The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies Page 41
This story was completed on December 23, 1932. A synopsis in the Black Book (item 10) outlines the plot. CAS was proud of the result: “I have finished ‘The Dark Eidolon,’ which ran upwards of 10,000 words, and have shipped it to [Farnsworth] Wright. It’s a devil of a story, and if Wright knows his mandrakes, he certainly ought to take it on. If the thing could ever be filmed—and no doubt it could with a lot of trick photography—it might be a winner for diabolic drama and splendid infernal spectacles” (letter to August Derleth, December 24, 1932; SL 198). But Wright rejected the story, complaining that the latter third of the narrative was too drawn out. CAS made some unspecified revisions and cuts: he says only that the cuts “involved no sacrifice of incident, and really served to get rid of a few redundancies and leave more to the imagination” (letter to August Derleth, January 16, 1933; manuscript, Wisconsin Historical Society), but the resulting text is still in excess of ten thousand words. Wright accepted this version and published it in Weird Tales of January 1935; it was reprinted in OST and CF 4. The original text does not appear to survive; the surviving typescript (JHL) is the revised text published by Weird Tales.
1. For Mu, see note 2 to “The Uncharted Isle.” For Poseidonis, see note 1 to “The Double Shadow.”
2. Canicule: a variant of Canicula (“little dog”), an alternate name for Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major.
3. See note 1 to “The Maze of the Enchanter.”
4. Naat is a region in Zothique discussed in the later tale “Necromancy in Naat” (1935; CF 5).
5. An island that had earlier served as the setting for the tale “The Isle of the Torturers” (completed on July 31, 1932): “Uccastrog, which lay far to the east of Cyntrom, was commonly known as the Isle of the Torturers; and men said that all who landed upon it unaware, or were cast thither by the seas, were imprisoned by the inhabitants and were subjected later to unending curious tortures whose infliction formed the chief delight of these cruel beings” (CF 5.67).
6. guerdon: reward, recompense. The archaic word was one much favored by GS in his poetry. See “The Guerdon of the Sun,” in The House of Orchids and Other Poems (1911).
7. See note 1 to “The City of the Singing Flame.”
8. To pash is an archaic verb meaning “to smash; to break into bits.”
9. An emmet is an archaic term for an ant.
10. CAS uses a succession of rare or archaic terms used in chemistry or alchemy: an aludel is a pear-shaped vessel; a crucible is a vessel made of a refractory substance and used for melting materials at high temperatures; an athanor is a digesting furnace used by alchemists; an alembic is an apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, and used for distillation.
11. leman: an archaic term for a mistress or lover.
THE WEAVER IN THE VAULT
This was completed on March 15, 1933, but the genesis of the story may be much earlier. In early 1930 he mentioned a story idea titled “The Ghoul from Mercury” (letter to HPL, January 27, 1930; SL 110). A plot germ survives: “An entity like a gigantic fire-ball, from some alien planet, which devours the corpses in graveyards and morgues, and even breaks into the mummy-cases in museums” (SS 156). Later this idea was transferred to the realm of Zothique, as indicated in a plot synopsis in the Black Book (item 11). The story was readily accepted by Weird Tales, where it appeared in the January 1934 issue, with an illustration by CAS. It was later reprinted in GL and CF 4.
1. syenite: a coarse-grained igneous rock similar to granite.
2. fust: the shaft of a column.
3. concamerated: a word of two distinct meanings: either “arched or vaulted over” or “divided into rooms or chambers.” Probably the former meaning is intended here. See the later use of concameration (p. 204).
XEETHRA
This story was begun in February 1934 and completed on March 21. It is in some sense an elaboration of the prose poem “The Traveller” (EC), in which a “pilgrim” is on a quest to find “the city and the land of my former home.” A plot synopsis for “Xeethra” is found in the Black Book (item 34), perhaps dating to 1932. (Note also the epigraph to “The Dark Eidolon,” purporting to be from “The Song of Xeethra.”) The story was rejected by Farnsworth Wright of Weird Tales in early April 1934, on the grounds that it was more a prose poem than a story. CAS, under the need to make an income from his stories, abridged the tale by about two thousand words, and this version landed with Wright, appearing in Weird Tales of December 1934. It was subsequently reprinted in LW and CF 5. The present text derives from the original typescript, with some incorporation of apparently deliberate revisions from the revised typescript.
