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Fantasy Fan, v. 1, issue 12, August 1934
Page 185
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August, 1934, THE FANTASY FAN 185 SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE by H. P. Lovecraft Part Eleven (Copyright 1927 by W. Paul Cook) V. The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction Meanwhile, other hands had not been idle, so that above the dreary plethora of trash like Marquis von Gross's "Horrid Mysteries," (1796) Mrs. Roche's "Children of the Abbey," (1798) Mrs. Dacre's "Zofloya; Or, the Moor," (1806) and the poet Shelley's schoolboy effusions "Zastrozzi" (1810) and "St. Irvyne" (1811) (both imitations of "Zofloya") there arose many memorable weird works both in English and German. Classic in merit, and markedly different from its fellows because of its foundation in the Oriental tale rather than the Walpolesque Gothic novel, is the celebrated "History of the Caliph Vathek" by the wealthy dilettante William Beckford, first written in the French language but published in English translation before the appearance of the original. Eastern tales, introduced to European literature early in the eighteenth century through Galland's French translation of the inexhaustibly opulent "Arabian Nights," had become a reigning fashion; being used both for allegory and amusement. The sly humour which only the Eastern mind knows how to mix with weirdness had captivated a sophisticated generation, till Bagdad and Darnascus names became as freely strewn through popular literature as dashing Italian and Spanish ones were soon to be. Beckford, well read in Eastern romance, caught the atmosphere with unusual receptivity; and in his fantastic volume reflected very potently the haughty luxury, sly disillusion, bland cruelty, urbane treachery, and shadowy spectral horror of the Saracen spirit. His seasoning of the ridiculous seldom mars the force of his sinister theme, and the tale marches onward with a phantasmagoyic pomp in which the laughter is that of skeletons feasting under Arabesque domes. "Vathek" is a tale of the grandson of the Caliph Haroun, who, tormented by that ambition for super-terrestrial power, pleasure, and learning which animates the average Gothic villain or Byronic hero, (essentially cognate types) is lured by an evil genius to seek the subterranean throne of the mighty and fabulous pre-Admite sultans in the fiery halls of Eblis, the Mahomedtan Devil. The descriptions of Vathek's palaces and diversions, of his scheming sorceress-mother Carathis and her witch-tower with the fifty one-eyed negresses, of his pilgrimage to the haunted ruins of Istakhar (Persepolis) and the impish bride Nouronihar whom he treacherously acquired on the way, of Istakhar's primoridial towers, and terraces in the burning moonlight of the waste, and of the terrible Cyclopean halls of Eblis, where, lured by glittering promises, each victim is compelled to wander in anguish for ever, his right hand upon his blazingly ignited and eternally burning heart, are triumphs of weird colouring which raise the book to a permanent place in English letters. No less notable are the three "Epi-
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August, 1934, THE FANTASY FAN 185 SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE by H. P. Lovecraft Part Eleven (Copyright 1927 by W. Paul Cook) V. The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction Meanwhile, other hands had not been idle, so that above the dreary plethora of trash like Marquis von Gross's "Horrid Mysteries," (1796) Mrs. Roche's "Children of the Abbey," (1798) Mrs. Dacre's "Zofloya; Or, the Moor," (1806) and the poet Shelley's schoolboy effusions "Zastrozzi" (1810) and "St. Irvyne" (1811) (both imitations of "Zofloya") there arose many memorable weird works both in English and German. Classic in merit, and markedly different from its fellows because of its foundation in the Oriental tale rather than the Walpolesque Gothic novel, is the celebrated "History of the Caliph Vathek" by the wealthy dilettante William Beckford, first written in the French language but published in English translation before the appearance of the original. Eastern tales, introduced to European literature early in the eighteenth century through Galland's French translation of the inexhaustibly opulent "Arabian Nights," had become a reigning fashion; being used both for allegory and amusement. The sly humour which only the Eastern mind knows how to mix with weirdness had captivated a sophisticated generation, till Bagdad and Darnascus names became as freely strewn through popular literature as dashing Italian and Spanish ones were soon to be. Beckford, well read in Eastern romance, caught the atmosphere with unusual receptivity; and in his fantastic volume reflected very potently the haughty luxury, sly disillusion, bland cruelty, urbane treachery, and shadowy spectral horror of the Saracen spirit. His seasoning of the ridiculous seldom mars the force of his sinister theme, and the tale marches onward with a phantasmagoyic pomp in which the laughter is that of skeletons feasting under Arabesque domes. "Vathek" is a tale of the grandson of the Caliph Haroun, who, tormented by that ambition for super-terrestrial power, pleasure, and learning which animates the average Gothic villain or Byronic hero, (essentially cognate types) is lured by an evil genius to seek the subterranean throne of the mighty and fabulous pre-Admite sultans in the fiery halls of Eblis, the Mahomedtan Devil. The descriptions of Vathek's palaces and diversions, of his scheming sorceress-mother Carathis and her witch-tower with the fifty one-eyed negresses, of his pilgrimage to the haunted ruins of Istakhar (Persepolis) and the impish bride Nouronihar whom he treacherously acquired on the way, of Istakhar's primoridial towers, and terraces in the burning moonlight of the waste, and of the terrible Cyclopean halls of Eblis, where, lured by glittering promises, each victim is compelled to wander in anguish for ever, his right hand upon his blazingly ignited and eternally burning heart, are triumphs of weird colouring which raise the book to a permanent place in English letters. No less notable are the three "Epi-
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