It does sound interesting.

Speaking of Wandrei. I read Mysteries of Time and Spirit: Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Donald Wandrei, and didn't think Wandrei quite could hold a candle to Lovecraft. And also I sensed an unpleasant undercurrent of ego competition, that wasn't honestly brought to the surface. Halfway through the book I tended to skip over Wandrei's letters.

I do look forwad to the Lovecraft/Smith correspondence! And I probably should get the Lovecraft/Howard too, if it wasn't so darned expensive.

Is it these memoirs, along with Lovecraft's letters, that Joshi has pretty much used in building up his biography Lovecraft: A Life?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20 Apr 09 | 03:22PM by Knygatin.

Knygatin Wrote:
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I will have to add my voice to those recommending LR, and Cook's memoir in particular, which is both a delight to read and very informative. There's an enormous amount of information, viewed through the special lens of each of these acquaintances/friends/correspondents of HPL's, which gives even more dimension to Lovecraft the man, both his sometimes thorny quirks and his warm humanity.


> Is it these memoirs, along with Lovecraft's
> letters, that Joshi has pretty much used in
> building up his biography Lovecraft: A Life?

I'm certainly not the best one to answer this, but if you look at the bibliography of Joshi's volume, you'll see just what an enormous amount of material was consulted. I especially note the work of such researchers as Kenneth W. Faig, Jr., and R. Alain Everts, among others; much of which has become rather difficult to obtain or has never been released for the larger public. Fortunately, a good selection of Faig's work is to be released by Hippocampus Press:

[www.hippocampuspress.com]

And, of course, there were the various other documents which are neither letters nor memoirs, such as Barlow's copy of entries from the so-called "death diary", or Lovecraft's "Instructions in Case of Decease", and the like.

Again, though, the best guide to what was used is a look at the bibliography itself, which provides quite a bit of secondary material for the student of Lovecraft....

I've just acquired many new items having to do with Lovecraft. One of them is from 1945 I believe and entitled, "Rhode Island on Lovecraft. I was very much pleased when I found and purchased this item for a fair sum. Having read it, especially Murial Eddy (C.M. Eddys' Wife") account of Lovecraft. In it I got the impression of a good humored person who held a fascination for the unknown and held a pessimistic outlook on his work. Some of the entries are:

Murial's accounts:

1. The first thing we noticed about Lovecraft was his eyes, which, behind their spectacles, beamed upon us with friendliness- they were gentle, benign, smiling, such a deep brown that they seemed almost black.
2. When he removed his hat we saw that his hair was carefully groomed and a glossy jet black.
3. Then he shrugged deprecatingly, chuckled and said, "I'm afraid that you over estimate the value of my work because you, yourselves, enjoy reading my trash- I assure you there's nothing phenomenal about my stories; most of them are a result of a vivid imagination, that's all.
4. Many times Lovecraft would suprise us with a gift of sweets for the children, who were then small- Milk chocolate bars were his favorite and it seemed he always kept a supply on hand.
5. Final piece I chose because of its humor. Who would of thought Lovecraft had this side to him:

" Once we had cold chicken in the icebox, and, offering our guest some, at one of our many midnight get to get togethers, he surprised us by exclaiming, " To be sure- and don't bother with the silverware, it's lots more fun eating chicken with ones fingers".

Hope you all enjoyed it. "RHode Island On Lovecraft; Grant Hadley: 1945)

Imagine, eating chicken with your fingers! That Lovecraft sure was one wild and crazy guy!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29 Apr 09 | 01:42PM by Jojo Lapin X.

Maybe they all sang "Yes, We Have No Bananas" after dinner, too....

John Keats is a poet I don't understand. I try to read him over and over, but there is a "wall" denying entrance. (I enjoy the few excerpts I have read from his letters though.) I have no problem understanding Shakspeare, and likewise enjoy Wordsworth and Shelley. But Keats! It's like he speaks in code, or from the perspective of a private secret mystic society. What IS the essence of Keats? How does one get into it?

I have kept my book of The Complete Poems, because I really like the cover painting by Samuel Palmer! And since there is a relation to CAS's poetry. But I don't understand it.

Keats's sensually rich language and languorous, serpentine sentences can be difficult, certainly, and especially for one whose native language is not English. One key is to try to get at Keats by way of the work of Keats's "hero", Edmund Spenser. The latter's Faerie Queene might prove a useful transition from Shakespeare to Keats.

When I was younger, in search of fantasy, I tried reading Spenser's The Faerie Queene, but rather quickly gave up. I settled for the fairy lore I found in Robert Kirk's The Secret Commonwealth, and in Thomas Keightley's The Fairy Mythology.

Well, I certainly would not suggest reading Spenser primarily for the stories!

Anyway, sorry that my suggestion is not helpful. It's a shame that you have such difficulty with Keats, as he is one of the three or four greatest poets in English, in my estimation. CAS himself mentioned in a letter his opinion that Keats's work is perhaps the richest in memorable individual lines.