The story bears some resemblance to HPL’s “The Quest of Iranon” (written in 1921; first published in the Galleon, July/August 1935). In that story, also set in a fantasy world, a “beggar’s boy” named Iranon fancies himself a prince of Aira and undertakes an arduous quest to find that land; but when he comes upon an old acquaintance who makes it clear that Aira was merely a product of his wish-fulfillment fantasies, Iranon walks into a marsh and drowns himself. CAS asked HPL for the “re-loan” of the manuscript of “The Quest of Iranon” in April 1930 (SL 111) and reread the story in July.
See Dan Clore, “Loss and Recuperation: A Model for Reading Clark Ashton Smith’s ‘Xeethra’” (FFT 318–23).
1. Canopus is the brightest star in the southern constellation Argo Navis and the second brightest star in the sky, after Sirius.
2. murrain: an archaic term for a variety of infectious diseases affecting cattle and sheep.
3. See note 4 to “The Maze of the Enchanter.”
THE TREADER OF THE DUST
This story was completed on February 15, 1935, one of only two or three stories CAS wrote that year. It was readily accepted by Weird Tales, where it appeared in the August 1935 issue. It was subsequently reprinted in LW and CF 5. It is one of CAS’s more successful attempts to fuse an initial realism of setting with a subsequent incursion of weird or fantastic elements.
1. The imaginary title was first cited in the epigraph to “Xeethra” (see p. 208).
2. goety: invocation of evil spirits; from the Greek go¯eteia (witchcraft).
3. Bactria was an ancient region in southwest Asia that had been a part of the Persian Empire before its conquest by Alexander the Great in 328 BCE It later became part of the Seleucid Empire. But Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria, seceded from the empire around 250 BCE and established the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The kingdom was overrun by nomadic tribes around 130 BCE.
4. ankylosed: having become joined by ankylosis (the stiffening or immobility of joints).
MOTHER OF TOADS
This story was completed on March 20, 1937, but its genesis dates to almost two years earlier. In June 1935 he told R. H. Barlow: “I have started a new Averoigne story, ‘Mother of Toads,’ which, I fear, will be too naughty for the chaste pages of W[eird] T[ales]” (letter to Barlow, circa June 1935; manuscript, JHL). CAS’s initial intended market was Spicy Mystery Stories, a pulp magazine that featured stories that fused sexual situations with weirdness or mystery. But that magazine rejected the story. CAS then sent the story to Esquire, which also rejected it. CAS—who had already faced the initial rejection by Weird Tales of another Averoigne story, “The Disinterment of Venus” (1932), that mingled sex and horror, although Farnsworth Wright finally did accept that story after several revisions—reluctantly sent a bowdlerized version of “Mother of Toads” to Wright, who accepted it. (Wright’s reluctance to accept tales of a sexual nature may have dated to the early days of Weird Tales, before he was editor: the May–June–July issue of the magazine had included a tale by C. M. Eddy, Jr. [revised by HPL], “The Loved Dead,” that was a surprisingly explicit narrative about necrophilia. As a result, that issue of the magazine had been temporarily banned in the state of Indiana.) The bowdlerized version was reprinted in the posthumous volume TSS, but the appearance in CF 5 is a restored text based on consultation with C
AS’s original typescript and other documents.
1. An imaginary town; but the name (The Owls) is the title of a poem by Baudelaire in Les Fleurs du mal (for CAS’s verse translation, see CPT 3.131).
2. See note 4 to “The Holiness of Azédarac.”
PHOENIX
In an attempt to elicit new work from CAS, August Derleth asked him to write an original story for his science fiction anthology Time to Come. CAS complied in September 1953 with “Phoenix.” It is derived from a plot germ found in the Black Book (item 81): “An expedition sent from the earth to the extinct sun, for the purpose of rekindling it by means of atomic fission. The expedition is trapped by the tremendous gravity of the dead, solid orb but accomplishes its purpose, after sending back to earth a rocket containing reports, messages, etc.” Time to Come was published by Farrar, Straus & Young in 1954, and the story was subsequently reprinted in a posthumous collection of CAS’s miscellaneous tales, Other Dimensions (1970), and in CF 5.
1. hydroponic: adjectival form of hydroponics, the process of cultivating plants in a nutrient solution without soil.
2. A reference to the Greek myth of Argus (Argos) Panoptes, a creature with a hundred eyes.
3. See note 2 to “The Maze of the Enchanter.”
PROSE POEMS
CAS’s prose poems were written predominantly over two periods—first in the mid-1910s and then in December 1929. They run the gamut in subject matter from languorous beauty to cynical morbidity to clutching terror to pensive philosophy, but all are characterized by a keen sense of the poetry and music of words. The composition and publication history of the prose poems included in this volume is as follows:
“The Image of Bronze and the Image of Iron.” Written in 1914 or earlier. First published in PP.
