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Fantasy Fan, v. 1, issue 6, February 1934
Page 93
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94 THE FANTASY FAN February, 1934 SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE Part Five by H. P. Lovecraft (Copyright 1927, by W. Paul Cook) Just as all fiction first found extensive embodiment in poetry, so is it in poetry that we first encounter the permanent entry of the weird into standard literature. Most of the ancient instances, curiously enough, are in prose; as the werewolf incident in Petronius, the gruesome passages in Apuleius, the brief but celebrated letter of Pliny the younger to Sura, and the odd compilation "On Wonderful Events" by the Emperor Hadrian's Greek freedman, Phlegon. It is in Phlegon that we first find that hideous tale of the corpse-bride, 'Philinnion and Machates," later relayed by Procius and in modern times forming the inspiration of Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" and Washington Irvin's "German Studetn." But by the time the old Northern myths take literary form, and in that later time when the weird appears as a steady element in the literature of the day, we find it mostly in metrical dress; as indeed we find the greater part of the strictly imaginative writing of the Middle Ages and renaissance. The Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas thunder with cosmic horror, and shake with the stark fear of Ymir and his shapeless spawn; whilst our own Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf" and the later Continental Nibelung tales are full of eldritch weirdness. Dante is a pioneer in the classic capture of macabre atmosphere, and in Spencer's stately stanzas will be seen more than a few touches of fantastic terror in landscape, incident, and character prose literature gives us Ma- MY SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION by Forrest J. Ackerman Part Six -- Conclusion Lastly there is the third--and extremely interesting part of scientifilm division of my collection: the sound discs from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Of an evening, it is a great enjoyment to listen to the Doctor with coughs and groans and an accompaniment of whirring thoughts change into the savage Mr. Hyde or before that, to hear him expound his theory of man being "not one, but truly two;" and later to listen to the final battle in which he is killed. As the records are recorded at two or three times normal speed, it proves most interesting (ordinarily, they must be slowed down by a weight or the hand). Run at recorded tempo, one hears character speaking as they would if they were speeded up as such in stories as "A Year in a Day," "The Super-Man of Dr. Jukes," "The Super-Velociter," and "A New Accelerator." The result is startling. In conclusion--I have complete files of The Time Traveller (with issues of The which preceded it), Science Fiction Digest and Science Fiction. And I'm looking forward to every number of The Fantasy Fan. Good luck! lory's "Morte d'Arthur," in which are presented many ghastly situations taken[[?]] from early ballad sources-- the theft of the sword and silk from the corpse in [[?]] pel Perilous by Sir Lancelot, the [[?]] of Sir Gawaine, and the tomb-fie[[?]] by Sir Galahad--whilst oteer and [[?]] specimens were doubtless set forth [[?]] [continued on page 96]
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94 THE FANTASY FAN February, 1934 SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE Part Five by H. P. Lovecraft (Copyright 1927, by W. Paul Cook) Just as all fiction first found extensive embodiment in poetry, so is it in poetry that we first encounter the permanent entry of the weird into standard literature. Most of the ancient instances, curiously enough, are in prose; as the werewolf incident in Petronius, the gruesome passages in Apuleius, the brief but celebrated letter of Pliny the younger to Sura, and the odd compilation "On Wonderful Events" by the Emperor Hadrian's Greek freedman, Phlegon. It is in Phlegon that we first find that hideous tale of the corpse-bride, 'Philinnion and Machates," later relayed by Procius and in modern times forming the inspiration of Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" and Washington Irvin's "German Studetn." But by the time the old Northern myths take literary form, and in that later time when the weird appears as a steady element in the literature of the day, we find it mostly in metrical dress; as indeed we find the greater part of the strictly imaginative writing of the Middle Ages and renaissance. The Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas thunder with cosmic horror, and shake with the stark fear of Ymir and his shapeless spawn; whilst our own Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf" and the later Continental Nibelung tales are full of eldritch weirdness. Dante is a pioneer in the classic capture of macabre atmosphere, and in Spencer's stately stanzas will be seen more than a few touches of fantastic terror in landscape, incident, and character prose literature gives us Ma- MY SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTION by Forrest J. Ackerman Part Six -- Conclusion Lastly there is the third--and extremely interesting part of scientifilm division of my collection: the sound discs from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Of an evening, it is a great enjoyment to listen to the Doctor with coughs and groans and an accompaniment of whirring thoughts change into the savage Mr. Hyde or before that, to hear him expound his theory of man being "not one, but truly two;" and later to listen to the final battle in which he is killed. As the records are recorded at two or three times normal speed, it proves most interesting (ordinarily, they must be slowed down by a weight or the hand). Run at recorded tempo, one hears character speaking as they would if they were speeded up as such in stories as "A Year in a Day," "The Super-Man of Dr. Jukes," "The Super-Velociter," and "A New Accelerator." The result is startling. In conclusion--I have complete files of The Time Traveller (with issues of The which preceded it), Science Fiction Digest and Science Fiction. And I'm looking forward to every number of The Fantasy Fan. Good luck! lory's "Morte d'Arthur," in which are presented many ghastly situations taken[[?]] from early ballad sources-- the theft of the sword and silk from the corpse in [[?]] pel Perilous by Sir Lancelot, the [[?]] of Sir Gawaine, and the tomb-fie[[?]] by Sir Galahad--whilst oteer and [[?]] specimens were doubtless set forth [[?]] [continued on page 96]
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