Hello first of all and it's nice to see that there's a great site on one of the best and most underrated authors. The voluminous collection of Smith's works in the site are truly a delight to behold.

I'd just like to ask about something I came across Smith in the 'net. One site mentioned that Smith quit school because of "psychological disorders". Could anyone elaborate on this? Judging from the surviving photographs of Smith he looked like a personable but strange man.

No, he quit school because he wanted to be a poet and thought that school couldn't teach him the things he needed to reach that goal.

Thanks.

Martinus Wrote:
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> he wanted to be a poet

Sounds like he suffered from "psychological disorders" to me :)

Very interesting set of posts -- however -- there were several causes for Clark dropping out of school--

1. He was very sickly - this is top of the list -
2. He was in dutch a lot - peeking in the girls outhouse through a knot hole, correcting the teacher's grammar etc.
3. Being a poet may have been in his mind, but if you read his very first efforts, several of which are in "Sword of Zagan", you will see that, while worthy for a boy of 10, they were not exceptional - his parents had, at some point turned him on to the idea that you needed a vast vocabulary and a lot of knowledge, particularly of how diffeent writers used words, and that inspired him to head to the Carnegie in Auburn and start reading at Letter "A" - ultimately consuming everything in the place, including the Hernia Edition of Webster's. Boccacio, and tales like Sinbad, and Scheherezade, as well as the "Chanson de Roland" captivated his imagination - Charles Lamb (Elia) was also an early influece from his first burst of reading.
What got him into the dictionary was having discovered how many words he didn't know; so, as he told me, he stopped reading somewhere in the "A's", and resolved to get through the dictionary before going on, so he didn't have to keep running back and forth.

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I can add a bit to Dr. Farmer's observations. Clark attended one day of high school, but found the presence of so many people very uncomfortable. Part of this may have been due to self-consciousness regarding his own poverty--he had been taunted by other children as "Clark Ashcan Smith"--but part of it might have been some form of social anxiety disorder or phobia. (I dislike the practice of making posthumous psych diagnoses of writers I've never met, although I have at least have some professional background in this area). I've heard from several people who knew Clark that he became very uneasy among crowds, and the late Bob Elder even mentioned to me that he had a panic attack at a train station once (something of this sort was also mentioned by George Haas, as Don Herron records in his bio of Haas). While CAS could relax in small groups, and enjoyed the company of those fans who made the journey to Auburn or Pacific Grove, he consistently declined invitations to be a guest at SF conventions when he was so invited in the 1950s, despite offers to pay his expenses.

Scott

Quote:

I dislike the practice of making posthumous psych diagnoses of writers I've never met, although I have at least have some professional background in this area

Bravo, and what a coincidence: So do I! I wish that more would follow your lead. ;-)

Thanks, too, for the additional information about CAS in his youth. I dare say that he must often have felt very self-conscious, as well as highly conscious of being so unlike others. In adulthood, that feeling can be a pleasurable one, but rarely is it so in youth.

Scott will remember also my description of Clark's relationship with an escalator - crowds were indeed anathema to him - partly because of a fear of catching something that would compromise his respiratory system - a fear implanted while very young - though he was proud of having mastered his situation and built a powerful chest and strong lungs through his own determination.
He relished the familiar and the simple - he never overcame his fear of the Great God Awto!.

calonlan Wrote:
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> Scott will remember also my description of Clark's
> relationship with an escalator

I do indeed, but I wouldn't want to cite you when you're posting here!

- crowds were
> indeed anathema to him - partly because of a fear
> of catching something that would compromise his
> respiratory system - a fear implanted while very
> young - though he was proud of having mastered his
> situation and built a powerful chest and strong
> lungs through his own determination.
> He relished the familiar and the simple - he never
> overcame his fear of the Great God Awto!.

Interesting. Although CAS had TB in the late 1910s, it went into remission (Auburn was a mecca for TB sufferers at the time because of its climate), and when he had a chest xray both in 1940 and then after his marriage both results showed no active disease. Was his fear of catching some respiratory ailment related to this, or was it dating back to his childhood rheumatic fever?

CAS did indeed have a powerful chest. I have a photograph of him showing him bare chested, and I'd almost have to say he looks as if he had a barrel chest--which is not a good thing, since it's indicative of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Yet while we have evidence of his suffering from hypertension, I am not aware of him suffering from shortness of breath or other symptoms even with his smoking.

Ah yes, "The Great God Awto." We're just finishing that one for volume five. It would have been a great story, or at least a really fun one, if he had just finished it with the note that the professor had died in a flier accident. Instead, CAS just had to keep beating the point home, something that he did all too often in his scientifictional satires. **SIGH** Well, at least it's not "The Root of Ampoi...." (My least favorite CAS story, BTW.)

Scott

Thanks for the replies calonian and Scott Connors, actually I was waiting for your responses as I knew you two would provide the most comprehensive and satisfactory replies.

Judging from what you two related it seems that Smith did have psychological issues. Did he ever consider psychotherapy and do you think his condition helped with his writing? Thanks.

I believe that the fact that he was the sole support of his aging parents may also have been a factor in his leaving school.

This might have been true if Clark had actually gone to work after leaving high school. He did his chores around the ranch, of course, but most of the family income came from his mother selling magazine subscriptions door to door. Luckily the family was nearly self-sufficient insofar as food was concerned, but money was still needed for the mortgage, taxes, clothing, etc. I don't know if Timeus was completely an invalid at this point. Clark undoubtedly did the occasional odd job for a neighbor, but if he was making any sort of job search at this time it's so far escaped me.

Scott

>
> Did he ever
> consider psychotherapy and do you think his
> condition helped with his writing? Thanks.

If you want to know if CAS ever considered psychotherapy, just read "Schizoid Creator." Also, keep in mind that a) there weren't that many psychiatrists or psychologists in practice generally at the time, let alone in rural northern California; b) the social stigma associated with seeing such a professional, which is still present today, was really significant, and CAS already had a rep for being weird (Alma Duffy asked a boy she knew who lived in Auburn if he knew Clark and was given that reply, according to an unpublished memoir by her sister Ethel at the Bancroft Library); and c) Clark generally distrusted doctors of any sort.

Scott

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Clark had only contempt for psychology, psychiatry et al - the term "psychotherapy" had not yet been invented or in common use - For an accurate picture of each I recommend Dr. Tana Dineen's excellent "Manufacturing victims" -
clark might have described himself as the sane man in a Mad world - seeing beyond the immediate. Or, had he lived to read "Hitchhiker's Guide" he might have moved into the Inside Out house facing the ocean =
As I have mentioned before, he was quite proud of his chest because he worked hard at overcoming his breathing problems by strenuos work, hiking, and clean air - not the least of the reasons he returned from SF to the mountains. Besides, anyone of the intense and vigorous mindset is likely to seem maladjusted to the Epsilons of the world.