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Fantasy Fan, v. 1, issue 9, May 1934
Page 138
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138 THE FANTASY FAN, May, 1934 YOUR VIEWS "Mr. Lovecraft has stated very lucidly and succinctly the essential value and validity of the horror story as literary art, and there is no need to recapitulate his conclusions. It has often occurred to me that the interest in tales of horror and weirdness is a manifestation of the adventure impulse so thoroughly curbed in most of us by physical circumstances. In particular, it evinces a desire--perhaps a deep-lying spiritual need--to transcends the common limitations of time. place, and matter. It might be argued that this craving is not, as many shallow modernists suppose, a desire to escape from reality, but an impulse to penetrate the verities which lie beneath the surface of things; to grapple with, and to dominate, the awful mysteries of mortal existence. The attitude of those who would reprehend a liking for horror and eeriness and would dismiss it as morbid and unhealthy, is simply ludicrous. The true morbidity, the true unhealthiness, lies on the other side." -- Clark Ashton Smith "Down through the ages from the birth of romance, and the first emergence of story-telling, comes the horror tale. An inheritance from the age of the birth of romance, a legacy from our savage forefathers whose lives were saturated with spirits and beings, is our attraction to the horror tale. I do not think that people read them because they are an art; the reading public's first desire is to be entertained, and in many cases, this is the first and last aim of reading them. Entertainment! --of the same sort of their forefathers had who crouched around primitive fires, surrounded by invisible conflicting elementals and unearthly personities--a heritage from the past! First of all it must be entertaining, and to truly entertaining, it must be 'genuine' and 'powerful', as Mr. Lovecraft says, and in this sense it will be classified as an art." --- J. Harvey Haggard "I should say that weird fans who have a taste in liking the outre in literature have a superior taste, rather than a morbid one, a sign of an inquiring mind, that is not satisfied with Wild West, Gangster, or sickly mediocre love stories. But to explore the hidden corners of things, whether it be the universe, the mind, or the supernatural, is proving that one's mind is not smug or narrow. If this be madness, insanity, or morbidity, glory in it, you weird and fantasy fans." --- Natalie H. Wooley "There are at least three weird story authors I could list as my favorites... Merritt, Lovecraft, Smith. The only way I can settle the problem as to which of these three is my favorite is to say that I choose Clark Ashton Smith because of the quantity of consistent high-quality stories he puts out. His stories are readable, and I might go so far as to say, livable. The quality of making his yarns livable to the reader is an outstanding one." --- Kenneth B. Pritchard We would like to know your views on any phase of weird fiction. After all, this is your magazine and we want your opinions to be put before other fans. However, we must ask you to limit your comments to less than 100 words, due to small space available.
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138 THE FANTASY FAN, May, 1934 YOUR VIEWS "Mr. Lovecraft has stated very lucidly and succinctly the essential value and validity of the horror story as literary art, and there is no need to recapitulate his conclusions. It has often occurred to me that the interest in tales of horror and weirdness is a manifestation of the adventure impulse so thoroughly curbed in most of us by physical circumstances. In particular, it evinces a desire--perhaps a deep-lying spiritual need--to transcends the common limitations of time. place, and matter. It might be argued that this craving is not, as many shallow modernists suppose, a desire to escape from reality, but an impulse to penetrate the verities which lie beneath the surface of things; to grapple with, and to dominate, the awful mysteries of mortal existence. The attitude of those who would reprehend a liking for horror and eeriness and would dismiss it as morbid and unhealthy, is simply ludicrous. The true morbidity, the true unhealthiness, lies on the other side." -- Clark Ashton Smith "Down through the ages from the birth of romance, and the first emergence of story-telling, comes the horror tale. An inheritance from the age of the birth of romance, a legacy from our savage forefathers whose lives were saturated with spirits and beings, is our attraction to the horror tale. I do not think that people read them because they are an art; the reading public's first desire is to be entertained, and in many cases, this is the first and last aim of reading them. Entertainment! --of the same sort of their forefathers had who crouched around primitive fires, surrounded by invisible conflicting elementals and unearthly personities--a heritage from the past! First of all it must be entertaining, and to truly entertaining, it must be 'genuine' and 'powerful', as Mr. Lovecraft says, and in this sense it will be classified as an art." --- J. Harvey Haggard "I should say that weird fans who have a taste in liking the outre in literature have a superior taste, rather than a morbid one, a sign of an inquiring mind, that is not satisfied with Wild West, Gangster, or sickly mediocre love stories. But to explore the hidden corners of things, whether it be the universe, the mind, or the supernatural, is proving that one's mind is not smug or narrow. If this be madness, insanity, or morbidity, glory in it, you weird and fantasy fans." --- Natalie H. Wooley "There are at least three weird story authors I could list as my favorites... Merritt, Lovecraft, Smith. The only way I can settle the problem as to which of these three is my favorite is to say that I choose Clark Ashton Smith because of the quantity of consistent high-quality stories he puts out. His stories are readable, and I might go so far as to say, livable. The quality of making his yarns livable to the reader is an outstanding one." --- Kenneth B. Pritchard We would like to know your views on any phase of weird fiction. After all, this is your magazine and we want your opinions to be put before other fans. However, we must ask you to limit your comments to less than 100 words, due to small space available.
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