I should wait until the morning to post this, as I'm minutes away from falling asleep. But I'll post now and blame any mistakes on the late hour.

This is probably known by all the regulars here, but: when HPL appointed Robert H. Barlow his literary executor upon his death, Derleth and Wandrei were more than a little pissed. Rather than respect their friend HPL's choice, they seemingly thought it a very bad move. Eventually they ("they" might actually be largely Derleth, but I'll blame them both) convinced HPL's surviving aunt that Barlow was mis-managing the job. They turned her against Barlow and eventually gained the opportunity to publish HPL themselves via Arkham House.

During all this, Derleth/Wandrei somehow got CAS on their side. Barlow seemed to idolize CAS and was hoping to visit him in CA. CAS wrote Barlow a very short letter saying in effect never write me again. This absolutely devasted Barlow and he took at least part of this pain with him throughout the rest of his short life.

(This is from recent memory, so forgive me if I'm getting the facts wrong.)

Anyway, knowing nothing else about him, I had chalked up CAS as villain #3 behind Derleth and Wandrei. In fact, his brief jab was clearly the most hurtful, the most devastating to Barlow.

I emailed S.T. Joshi asking about this and he replied that CAS and Barlow had actually made up. That they had resumed contact later in life. My question: did CAS ever apologize to Barlow for siding with the Arkham House goons or did he stand by his original position? Did they begin anew a lengthy correspondence and/or friendship or was the return to civility merely a "no hard feelings" kind of mutual peace?

I'd love to see some of the CAS/Barlow correspondence either pre or post this controversy. Does much survive? And is any included in the Selected Letters?

A rambling post, but I'm curious. Any further information on this subject will be appreciated.

Roger

I am working on an article on this subject. Basically, the feud was more between the Wandrei Brothers and Sam Loveman against Barlow. Derleth's role was more of a peace maker until in 1938 he and Don visited Providence and discovered that Barlow had removed 150 weird books from HPL's library. Barlow had the right to do so, but Derleth felt he should have left them so Mrs.Gamwell could benefit from their sale. Derleth forwarded the Albert Baker letters to CAS, but otherwise it was Don Wandrei (see SLCAS) who turned CAS against Barlow. Even after that, though, he and Barlow remained on more or less friendly terms.
One member of the circle who stayed by Barlow was E. Hoffmann Price, who told CAS RHB's side and eventually arranged for a meeting in Decembe 1942. Barlow took color photos of many of CAS' paintings, and Rah Hoffman now has the negatives.
See Don Herron's article in FIRSTS on collecting CAS for more details. I should mention that Barlow managed to alienate many other members of HPL's Circle with his unthinking arrogance (common to youthful prodigies--*ahem*): W. Paul Cook and Hyman Bradofsky both come to mind. He even ticked off Frank Belknap Long--only those who knew Frank know how hard that was! Only James Ferdinand Morton, Price and C. L. Moore remained friendly.
Best, Scott

Scott:

Quote:

Even after that, though, he and Barlow remained on more or less friendly terms.

I'm a little puzzled. I seem to recall a phrase from the SLCAS to the effect that, if Barlow and hs young publisher friend who was supposed to publish some of CAS's work ever set foot on CAS's property, CAS would chase them off with his saber! Until I read the the SLCAS, I had assumed that CAS and Barlow never reconciled, and it was interesting to learn that they did. The hostilities in the interim, however, struck me as being quite pronounced.

Aside: Wandrei was quite a troublemaker, wasn't he?

I wouldn't describe Wandrei as a troublemaker. He and Derleth were trying to get Lovecraft's work published by a major NY firm, and to do that they needed to be able to present themselves as having the legal authority to do so. Unfortunately, they didn't have this, Barlow did, and he was not only not in a position to effect this, he was in effect pissing away HPL into the fan press. When the Futile Press published the Commonplace Book, over Derleth's objections, Barlow wrote the Beck brothers to ignore any screechings from Sauk City, that he, RHB, controlled the shots, not Derleth or Wandrei. Wandrei was concerned that Barlow might screw up the deal with Scribners or some other NY publisher by writing and asserting his literary executorship: in other words, _just by existing as HPL's lit exec_, RHB could sabotage THE OUTSIDER AND OTHERS. Wandrei was more concerned with getting Albert Baker, HPL's executor, to revoke RHB's status and give it to Wandrei and Derleth, and to this end turned CAS against Barlow (and the Beck Brothers), culminating in the withdrawl of the INCANTATIONS mss. I think that CAS' reaction shows how much he valued HPL and what the loss meant to him; there is a degree of over-reaction here. Best,
Scott

Thanks, Scott, for the further info. I'm anxious to read your article, when completed. Will it be published in LOST WORLDS? I still see Derleth and Wandrei as fiends, but now I'll concentrate my fury on Wandrei as he seems the more evil of the two. I was never a fan of his writings anyway, though I have enjoyed some of the non-genre/Sac Prairie writings of Derleth.

