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Acolyte, v. 2, issue 3, whole no. 7, Summer 1944
Page 25
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FANTASY FORUM Under the new regime of [underlined] The Acolyte, this popular feature will be resumed. Frankly, there was a difference of opinion on the matter; Editor Laney dislikes to use space for readers' letters when these pages could be used for actual articles, Editor Russell on the other hand is a staunch believer in this department, and the reader reaction definitely gives Sam's views preponderance. However, we will not bother to compile ratings. If you folks want this department to continue, it is up to you to give us letters of a nature we can use. FTL-SDR. [line break] ---o0o--- [first line underlined] THOMAS O. MABBOTT, the well-known Poe authority, writes from New York: ...I do not think that Lovecraft was much of a poet. He differed from Poe in that--for EAP was primarily a poet, and even the tales, grand as they are, were not, in my opinion, what his heart primarily desired. And after twenty years and more of study, there is the subject I know enough about to have an opinion. But the only poem of HPL that really gets me is the song in [title underlined] The Tomb; it is the best imitation of the 18th century I have ever read, and the line "Better under the table than under the ground" is magnificent. But Lovecraft I think at bottom loved his prose work. And I feel with Leonardo da Vinci that only what one wishes to do can ever be one's finest work. I think I was the first academic person to review HPL, and I have no objection to telling you that it is one of the things I am proudest of. But there is a corollary to it--Lovecraft involves my greatest regret. I taught at Brown (Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island--eds.) in 1928-9, and was often no doubt within 50 feet of him. And I had once had a hint that one might write to him without offence. But I did not know -- and I never saw him with the knowledge, and I never wrote him. He made one great contribution to pure scholarship -- for he got the whole point of Poe's [title underlined] House of Usher, which in print was not done to my knowledge before he wrote. I mention it only in passing -- but my respect for him includes respect for his criticism. I have never quite been sure [underlined] how great he was; though I do feel he was a great writer. But I know one thing; his fiction shares an honor with the works of Poe and Chatterton. They are the only authors of whom I can honestly say that I enjoyed every word of their fiction, and I have read all easily available of all three. Now my honest philosophy about literature is this -- in a world such as I have from boyhood perceived this one to be, the literature of escape is to my mind of the greatest value. As for morals -- that is all right, and I'm all for it, but one can get all the pure moralising any man needs from the [title underlined] Encheridion of Epictetus, and maybe a bit of Walt Whitman. When people ask me what to read, I answer if they seek moral improvement I recommend those two authors. For the rest, what is harmless and makes this a more pleasant world is what I value. [line break] ----oo0oo---- [first line underlined] BURTON CRANE, newspaper man and playwright, considers the last issue from his office at the New York Times: I like your stuff a lot, and wish I knew more of the field about which you write. Hoffman's account of the visits to Smith was amusing and good but, it seemed to me, needed just a shade more exaggeration than he gave it. He had an excellent conception, but didn't quite carry it through. -- [title underlined] The House At The End Of The Road could have been much more powerful; all Banister had to do was to build up the menace. The menace, of course, was the Roosian bitch who wanted to marry Ward. It wouldn't have been hard to give her an almost hypnotic power over him: in her presence he can't wrench his mind from her physical attri- [centered] -- 25 --
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FANTASY FORUM Under the new regime of [underlined] The Acolyte, this popular feature will be resumed. Frankly, there was a difference of opinion on the matter; Editor Laney dislikes to use space for readers' letters when these pages could be used for actual articles, Editor Russell on the other hand is a staunch believer in this department, and the reader reaction definitely gives Sam's views preponderance. However, we will not bother to compile ratings. If you folks want this department to continue, it is up to you to give us letters of a nature we can use. FTL-SDR. [line break] ---o0o--- [first line underlined] THOMAS O. MABBOTT, the well-known Poe authority, writes from New York: ...I do not think that Lovecraft was much of a poet. He differed from Poe in that--for EAP was primarily a poet, and even the tales, grand as they are, were not, in my opinion, what his heart primarily desired. And after twenty years and more of study, there is the subject I know enough about to have an opinion. But the only poem of HPL that really gets me is the song in [title underlined] The Tomb; it is the best imitation of the 18th century I have ever read, and the line "Better under the table than under the ground" is magnificent. But Lovecraft I think at bottom loved his prose work. And I feel with Leonardo da Vinci that only what one wishes to do can ever be one's finest work. I think I was the first academic person to review HPL, and I have no objection to telling you that it is one of the things I am proudest of. But there is a corollary to it--Lovecraft involves my greatest regret. I taught at Brown (Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island--eds.) in 1928-9, and was often no doubt within 50 feet of him. And I had once had a hint that one might write to him without offence. But I did not know -- and I never saw him with the knowledge, and I never wrote him. He made one great contribution to pure scholarship -- for he got the whole point of Poe's [title underlined] House of Usher, which in print was not done to my knowledge before he wrote. I mention it only in passing -- but my respect for him includes respect for his criticism. I have never quite been sure [underlined] how great he was; though I do feel he was a great writer. But I know one thing; his fiction shares an honor with the works of Poe and Chatterton. They are the only authors of whom I can honestly say that I enjoyed every word of their fiction, and I have read all easily available of all three. Now my honest philosophy about literature is this -- in a world such as I have from boyhood perceived this one to be, the literature of escape is to my mind of the greatest value. As for morals -- that is all right, and I'm all for it, but one can get all the pure moralising any man needs from the [title underlined] Encheridion of Epictetus, and maybe a bit of Walt Whitman. When people ask me what to read, I answer if they seek moral improvement I recommend those two authors. For the rest, what is harmless and makes this a more pleasant world is what I value. [line break] ----oo0oo---- [first line underlined] BURTON CRANE, newspaper man and playwright, considers the last issue from his office at the New York Times: I like your stuff a lot, and wish I knew more of the field about which you write. Hoffman's account of the visits to Smith was amusing and good but, it seemed to me, needed just a shade more exaggeration than he gave it. He had an excellent conception, but didn't quite carry it through. -- [title underlined] The House At The End Of The Road could have been much more powerful; all Banister had to do was to build up the menace. The menace, of course, was the Roosian bitch who wanted to marry Ward. It wouldn't have been hard to give her an almost hypnotic power over him: in her presence he can't wrench his mind from her physical attri- [centered] -- 25 --
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