“The Memnons of the Night.” Written on March 19, 1915. First published in Bohemia (February 1, 1917); reprinted in EC and PP. This piece was dedicated by CAS to his friend and benefactor, Albert M. Bender (1866–1941), a San Francisco businessman and patron of the arts.
“The Demon, the Angel, and Beauty.” Written on April 2, 1915. First published in EC; reprinted in PP.
“The Corpse and the Skeleton.” Written on April 5, 1915. First published in PP.
“A Dream of Lethe.” Written on November 20, 1916. First published in EC; reprinted in PP.
“From the Crypts of Memory.” Date of writing unknown. First published in Bohemia (April 1917); reprinted in EC, OST, PP, and CF 1. The story served as the nucleus of the story “The Planet of the Dead” (Weird Tales, March 1932; LW, CF 1).
“Ennui.” Date of writing unknown. First published in Smart Set (September 1918); reprinted in EC and PP.
“The Litany of the Seven Kisses.” Written in the spring of 1921. First published in EC; reprinted in PP.
“In Cocaigne.” Written before September 5, 1921. First published in EC; reprinted in PP.
“The Flower-Devil.” Date of writing unknown. First published in EC; reprinted in PP. The nucleus of the tale “The Demon of the Flower” (Astounding Stories, December 1933; in LW).
“The Shadows.” Date of writing unknown. First published in EC; reprinted in PP.
“The Passing of Aphrodite.” Written on February 26, 1925. First published in Fantasy Fan (December 1934); reprinted in AY and PP.
“To the Daemon.” Written on December 16,1929. First published in Acolyte (Fall 1943); reprinted in PP and CF 1.
“The Abomination of Desolation.” Written on December 16, 1929. First published in Fantasmagoria (November 1938); reprinted in PP.
“The Mirror in the Hall of Ebony.” Written on December 17, 1929. First published in Fantasy Fan (May 1934); reprinted in AY and PP.
“The Touch-Stone.” Written on December 18, 1929. First published in PP.
“The Muse of Hyperborea.” Written on December 22, 1929. First published in Fantasy Fan (June 1934); reprinted in PP and CF 4.
1. In the title, “Memnons” evokes Memnon, who in Greek myth was a king of Ethiopia and the son of Tithonus and Eos. More specifically, CAS may be alluding to a colossal statue of Memnon at Thebes (Egypt) that sang at dawn when the sun struck it. See also his poems “Echo of Memnon” (1912) and “Memnon at Midnight” (p. 300).
2. Aldebaran is a large red star in the constellation Taurus. The Hyades is a star cluster and the nearest open cluster to our solar system.
3. The Optimates (singular Optimas) were, in the Roman Republic, political figures who sided with the traditional aristocracy.
4. The wine produced on the Greek island of Chios was prized throughout classical antiquity.
5. irremeable: allowing no possibility of return.
6. Acherontic: adjectival form of Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld.
7. Cocaigne (or Cockaigne) was an imaginary medieval land of abundance, luxury, and sexual debauchery. The realm was described in both poems (such as the Middle English The Land of Cokayne [fourteenth century]) and in paintings (such as Peter Brueghel the Elder’s “Luilekkerland”). See also CAS’s poem “Cocaigne” (CPT 1.254).
8. anaglyphs: ornaments carved in low relief.
9. The phrase is from the Bible (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14), referring to passages in the Book of Daniel (9:27, 11:31, 12:11). The passages are variously interpreted as referring to the desecration of the Second Temple (167 BCE), the siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), or the coming of the Antichrist.
POETRY
All poems printed in this book were collected in CPT, the definitive edition of CAS’s poetry and translations. Notes on individual poems follow:
“The Last Night.” First published in Town Talk 972 (April 15, 1911): 8 (in Edward F. O’Day’s “Varied Types: XVII—George Sterling”); in ST and SP. CAS sent this poem (with others) to Sterling on February 2, 1911. GS commented: “. . . you will not set any great value on any of these enclosed poems (good as some of them are), except in the case of ‘The Last Night.’ There is actual performance” (letter to CAS, February 28, 1911; SU 20). GS quoted the entire poem in his interview with Edward F. O’Day, remarking: “This boy has a wonderful gift, if I know anything about such things.”
