After reading Clark Ashton Smith's tales such as "The Expert Lover" and hearing from certain online biographers that he supposedly had mistresses, I began to wonder just how closely Mr. Smith might be compared to his character Mr. Lancelot Colin in his tale. However, at the same time, I can't help but find it impossible to envisage Clark Ashton Smith as possessing the same kind of careless selfishness that Mr. Colin had; in fact, didn't the tale in a way condemn Mr. Colin's actions?

At any rate, I'd be interested in hearing what the rest of you think.

We have seen the darkness
Where charnel things decay,
Where atom moves with atom
In shining swift array,
Like ordered constellations
On some sidereal way.
--from Nyctalops

There is a certain autobiographical element in this: check out "O Amor Atque Realitas! : Clark Ashton Smith's First Adult Fiction" by Donald Sidney-Fryer, elsewhere on this website.

Best,
Scott

Thanks, I'll check it out! Though I'll still harbour doubts as to whether Clark Ashton Smith was altogether as irritating as Mr. Colin. ;)

We have seen the darkness
Where charnel things decay,
Where atom moves with atom
In shining swift array,
Like ordered constellations
On some sidereal way.
--from Nyctalops

Soctt--
I just finished reading Mr. Sidney-Fryer's essay and found it immensely enjoyable and informative. It also relieved me a great deal regarding Clark Ashton Smith's true personality, which you will be happy to hear! ;)

We have seen the darkness
Where charnel things decay,
Where atom moves with atom
In shining swift array,
Like ordered constellations
On some sidereal way.
--from Nyctalops

Just remember that Auburn was quite a small town in CAS' time, and one beset with gossip. Despite that, CAS generally had a good rep up until the postwar period, when his work was derided by the pseudo-intellectuals at the local community college (!) and he was regarded as a drunk (unfairly) because he lived in a "shack" outside of town w/o electricity or running water. If CAS were presenting a major threat to the sanctity of the American family (ahem), it would have been talked about. Some of the poems in EBONY AND CRYSTAL scandalized the local Methodists, and he was supposedly listed as a correspondent to a divorce in the Twenties, but that's about it.

Scott