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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 249
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 249 LEWIS, L. A. Tales of the Grotesque London: Philip Allan & Co., Ltd., 1934. 244pp. 19 cm. 1/-. Synoptic review: This volume is one of the famed "Creeps" series, and easily lives up to its subtitle, "a Collection of Uneasy Tales." The author shows a considerable range of originality in some of his concepts, and, even in the inevitable reworking of more familiar gambits, some evidence of a certain freshness of viewpoint and craftsmanship is seen. Not that Lewis makes any serious pretensions to a distinct literary style. Most of the writing is rather undistinguished and ordinary. There is no striving for unusual word effects or exotic patterns of atmospheric color: clearly, he has a job to do and that is writing stories. Yet the fact remains that the majority of the ten tale are worthy of a second perusal and several really get under the reader's skin; a couple will not easily be forgotten. I should hazard a guess that the inspiration for many of these efforts stem from actual nightmares---reminiscent of Edward Lucas White and his remarks in the afterword of his memorable Lukundoo. The internal evidence of the stories all helps to strengthen this assertion: I am sure that no alert reader can avoid coming to a like conclusion, even at a single perusal. The dream-like quality is first apparent in "Lost Keep," which tells of Peter Hunt's strange inheritance, a tiny scale-model of a medieval castle and a most peculiar lens through which to observe its details. An ancient curse accompanied these articles, a curse which stated that whomsoever solved the riddle of the "lost keep" would find "death in the house of his fathers at the hand of his son." How Peter cleared up the enigma which had baffled his ancestors for untold generations, the strange unearthly realm into which he was drawn, the evil he did and the final fulfillment of the arcane prophecy to the letter all combine to yield a gripping and uncanny fantasy of intriguing interest. Personally, I have always felt that the most potent weird concept imaginable is that of a recurring dream being later remorselessly confirmed in real life. An excellent example comes to mind in E. F. Benson's exquisitely wrought story "The Face." In the present collection, the outstanding and indeed the most genuinely horrible one is "Hybrid," which makes good use of this idea in a new way. Here the nightmare dream-entity grows more and more substantial and finally becomes reality---taking possession of the unhappy dreamer's body. The wife of the one possessed states its succinctly, thus: "His body is mad, but his mind is sane!" The displaced, sane mind stands outside and looks in horror upon the stolen body as the monstrosity which originally haunted it. Even as Lovecraft liked to employ the concept of a blasphemous union between human and aquatic elements, so in this story Lewis postulates a combining of the bird world with that of homo sapiens, and with telling effect. Dr. Xavier Cole had committed an unholy deed in an earlier incarnation and had brought out of the limbo of time a nameless abomination which could be appeased only by passing it on to the following generation. It was with acute horror that Cole one day remembered how the priests of old had burned him at the stake, centuries ago, after forcing him to witness the destruction and burial of the monster's initial manifestation. The author projects this idea to its most incredible extremes and narrowly skirts that knife-edged line between soul-freezing horror and rank nonsense. I believe he manages to remain on the right side of the border, however, and certainly he culminates "Hybrid" with a punch line that should leave the reader pleasantly gasping and delighted. In a somewhat lighter vein is "Tower of Moab," which can be taken lit-
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 249 LEWIS, L. A. Tales of the Grotesque London: Philip Allan & Co., Ltd., 1934. 244pp. 19 cm. 1/-. Synoptic review: This volume is one of the famed "Creeps" series, and easily lives up to its subtitle, "a Collection of Uneasy Tales." The author shows a considerable range of originality in some of his concepts, and, even in the inevitable reworking of more familiar gambits, some evidence of a certain freshness of viewpoint and craftsmanship is seen. Not that Lewis makes any serious pretensions to a distinct literary style. Most of the writing is rather undistinguished and ordinary. There is no striving for unusual word effects or exotic patterns of atmospheric color: clearly, he has a job to do and that is writing stories. Yet the fact remains that the majority of the ten tale are worthy of a second perusal and several really get under the reader's skin; a couple will not easily be forgotten. I should hazard a guess that the inspiration for many of these efforts stem from actual nightmares---reminiscent of Edward Lucas White and his remarks in the afterword of his memorable Lukundoo. The internal evidence of the stories all helps to strengthen this assertion: I am sure that no alert reader can avoid coming to a like conclusion, even at a single perusal. The dream-like quality is first apparent in "Lost Keep," which tells of Peter Hunt's strange inheritance, a tiny scale-model of a medieval castle and a most peculiar lens through which to observe its details. An ancient curse accompanied these articles, a curse which stated that whomsoever solved the riddle of the "lost keep" would find "death in the house of his fathers at the hand of his son." How Peter cleared up the enigma which had baffled his ancestors for untold generations, the strange unearthly realm into which he was drawn, the evil he did and the final fulfillment of the arcane prophecy to the letter all combine to yield a gripping and uncanny fantasy of intriguing interest. Personally, I have always felt that the most potent weird concept imaginable is that of a recurring dream being later remorselessly confirmed in real life. An excellent example comes to mind in E. F. Benson's exquisitely wrought story "The Face." In the present collection, the outstanding and indeed the most genuinely horrible one is "Hybrid," which makes good use of this idea in a new way. Here the nightmare dream-entity grows more and more substantial and finally becomes reality---taking possession of the unhappy dreamer's body. The wife of the one possessed states its succinctly, thus: "His body is mad, but his mind is sane!" The displaced, sane mind stands outside and looks in horror upon the stolen body as the monstrosity which originally haunted it. Even as Lovecraft liked to employ the concept of a blasphemous union between human and aquatic elements, so in this story Lewis postulates a combining of the bird world with that of homo sapiens, and with telling effect. Dr. Xavier Cole had committed an unholy deed in an earlier incarnation and had brought out of the limbo of time a nameless abomination which could be appeased only by passing it on to the following generation. It was with acute horror that Cole one day remembered how the priests of old had burned him at the stake, centuries ago, after forcing him to witness the destruction and burial of the monster's initial manifestation. The author projects this idea to its most incredible extremes and narrowly skirts that knife-edged line between soul-freezing horror and rank nonsense. I believe he manages to remain on the right side of the border, however, and certainly he culminates "Hybrid" with a punch line that should leave the reader pleasantly gasping and delighted. In a somewhat lighter vein is "Tower of Moab," which can be taken lit-
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