Re: Information on Roy Squires ?
Posted by:
John Hitz (IP Logged)
Date: 11 December, 2003 11:08PM
Dear Dr. Farmer:
Thanks for the comments! I daresay most
of us who have derived great enjoyment from
Smith's fiction over the years would love to
gain a better understanding of the his poetry,
which as you say demands more of readers than
Poe's verses do. Pray pardon my unequivocal
claim that the latter's tales must be regarded
as a more significant event in literary
history-- although the preponderance of
evidence offered by critical analysis supports
this opinion. Would you agree that "Ligeia"
and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" were earth-
shaking landmarks in the development of the
short story, the one from an artistic
standpoint, the other as formulating the
detective genre? But let's get back to the
subject of Smith's fiction. I suggest that
any view that relegates his prose to a position
of secondary importance (or elevates the verse
to the ascendancy if you prefer) is prejudicial
unless the person adopting it abstains from
EXISTENTIAL considerations (the fact that
he wrote fiction as a livelihood), and answers
the ESSENTIAL claim that he authored about
30 tales that can stand toe-to-toe with
the best of his poetry. And contrary to
the impression which may have been created
by some previous discussions on this website,
this "upper echelon" (I spelled it correctly
this time)is not all that hard to specify:
I would say every piece in OUT OF SPACE AND
TIME is a bona-fide masterpiece except for
"The End of the Story", "The Second Interment",
"The Return of the Sorcerer", "The Testament of
Athammaus", "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan",
and "Ubbo- Sathla" (the latter is sort of a
lesser version of "The Chain of Aforgomon", as
is "The Planet of the Dead" for that matter).
From LOST WORLDS, add "The Tale of Satampra
Zeiros", "The Empire of the Necromancers",
"The Beast of Averoigne", "Xeethra",
"The Plutonian Drug", "The Maze of the
Enchanter", "Necromancy in Naat", and
"The Letter From Mohaun Los" to the honor roll.
From GENIUS LOCI: the title story plus
"The Eternal World", "A Star-Change",
"The Colossus of Ylourgne", and "The
Garden of Adompha"...
From THE ABOMINATIONS OF YONDO:
"The Dweller in the Gulf", "The Witchcraft
of Ulua", and "The Dark Age" (underrated)...
From TALES OF SCIENCE AND SORCERY:
"Mother of Toads", "The Maker of Gargoyles",
"The Seed From the Sepulcher", & "Morthylla"
From OTHER DIMENSIONS: "The Ghoul", and,
finally, "The Red World of Polaris", proving
that even when writing under the cheapening
influence of Hugo "the Rat" Gernsback, CAS
could produce a work of cynical & sinister
genius. These 30 tales considered as his
best work in prose (along with the prose
poems) are submitted not for controversy,
but merely to supply a sense of completion
lacking in the previous discussions, by this
humbled and humiliated glossarist.
Yours for the sempervirent phasmidae,
John Hitz
best stories has proven to be more difficult
himself or herself to the
the
of
[/u][u]