I do appreciate your thoughts on Keats, and suggestions. Well, not all of Keats' world is cut off from me. I like portions here and there. His sense of beauty seems very subtle and sensitive, so the mind needs to be all quiet and patient when reading him. His personal way using of classic mythology for symbolism, is perhaps the primary difficulty for me to get past.

It is true that my native language is not English, and I agree that it is difficult to get fully into the English language if one is not born into it. I envy the Anglo-Saxon mind's way of thinking, the description and understanding of reality that goes deeper and beyond the purely rational. There is an intuitive approach and acceptance, and vast appreciation for and sense of nuances, that I miss in the more squarely defined structures of German and Scandinavian languages. I am glad that I have at least some Anglo-Saxon blood in me from my grandmother.
On the other hand, in this modern materialistic age, I am sure that a large number of native English speaking have a lot more difficulty getting into Keats than I do.

About Spenser... I doubt I will find the energy and time getting into that. I have soo many other books I want to read. And reread, over and over, for as many times as Life will allow me.

Speaking of Keats, I would recommend without hesitation Tim Powers' novel The Stress of Her Regard, in which Keats is a major character, along with Wordsworth, Shelley, and Byron. (And the title derives from a poem by CAS to boot!)

Best,
Scott

Perhaps an annotated edition of Keats would also help. One of my favorites is the Riverside Edition of Keats's selected poems and letters, edited by Douglas Bush. There is also a recent (and long overdue) Norton Critical Edition of Keats's works.

Quote:

His personal way using of classic mythology for symbolism, is perhaps the primary difficulty for me to get past.

I can certainly see the difficulties that this would pose. I would add as an aside that these difficulties are magnified, I think, in Hoelderlin's work, as that poet makes even more idiosyncratic and personal use of Classical tropes in his poetry.

Thanks, Scott, for the reference to Powers's novel that incorporates historical figures from English Romanticism; it's an interesting approach. Shelley and Byron also figure as characters in Robert Aickman's masterful short story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal", but only very briefly and peripherally.

Scott Connors Wrote:
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> Speaking of Keats, I would recommend without
> hesitation Tim Powers' novel The Stress of Her
> Regard, in which Keats is a major character, along
> with Wordsworth, Shelley, and Byron. (And the
> title derives from a poem by CAS to boot!)

I'll second that -- brilliant book!

Arthur Machen said in Hieroglyphics, his study of ecstasy in literature:

"... The most perfect form of literature is, no doubt, lyrical poetry, which is, ..., almost pure idea, art with scarcely an alloy of artifice, expressed in magic words, in the voice of music. ... a perfect lyric, such as Keats' Belle Dame sans Mercury... a spirit with the luminous body of melody. But (in our age, at all events) a prose romance must put on a grosser and more material envelope than this, it must have incident, corporeity, relation to material things... To a certain extent, then, the idea must be materialized, but still it must always shine through the fleshy vestment; the body must never be mere body but always the body of the spirit, existing to conceal and yet to manifest the spirit..."

I feel that Keats' poetry is ethereal... floating, dreamy. There are no real material reference points, mental manifestations from which to relate, gain foothold and navigate. His descriptions of the material world are so purely imaginary, and plucked from back memory, that they lack actual weight and consummate colors. For someone like me, who thinks more in visuals than abstractions, this makes it very difficult to remember what I have read.


Kyberean Wrote:
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> CAS himself
> mentioned in a letter his opinion that Keats's
> work is perhaps the richest in memorable
> individual lines.


This is interesting. And as Dr Farmer has described earlier, CAS had a profound intellectual memory of literary lines. So here is a deep appreciation for the singing rythm in the words themselves. And ability to tap abstractions.

CAS himself had a balance between both the ethereal, and ability to paint the materially manifested.

At the same time, I think the reason for CAS's obscurity may be found in his world-weariness and his intellect's profound ability to go far beyond. He falls away from us, into the Abyss. Even his love poems use a cosmic perspective!
I don't believe there a has been any discussion about CAS on this forum for weeks, maybe months! (Talk of publishing, and new editions, yes. But that is a side issue.) His choosen path, the cosmic perspective, is just very difficult for people to follow into. I think he captures the fear of his own circumstance very well in The Chain of Aforgomon, in which a writer gradually falls out of the collective consciousness and memory, as he transfers into another dimension.
I don't think CAS will ever reach the wide masses. But he deserves a much higher status and fame as a fine Artist, among intelligent people. I hope the efforts of Scott Connors, and other editors and publishers, can help in this direction.




Change of subject:

Well, it is soon Midsummer's Eve, and I hope all Eldritchdarkers' will then take a moment to leave the hustle and bustle of your modern cities, go out into the wilderness and communicate with the spirits, and pay your due respects! (And remember, if your shallow ignorant materialistic democratic Government tells you to celeberate Midsummer on Friday, ignore them! Midsummer is on the day of the summer solstice.)