I see there are many references to Barlow in the HPL/Wandrei letters, so I'll have to read through that and possibly learn some more.

Even though I hate the way Barlow was muscled out of being HPL's literary executor, it was probably a good thing in the long run. Or more specifically, his exit and Arkham House's entrance meant more of HPL would get into print, in nicer editions, and probably be presented to larger audiences. So I have mixed feelings about it all I suppose. Anyway, what little I know of Barlow I like a lot... he was a much more interesting figure than Derleth or Wandrei! I wonder if Joshi will ever do a Selected Letters of Barlow? Wonder how many have survived the years? (I realize that would project would have a very limited appeal, though I'd love it.)

Too bad CAS wasn't too fond of Barlow... I'll be anxious to read letters he wrote to Barlow or letters to others that mention him when I get your SL of CAS.

thanks,
Roger

Scott:

I agree that the Barlow affair is quite a complex one. When I called Wandrei a troublemaker, however, I wasn't referring merely to that, but also to the quixotic lawsuits he launched involving Arkham House that managed even to alienate their ostensible beneficiaries, Deleth's children.

As for Wandrei's work. I quite like a lot of what I've read of it: Specifically, the Sonnets of the Midnight Hours and several of the stories collected in Don't Dream (although there's a fair amount of uninspired hackwork in this volume, as well). As I may have mentioned here before, I think that his tale "The Lady in Grey" is one of the greatest modern weird tales, period. I look forward to reading his Web of Easter Island someday, as well. Lovecraft was quite right in calling Wandrei one of the very few individuals of his acquaintance who possessed a genuinely cosmic imagination. In his biography of Lovecraft, Joshi remarks that Wandrei also had a "brooding, misanthropic streak" that may have "intrigued" Lovecraft (as opposed to Derleth's "generally sunny" disposition). I dare say that we can also see that streak at work in some of the misadventures noted above.

Roger: I don't see either Derleth or Wandrei as "fiends," and I certainly don't regard Don Wandrei, a stand-up guy if there ever was one, as evil. What happened was a breakdown in communications, and this may be laid largely at Barlow's door. Part of the problem was that Barlow's home disintegrated in 1936 with the separation of his parents, and he was bouncing back and forth between Lakeport, Washington, D.C., Providence, New York City, Kansas City, Lakeport, CA, and Berkeley, often leaving caches of papers and books at locations where he could not access them. Add to that his basically dreamy and laid-back attitude with that of two poster boys for Type A Personality, Augie and the Donald, and a certain amount of friction is bound to build up. Derleth had the patience to deal with Barlow. Donald, on the other hand, detested Barlow for his mincing homosexuality (the 1930s were not noted for their tolerance of Gays) and his bolshevik politics. In addition, he and other friends of Lovecraft's were offended when Barlow would pull out the so-called "death diary" HPL kept in the hospital, which he was_carrying around with him_ like a rabbit's foot!Like I said, Barlow could tick people off without even trying. Sam Loveman, Hyman Bradofsky, and W. Paul Cook also had issues with Barlow. Regarding CAS and Barlow, I think that CAS was actually quite fond of Barlow, but found his alleged "looting" of HPL's library and lack of cooperation with Wandrei and Derleth (at least as they saw it) a betrayal of a sacred trust. By the time they were reconciled, Barlow was about to go to Mexico to do the work for which he is remembered today.
Kevin:
Read Dwayne Olson's afterword to DON'T DREAM and you will see that Wandrei's lawsuits against Arkham House were not attempts to make trouble, but rather were intended to preserve something for Derleth's children who, he feared, were being looted by an unscrupulous lawyer. (No, that is not being redundant!) I believe that April Derleth at least understands this, and she has since come to the same conclusion about that shyster.
When Don was hot, he was _hot_. I agree with you totally regarding "The Lady in Gray," and would add "The Painted Mirror" and "The Eye and the Finger" to the list as well. WEB OF EASTER ISLAND has some severe flaws, but portions of it are quite powerful. Wandrei was one of the few practioners of real cosmicism,ranking up there with HPL and CAS. True, he buried a lot of his talent in hackwork, but even some of that is quite exceptional. Both "The Red Brain" and "Colossus" are fantastic works of the imagination, ranking with Stapleton and Hodgson in their evocation of the immensity of space. My favorite stories by him, though, are the Ivy Frost detective tales he wrote for CLUES. Fedogan and Bremer has done one volume of them which is an absolute pleasure to read. They are exceedingly clever fusions of the hard-boiled detective and non-supernatural horror genres.
If Don was a misanthrope, it was because he was also an idealist who saw that mankind could never measure up to those ideals. Best, Scott

