Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), perhaps best known today for his association with H.P Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, is in his own right a unique master of fantasy, horror and science-fiction. Highly imaginative, his genre-spanning visions of worlds beyond, combined with his profound understanding of the English language, have inspired an ever -increasing legion of fans and admirers.
For most of his life, he lived in physical and intellectual isolation in Auburn, California (USA). Predominantly self-educated with no formal education after grammar school, Smith wore out his local library and delved so deeply into the dictionary that his richly embellished, yet precise, prose leaves one with the sense that they are in the company of a true master of language.
Though Smith primarily considered himself a poet, having turned to prose for the meager financial sum it rewarded, his prose might best be appreciated as a "fleshed" out poetry. In this light, plot and characters are subservient to the milieu of work: a setting of cold quiet reality, which, mixed with the erotic and the exotic, places his work within its own unique, phantasmagoric genre. While he also experimented in painting, sculpture, and translation, it is in his written work that his legacy persists.
During his lifetime, Smith's work appeared commonly in the pulps alongside other masters such H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and E. Hoffmann Price and like many great artists, recognition and appreciation have come posthumously. In recent decades though, a resurgence of interest in his works has lead to numerous reprintings as well as scholarly critiques.
The Eldritch Dark is a site to facilitate both scholars and fans in their appreciation and study of Clark Ashton Smith and his works.
3 Mar, 2026 8:16PM by DoctorMike
“Hi Platypus,
I was so sorry to read of the passing of Professor Dorman, with whom I would have loved to correspond. This conversation took place some years ago and I find myself wondering if anything is known as per the policing of the copyrights of CAS's work at the present time? Is CASiana an ongoing… ”
18 Jan, 2026 3:46AM by JeanAlain
“Knygatin Wrote:
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> It is not particularly a problem in
> French translations, but this reader happens to be
> French and is extremely upset over the bad
> translation of A. Merritt's masterpiece The Meal
> Monster. See post #5:
> link
Yes, but in this case it was also due to the publisher's constraints not to exceed a certain number… ”
11 Jan, 2026 1:51AM by Knygatin
“Here is another reader who is unhappy with bad translations. It is not particularly a problem in French translations, but this reader happens to be French and is extremely upset over the bad translation of A. Merritt's masterpiece The Meal Monster. See post #5: link … ”
4 Jan, 2026 11:36AM by Knygatin
“Most persons have at some time had at least a light brush with the paranormal.
When (and if) science finally catches up with the mystical and supernatural, it will have a rational explanation and no longer be thought of as supernatural, only as subtle energies we have heretofore been unable to measure. This was Lovecraft's stance,… ”
2 Jan, 2026 12:53PM by Martinus
“Knygatin Wrote:
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> It also makes me wonder, based on the serious
> scientific approach, if Lovecraft did not after
> all believe in the possibility of ghostly
> phenomena as, although yet unsolved, obscure
> components of his mechanistic universe.
No.… ”