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Fantasy Fan, v. 1, issue 10, June 1934
Page 159
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June, 1934, THE FANTASY FAN 159 Supernatural Horror in Literature (continued from page 155) clever compound of artifice. No unbiased reader can doubt that with "Melmoth" an enormous stride in the evolution on the horror-tale is represented. Fear is taken out of the realm of the conventional and exalted into a hideous cloud over mankind's very destiny. Maturin's shudders, the work of one capable of shuddering himself, are of the sort that convince. Mrs. Radcliffe and Lewis are fair game for the parodist, but it would be difficult to find a false note in the feverishly intensified action and high atmospheric tension of the irishman whose less sophisticated emotions and strain of Celtic mysticism gave him the finest possible natural equipment for his task. Without a doubt, Maturin is a man of authentic genius, and he was so recognized by Balzac, who grouped "Melmoth with Moliere's "Don Juan," Goethe's "Faust," andByron's "Manfred" as the supreme allegorical figures of modern European literature, and wrote a whimsical piece called "Melmoth Reconciled," in which the Wanderer succeeds in passing his internal bargain on to a Parisian bank defaulter, who in turn hands it along a chain of victims, until a gambler dies with it in his possession, and by his damnation ends the curse. Scott, Rossetti, Thackeray and Baudelaire are other titans who gave Maturin their unqualified admiration, and there is much significance in the fact that Oscar Wilde, after his disgrace and exile, chose for his last days in Paris the assumed name of "Sebastian Melmoth." (continued next month) YOUR VIEWS [Readers are invited to make free use of this department. However, we must ask you to be brief, due to the limited space available.] "If the devil suddenly materialized, horns, tail, hooves, brimstone and all, sneaking in at the midnight hour and sat down beside one of us ordinary disbelieving mortals—well, that's my own idea of a good weird story. Most stories react upon one rather distantly. They communicate merely a distant mental fear, and not a physical fear. If I were to choose the most entertaining book I have ever read, I would unquestionably name "Seven Footprints to Satan" by A. Merritt. Just as unhesitatingly I would name him as the insuperable weird writer, since I have never experienced the physical fleshly cowardice of the preternatural, either in actual life or in imaginative reconstruction of fiction, more vividly than when I contacted Lucifer in person in that book. What is the best weird fiction narrative ever penned? Vote one from yours truly goes to "Seven Footprints to Satan." —J. Harvey Haggard "Seabury Quinn is my favorite author for his clever little brain-child, Jules de Grandin. Bless his li'l heart—the monsieur can combine humor with work before one can bat an eyelash. Pouff!—the mystery is solved. The very manner the author uses in his writings suits me best of all—one is held in suspense until almost the end when a few brief explanations solve the whole riddle." —Gertrude Hemken.
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June, 1934, THE FANTASY FAN 159 Supernatural Horror in Literature (continued from page 155) clever compound of artifice. No unbiased reader can doubt that with "Melmoth" an enormous stride in the evolution on the horror-tale is represented. Fear is taken out of the realm of the conventional and exalted into a hideous cloud over mankind's very destiny. Maturin's shudders, the work of one capable of shuddering himself, are of the sort that convince. Mrs. Radcliffe and Lewis are fair game for the parodist, but it would be difficult to find a false note in the feverishly intensified action and high atmospheric tension of the irishman whose less sophisticated emotions and strain of Celtic mysticism gave him the finest possible natural equipment for his task. Without a doubt, Maturin is a man of authentic genius, and he was so recognized by Balzac, who grouped "Melmoth with Moliere's "Don Juan," Goethe's "Faust," andByron's "Manfred" as the supreme allegorical figures of modern European literature, and wrote a whimsical piece called "Melmoth Reconciled," in which the Wanderer succeeds in passing his internal bargain on to a Parisian bank defaulter, who in turn hands it along a chain of victims, until a gambler dies with it in his possession, and by his damnation ends the curse. Scott, Rossetti, Thackeray and Baudelaire are other titans who gave Maturin their unqualified admiration, and there is much significance in the fact that Oscar Wilde, after his disgrace and exile, chose for his last days in Paris the assumed name of "Sebastian Melmoth." (continued next month) YOUR VIEWS [Readers are invited to make free use of this department. However, we must ask you to be brief, due to the limited space available.] "If the devil suddenly materialized, horns, tail, hooves, brimstone and all, sneaking in at the midnight hour and sat down beside one of us ordinary disbelieving mortals—well, that's my own idea of a good weird story. Most stories react upon one rather distantly. They communicate merely a distant mental fear, and not a physical fear. If I were to choose the most entertaining book I have ever read, I would unquestionably name "Seven Footprints to Satan" by A. Merritt. Just as unhesitatingly I would name him as the insuperable weird writer, since I have never experienced the physical fleshly cowardice of the preternatural, either in actual life or in imaginative reconstruction of fiction, more vividly than when I contacted Lucifer in person in that book. What is the best weird fiction narrative ever penned? Vote one from yours truly goes to "Seven Footprints to Satan." —J. Harvey Haggard "Seabury Quinn is my favorite author for his clever little brain-child, Jules de Grandin. Bless his li'l heart—the monsieur can combine humor with work before one can bat an eyelash. Pouff!—the mystery is solved. The very manner the author uses in his writings suits me best of all—one is held in suspense until almost the end when a few brief explanations solve the whole riddle." —Gertrude Hemken.
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