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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 9, Winter 1945-1946
Page 213
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 213 The description of the night-bound temple which precedes this episode is an admirable introduction, and accentuates the weird atmosphere which prevails. Again, in the same World's Desire, Queen Meriamun, holding the casket in her hands, opens it to rouse the dreadful Sleeper within, saying "Come forth, thou Ancient Evil!" ---and from out the small casket sweeps a serpent-form with human head, enlarging as it emerges, and twining itself about the queen's body to whisper evil knowledge in her ear. Superlative scenes such as these abound in this novel, as well as in the others of the She tetralogy. Haggard's abilities as a terror-weaver never stem from artificialities, either of subject-matter or of style. He uses no manufacturered language, no coined words, no unheard-of mythologies, relying on known source-material and a lucid, straightforward prose for cumulative effect. And seldom is he unsuccessful. The opening chapter of Eric Brighteyes, which deals with the witch, Groa, exemplifies well the primitive beliefs and superstitions concerning traffic with unhallowed forces. It is, moreover, similar to the themes which occur in the author's other African novels. At one end of the scale, perhaps, is The Wizard, where an actual spiritual duel is fought between a Christian clergyman and a devil-ridden witch-doctor. Midway through it is the trilogy of ostensibly historical tales dealing with the Zulu kings: Marie, Child of Storm and Finished. Here we meet the witch-doctor Zikali, most aged of all Zulus, before whose magic even arrogant tribal royalty bows and trembles, who watches the ruling house march through the years to its doom. This awesome figure, sitting in the shadows of his dreaded black Kloof, weaving his spells and tossing his bewitched knuckle-bones, appears also in She and Allan. Finally, at the opposite end of our scale is Nada the Lily, where pagan superstition is unrelieved by the presence of a white man; witchcraft and occult forces run rampant; dread prophecies are pronounced; dooms are promised and come to pass. In this novel we meet the terrible pack of the Wolf Brethren, and unseen horrors forever lurk in the background, ever ready to spring from the shadows without warning. In his introduction to Eric Brighteyes Haggard himself gives his views on spectral happenings, saying: The tendency of the human mind...is to supply uncommon and extraordinary reasons for actions and facts that are to be amply accounted for by the working of natural forces... Here, then, we have his definition of the genuinely supernatural: that which is actually normal, yet which ignorance insists on twisting into something occult, not natural. Cleopatra contains some fine writing in the genre. Here are to be found such descriptions as that of Hermachis' mystic preparations for ascending the Egyptian throne, that of his vision of Isis, and of his visitation to the city located in The Place of the Dead. Egyptian magic likewise runs in a strong current through Moon of Israel, where the refrain is always of mighty Forces from Beyond who order, direct and choose---herding the characters relentlessly along to their ultimate fates. A few novels warrant briefer mention. Love Eternal describes a young man in communication with the dead, who is haunted by the spirit of a fair woman. The theme of Stella Fregelius also carries spectral adumbrations. Eerie and exciting, too, is The Treasure of the Lake, where supernatural events baffle Allan Quartermain. No argument need be cited to prove The Virgin of the Sun, a novel of the uncanny, for the pall of the supernatural hangs above each chapter, hinting of a mystic world which man may wonder at but never fathom. And although it is primarily a science-fiction tale, some episodes in When the World Shook---es- (concluded on page 217)
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 213 The description of the night-bound temple which precedes this episode is an admirable introduction, and accentuates the weird atmosphere which prevails. Again, in the same World's Desire, Queen Meriamun, holding the casket in her hands, opens it to rouse the dreadful Sleeper within, saying "Come forth, thou Ancient Evil!" ---and from out the small casket sweeps a serpent-form with human head, enlarging as it emerges, and twining itself about the queen's body to whisper evil knowledge in her ear. Superlative scenes such as these abound in this novel, as well as in the others of the She tetralogy. Haggard's abilities as a terror-weaver never stem from artificialities, either of subject-matter or of style. He uses no manufacturered language, no coined words, no unheard-of mythologies, relying on known source-material and a lucid, straightforward prose for cumulative effect. And seldom is he unsuccessful. The opening chapter of Eric Brighteyes, which deals with the witch, Groa, exemplifies well the primitive beliefs and superstitions concerning traffic with unhallowed forces. It is, moreover, similar to the themes which occur in the author's other African novels. At one end of the scale, perhaps, is The Wizard, where an actual spiritual duel is fought between a Christian clergyman and a devil-ridden witch-doctor. Midway through it is the trilogy of ostensibly historical tales dealing with the Zulu kings: Marie, Child of Storm and Finished. Here we meet the witch-doctor Zikali, most aged of all Zulus, before whose magic even arrogant tribal royalty bows and trembles, who watches the ruling house march through the years to its doom. This awesome figure, sitting in the shadows of his dreaded black Kloof, weaving his spells and tossing his bewitched knuckle-bones, appears also in She and Allan. Finally, at the opposite end of our scale is Nada the Lily, where pagan superstition is unrelieved by the presence of a white man; witchcraft and occult forces run rampant; dread prophecies are pronounced; dooms are promised and come to pass. In this novel we meet the terrible pack of the Wolf Brethren, and unseen horrors forever lurk in the background, ever ready to spring from the shadows without warning. In his introduction to Eric Brighteyes Haggard himself gives his views on spectral happenings, saying: The tendency of the human mind...is to supply uncommon and extraordinary reasons for actions and facts that are to be amply accounted for by the working of natural forces... Here, then, we have his definition of the genuinely supernatural: that which is actually normal, yet which ignorance insists on twisting into something occult, not natural. Cleopatra contains some fine writing in the genre. Here are to be found such descriptions as that of Hermachis' mystic preparations for ascending the Egyptian throne, that of his vision of Isis, and of his visitation to the city located in The Place of the Dead. Egyptian magic likewise runs in a strong current through Moon of Israel, where the refrain is always of mighty Forces from Beyond who order, direct and choose---herding the characters relentlessly along to their ultimate fates. A few novels warrant briefer mention. Love Eternal describes a young man in communication with the dead, who is haunted by the spirit of a fair woman. The theme of Stella Fregelius also carries spectral adumbrations. Eerie and exciting, too, is The Treasure of the Lake, where supernatural events baffle Allan Quartermain. No argument need be cited to prove The Virgin of the Sun, a novel of the uncanny, for the pall of the supernatural hangs above each chapter, hinting of a mystic world which man may wonder at but never fathom. And although it is primarily a science-fiction tale, some episodes in When the World Shook---es- (concluded on page 217)
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