Scott:

I did read the afterword to Don't Dream, and that's where I drew my conclusions. I don't have the volume handy, so I can't refer to it to refresh my memory, but, as I recall, a fairly clear picture emerges there of a person who, although he may have begun from noble motives, allowed his ego to get caught up in the proceedings, and persisted long past the time he should have, even to the point where the Derleth children were asking him to knock it off. He's certainly no "fiend", though, I agree, although I suspect that Roger may have been exaggerating a bit for rhetorical effect. I should add that, coming from me, misanthrope is no epithet of abuse; far from it!


I really enjoy the prose-poems in Don't Dream, as well. I haven't read the detective stories that you mention. They sound like fun, although I doubt that I'd prefer them to the more cosmic work. By "hackwork", by the way, I'm just referring to more pedestrian tales, such as one (I can't recall the title) set on a boat. I'm also glad to find a fellow admirer of "The Lady in Grey". That tale brilliantly merges the morbid imaginings of a Poe with the cosmic horror of a Lovecraft; it's quite unique, and I wish that he's written more in that vein. As I believe I observed in the brief Web of Easter Island thread that I started here, Wandrei seems to be a an author of brilliant promise who never quite lived up to it.

P.S. Although I no longer practice, I am a lawyer, so I I'm glad you don't find the phrase "unscrupulous lawyer" to be a redundancy . :-)

Thanks again for the further insights into Wandrei and the Barlow situation. I must admit my references on the subject are pitifully few. (Maybe I've been overly influenced by Joshi!) I'll cut Derleth/Wandrei some slack as I read up further on the thing. And as I've had to learn to accept HPL's racism (a whole new thread!) I guess I'll do the same with Wandrei's homophobia. (Was Derleth ever rumored to be gay? I know Lovecraft told Barlow that he'd like to "knock a little manliness into him (Derleth)".)

I've haven't read much Wandrei, and not in many many years. I'll look for the stories both of you have mentioned as being his best and give them a go sometime.

Roger

Hi Scott Connors,

Wow, I've revisiting a very old thread here (I came off as a bit over-dramatic I think!) but I wonder if you ever did anything with that article on this subject you were working on? Or will that be something you'll include in your CAS bio?

Just curious, thanks,
Roger

Unfortunately, work on the Night Shade Books editions of CAS, along with some personal health problems, has sidelined work on my essay on L'Affaire Barlow. However, it is on my "to-do" (or should that be "to-write"?) list, and I should get to it sometime before the great glacier cover Mhu Thulan or I become a cipher in the Book of Vergama.
What is ironic is that I had written up most of this as an essay c. 1981-1982, but I never published it, and during the intervening years that mss went to the same place that socks go when they enter the dryer.
But thanks for reminding me.
Scott

Ah, thanks for the update Scott. We CAS lovers are greatly indebted to you for the (often thankless) work you've put into the CAS texts. So thanks again for that. Hope your health problems have or will improve.

-Roger

That was one thing I never understood about the Barlow/Wandrei dispute; in Joshi's intro. to Barlow's _On Lovecraft and Life_, it is suggested that the Wandreis' antagonism to Barlow was the result, partially, of Barlow's incipient Bolshevism- and yet wasn't Long, too, attracted to Bolshievsim, at one time?
GC

Who ever said human beings had to be consistent? Don had by this time known Frank Long for some time, and was probably able to shove his leftist leanings into a compartment of his mind. Barlow, OTOH, was a new acquaintance in person, but one who was also gifted with the ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, as when he was showing off HPL's "death diary" like it was a souvenir.
(Damn, I have got to sit down and write this up!)
Scott