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

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Dear John - I deeply admire your enthusiasm for Clark's work. I must confess
that from the time of Clark's death until last year, besides myself, I met or
heard of three people who had ever heard of Clark Ashton Smith. I regularly
re-read my personal favorite stories regularly over that 40 years, and often
included my favorite poems in concert readings which I gave from time to time.
One other devotee was a High School kid in oregon to whom I gave a signed
poem of Clark's, and a Navy friend of my son whom I never met, but whose
enthusiasm was reported to me. I have never been involved in the role of
"critic" or analyst, nor am I the least interested in the typical academic
exercises of listing influences, writers he influenced, bibliographies, etc. -
Clark was just my very dear and good friend with whom I shared long discussions
over the last 8 years of his life of writers, his works, theories of literature,
and our opinions of the great and near great folk we knew in common. I know,
for example, that John Mcdonald was a very great influence on him because he
told me so - whether he ever mentioned this to anyone else is unknown to me.
The year I graduated from Syracuse Univ. (1960), I had had a master class with
Robert Graves and had read a good deal of his stuff - I enthusiastically shared
this experience with Clark, who, as usual, had already read the works, and was
particularly familiar with "The White Goddess" -
At any rate - Clark's preference for the poetic labor over prose labor is well
known to me. His belief that his poetry was the truest expression of his art
is based on direct conversation - he did not denigrate the stories, but he
greatly preferred the possibilities of expression in poetry. This I know as
an incontrovertible fact direct from his own mouth. The carving was next in line;
in both cases, the artist is doing something he must to keep from exploding - the
thing produced flows from him with no thought of financial gain or even whether
his "children" will be adopted and loved by anyone else - they are works that
simply must be done - good or indifferent, or the value placed by some future
public is of little relevance - though I think Clark had a true sense of his
importance to literature - it was certainly important to him that his manuscripts
be in the hands of those who, like myself, have cherished them and the memory
of our friendship down these many years.

Dear Dr. Farmer:
I will read those authors you mentioned during the
current break from my duties at the local Community
College (would that it were a permanent break)!
The interest generated in Smith's poetry through
this website is amazing, for as you've indicated,
his verse has "historically" been unduly neglected.
I read "The Ice-Demon" yesterday-- is that one of
your particular favorites? It's almost like a long
prose poem, and builds to a beautiful (and "baleful")
finish. I was re-reading it because I neglected to
include it in my "top 30"; "The Maker of Gargoyles"
is hereby displaced on said list, much as I like
its setting and denouement. More "importantly",
what about a list of any length identifying some
of your personal favorite poems?
Thanks so much for your e-mail-- honestly,
it is the most interesting message I've ever received.

Sincerely Yours,

John Hitz










[i][/i]

John,

Look for my memoir in the prefatory sections of "the Sword of Zagan"
coming out in Jan. A list of my most beloved poems of Clark's, would
also include a list of some of his favorites by other authors. At this
precise moment, I can't take time to make that list for you. Perhaps
my tastes might not be of interest to the general group, and if you
write me at the email I can more humbly accomadate you. But the
first poem that always leaps to mind is "Not altogether sleep";
begins - " Blithe love..." The final lines are to me, some of the
best in the language - "...where time shall have none other
pendulum than the remembered pulsings of thy heart." This poem
read aloud with its genteel consonance ranks very high with me
indeed. Another I am fond of begins, "The sunset gonfgalons are
furled...".

Also, for stories, Clark and I read together one of my favorites -
"The Black Abbott of Puthuum" - and you might take another look
at poor Avoosl Wuthoquuam - the sophisticated urbanity of the
monster guarding the pit of jewels is one of the funniest pieces
he ever wrote.