No one would last for very long on only wine, rye bread and cheese. That is a romantic vision. Where is the link to the article "Cooking with Clark Ashton Smith"? Surely there were carrots in his beef stew. CAS lived a healthy life with varied diet. At least in the earlier years at the cabin and with his parents, and that's an important base for good constitution.

Hhhmmm,...

I think there are close to one Billion poeple on this earth today who
only WISH they had some burgundy, black bread, and cheese to eat. But,...

I have read that CAS lived without electricity and fairly remote location-wise.
Also, that he was genuinely poor for much of his adult life. In those circumstances
beef would be an expensive luxury - and one that would spoil quickly. I'm not an
expert on the man and maybe you are in which case I would acknowledge same. But
otherwise I'd say you could go further on frequent wine, cheese, and bread than on
occasional high-value (and high-fat) meals like beef stew. Though stew is GREAT
with the old vin rouge too! <wink>

Cathexis

As he got older, and alone in the cabin, I imagine his diet became more one-sided. But the family had a garden and grew vegetables, as Calonlan also colorfully has described.

calonlan Wrote:
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> Hey Ron - good post - to all concerned, might
> someone send the reviewer a link to this site? It
> would seem to me to be a "best" source of
> information on Clark -

Hey Calonlan! I put a hyperlink to ED in my post (I always do in CAS-related entries). Also, I explicitly recommended ED to Mr. Owchar when he emailed me, as well as linking to the Stableford essay. He thanked me for both. Nick Owchar is a class act, IMO.

I hope you realize the menu I suggested was not all he ate, - Clark ate whatever was available - In the Smith home, soup was the most common thing in the diet, and, of course in season the abundant variety of fruit common to Placer County - they had a small garden - cabbage was the more common vegetable, the soil is ill-suited to raising carrots -- and, may we add, the eye-sight of bunnies related to their alleged predeliction for carrots
is an adage from the "folk". The diet at the Smith home was always meager, and as an adult, Clark's penurious existence did not allow of dining on fine cuisine. During the years I knew he and Carole intimately, we never dined out, or even bought burgers - and, by the way, you can live on black bread and cheese, or hard-tack and peanut butter as I can attest from my graduate school days - as long as you have a gallon of burgundy to wash it down.

True dat!


But Calonian, in another thread you mentioned, "The Count" and I asked who that was and
I don't think you ever answered. Who or what was "The Count" ?


Cathexis

What I should say is that you should buy a copy of "The Sword of Zagan" and rean my memoie -- I need the money -
however -- Herr Graf Emilion Aloysius von Hebenstreit was an Austrian Count (as you can see from the title, Graf) who immigrated to America just prior to WWI, and opened horiaontal gold mine shafts on a 40 acre hill some miles from Auburn toward Folsom - on the back side of the drumlin below the mines (which ran beautiful clear water continuously from 800 ft inside the mine into a large wooden water tank) he built 3 chalets, including a stone walled wine cellar - planted climbing roses, and held court with his friends accompanied by a magnificent Collie - his wife had been opera singer Inez Marie Koster (umlaut over the "o"). He was also a long time denizen of "The Happy Hour" in old town Auburn, and t'was there he became acquainted with CAS - he preferred the anonymity of the working class bar and the patrons as well - He and his wife (while she lived) were very fond of Clark - He was the quintessential continental, great shock of salt and pepper hair, Esterhazy jaw,
regal posture - picture a smoking jacket with leather elbows, cigarette holder, graceful hands and gestures, and superb gentility and good manners - this, and a constant flow of artists, writers, and musicians fleeing the great city occasionally to find some quiet and solitude - and there you have "the Count" - he and I became great good friends and I spent a lot of time with him after leaving the military in 1965 when he was in his 80's - and ah the music - "Ich muss wieder einmal in Grinzing sein, Wein Wein, Wein Wein, Wein Wein!"

Now that you've mentioned it (and it is new to me) I *do* plan to get a copy.
Is it PB only? Both Amazon and Hippocampus seem to say that is so.

Cathexis

Yes - it is the documents Clark gave me just before he died - holographs - early novel, short stories, fragments - one really good love poem from 1928, unpublished previously - all otherwise Juvenilia - UC Berkeley bought them so they are housed there for posterity - My memoir is at the back. You might find one on Ebay, though lately I haven't seen it there.
Hippocampus is the Publisher. And Derrick Hussey is a really sweet guy - we loved his visit where we assembled everything on floppy discs for him to put together - the only thing I didn't care for was Joshi's two-bits worth, but what the hell. It's OK - let me know how you like it.

Quote:

he only thing I didn't care for was Joshi's two-bits worth

I am curious: Would you mind explaining in a little more detail what you didn't care for in Joshi's remarks?

casofile Wrote:
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>
>
> As for marriage improving his vision, I don't know
> how that might work . . . perhaps there was a pair
> of rose-colored glasses involved?
>

They would probably have been more politic than the traditional brown paper bag.

Scott