together in the existing editions, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. If one selects carefully, a short story collection of Derleth's could be assembled that would really stand up. Part of the problem is that Derleth cranked out lots of material for the commercial market, so there's some shallow or sloppy work out there.
For a sample of the better Derleth weird tales, try "The Trail of Cthulhu," which is a collection of short stories that link into one long narrative. Almost like an episodic novel.
Derleth's writing style is certainly more readable than Lovecraft's, who wrote an old-fashioned very dense style choked with latinate words and 85-word sentences.
For a good defense of Derleth, check out the lengthy intro to "Tales of the Lovecraft Mythos" by Robert M. Price.