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Pegasus, v. 2, issue 1, Summer 1943
Page 19
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The FAR, ENCHANTED PLACES "When I behold the skylark move in perfect grace toward its love the sun, and, growing drunk with joy, forget the use of wings, so that it topples from the height of heaven. I envy the bird's fate. I, too, would taste that ruinous mad moment of communion, there in heaven, and my heart dissolves in longing." --James Branch Cabell, The Cream of the Jest Life being, on the whole, a monotonous and often rather nasty business it is something less than strange that the escapist conception of paradise is one common to all the races of man since time began. These paradises might be divided into two general groups. One, the paradise created by the refinement of human nature, and two, those composed of an environment in which the exigencies of modern commerce have no part. The subdivisions of these two groups are many, and have played a prominent part in the beliefs and literature of earth's people. The very first chapter of the Christian bible is concerned with man's first perfect place -- the Garden of Eden. And the theme of such an idyllic land has been carried out extensively in fantasy fiction, too; the theme of a culture, an environment lost by the outside world, until a traveler or travelers stumble upon it by chance. Merritt, of course, is the most prominent exponent of this idea. His "Moon Pool", "Dwellers In The Mirage", "{Three Lines of Old French", "Face In The Abyss" -- indeed, there are probably not more than three fantasy stories by A. Meritt which do not deal with lost lands. Nor does the repetition of this particular theme grow tiresome; the theme is too fascinating a one, and the writer too excellent for that. A more literary example of this type of paradise is Milton's "Lost Horizon". This book has the advantage of being unconcerned with Merritt's eternally reiterated "Two-forces-one-good-the-other-evil-fighting-against-each-other-in-los-land-hero-helps-good-side-conquer-evil-and-gets girl." The conflict in "Lost Horizon" is a much more valid from the literary standpoint, mental struggle. However, this latter is rare in pulp fiction, and even Haggard's admirable Allan of "She" is far too busy chucking gentlemen over his shoulder to give such thought to such abstractions. The nearest approach fantasy authors make to mental conflict, is in tales built around people whose spiritual essence goes banging around the country while the body sleeps. Here the hero generally finds his other world much more at- 16
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The FAR, ENCHANTED PLACES "When I behold the skylark move in perfect grace toward its love the sun, and, growing drunk with joy, forget the use of wings, so that it topples from the height of heaven. I envy the bird's fate. I, too, would taste that ruinous mad moment of communion, there in heaven, and my heart dissolves in longing." --James Branch Cabell, The Cream of the Jest Life being, on the whole, a monotonous and often rather nasty business it is something less than strange that the escapist conception of paradise is one common to all the races of man since time began. These paradises might be divided into two general groups. One, the paradise created by the refinement of human nature, and two, those composed of an environment in which the exigencies of modern commerce have no part. The subdivisions of these two groups are many, and have played a prominent part in the beliefs and literature of earth's people. The very first chapter of the Christian bible is concerned with man's first perfect place -- the Garden of Eden. And the theme of such an idyllic land has been carried out extensively in fantasy fiction, too; the theme of a culture, an environment lost by the outside world, until a traveler or travelers stumble upon it by chance. Merritt, of course, is the most prominent exponent of this idea. His "Moon Pool", "Dwellers In The Mirage", "{Three Lines of Old French", "Face In The Abyss" -- indeed, there are probably not more than three fantasy stories by A. Meritt which do not deal with lost lands. Nor does the repetition of this particular theme grow tiresome; the theme is too fascinating a one, and the writer too excellent for that. A more literary example of this type of paradise is Milton's "Lost Horizon". This book has the advantage of being unconcerned with Merritt's eternally reiterated "Two-forces-one-good-the-other-evil-fighting-against-each-other-in-los-land-hero-helps-good-side-conquer-evil-and-gets girl." The conflict in "Lost Horizon" is a much more valid from the literary standpoint, mental struggle. However, this latter is rare in pulp fiction, and even Haggard's admirable Allan of "She" is far too busy chucking gentlemen over his shoulder to give such thought to such abstractions. The nearest approach fantasy authors make to mental conflict, is in tales built around people whose spiritual essence goes banging around the country while the body sleeps. Here the hero generally finds his other world much more at- 16
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