“Ode to the Abyss.” Written on May 3, 1911. First published in ST; reprinted in OS and SP. CAS remarked of the poem that he wrote “practically all of it at a sitting” (letter to GS, May 26, 1912; SU 47). GS was enthusiastic about the work, writing (letter to CAS, July 13, 1911): “It is a noble, majestic and delightful thing” (SU 27). CAS responded: “Your praise of my ‘Ode to the Abyss’ is far higher than I had expected or dared hope for. Nor can I concede, after more consideration, that the poem deserves it. It does not seem possible to me that I can have written anything having the merit that you assign to this Ode” (letter to GS, September 5,1911; SU 28). GS submitted it to the North American Review, but it was rejected. Through GS’s influence, the poem was quoted in a number of California newspapers. GS also sent it to Ambrose Bierce, who remarked of it: “Kindly convey to young Smith of Auburn my felicitations on his admirable ‘Ode to the Abyss’—a large theme, treated with dignity and power. It has many striking passages—such, for example, as ‘The Romes of ruined spheres’ [l. 57]. I’m conscious of my sin against the rhetoricians in liking that, for it jolts the reader out of the Abyss and back to earth. Moreover it is a metaphor which belittles, instead of dignifying. But I like it” (letter to GS, August 11, 1911; quoted in SU 289n). Elsewhere (letter to Town Talk, August 6, 1912; published in the issue of August 10, 1912), in responding to exaggerated claims of CAS’s merits placed in Bierce’s mouth, Bierce wrote: “Several weeks ago I had from a correspondent a manuscript copy of Mr. Smith’s ‘Ode to the Abyss.’ It seemed to me uncommonly good work and a promise of better work to come. So I commended it—in just what words I do not recollect, but if I said any of the things recently attributed to me I beg my correspondent to cover me with shame and confusion by quoting them from my letter—and filing the letter in proof” (quoted in SU 288–89). See Carl Jay Buchanan,
“An Appreciation of Clark Ashton Smith’s ‘Ode to the Abyss,’” Lost Worlds 5 (2008): 15–18.
“A Dream of Beauty.” First published in Academy (August 12, 1911); reprinted in ST and SP. Also printed in A Collection of Verse by California Poets: From 1849 to 1915, ed. Augustin S. Macdonald (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1914), p. 54. Golden Atom 1, 8 (May 1940): 3.
“The Star-Treader.” Written before October 6, 1911. Original title: “The Sun-Treader.” First published in ST; reprinted in SP. CAS said of the poem: “It was written in a mood of midsummer fantasy, and altogether to suit myself. It is frightfully irregular, both in thought and form, and probably a little obscure” (letter to GS, October 6, 1911; SU 31). GS said of it: “It’s a magnificent thing wonderfully put, and (to me at least) not at all obscure, though it will be far over the heads of the many. I hardly know how to express myself about it, as I like one part about as well as another. But I can say that it’s great poetry” (letter to CAS, December 21, 1911; SU 34).
“Retrospect and Forecast.” Written January 11, 1912. First published in the San Francisco Call (December 1, 1912); reprinted in ST and SP. The ST appearance was reprinted in Current Opinion 54, no. 2 (February 1913): 150. In a letter to GS (December 13, 1912), CAS notes a review of ST in the San Jose Mercury (December 8, 1912) in which the reviewer, John Jury, “speaks of the ‘sinister’ and ‘ghoulish’ qualities of much of my work, and particularly of the ‘vicious spirit’ animating the sonnet ‘Retrospect and Forecast’” (SU 74). In the 1920s CAS translated the poem into French (see CPT 1.283).
“Nero.” First published in ST; also in OS and SP. The poem is a monologue putatively spoken by Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar, 37–68 CE), Emperor of Rome (54–68), who developed a reputation even in antiquity for his decadence and propensity to violence (he had his mother, Agrippina, killed in 59). Facing a revolt from the Praetorian Guards, he committed suicide on June 9, 68. CAS said of the poem that “It is the emperor’s soliloquy after he has watched the burning of Rome” (letter to GS, April 28, 1912; SU 45), which occurred in 64. Suetonius (Nero 38) reports that Nero himself started the fire and sang an epic poem as Rome burned, but other historians dispute the assertion. When finishing the poem, CAS noted that “About four-fifths of it is prose, and not particularly good prose at that” (letter to GS, May 26, 1912; SU 47), but GS said of it, “I rank it higher even than your great odes. It has a maturity, a vertebration, a pertinancy and grasp beyond those other poems, and I’d give a reasonably-sized slice off one of my ears to have done anything so great for this many a year” (letter to CAS, June 6, 1912; SU 48). See Carl Jay Buchanan, “Clark Ashton Smith’s ‘Nero’” (FFT 124–31).