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Agenbite of Inwit, whole no. 4, Spring 1944
Page 2
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*********************************************************************** Agenbite of Inwit ... Spring 1944 .... Page Two *********************************************************************** There follow fourteen stories by HPL, most of which are fairly good reading, but, excepting "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", few are representative of what Lovecraft really had to offer in the way of fantastic fiction. "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is an overlong, albeit charmingly written, Dunsanyish fantasy which too often steps from the sublime to the ridiculous. (For the Lovecraftian, it is an example of HPL's humor, a subtle burlesque of his serious flights of speculation.) And the reader will find, in the end, that he has already read the thing, some pages back, in a short tale called "The QUest of Iranion". By itself, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a masterly work, up to the level expected of HPL. Reading it in its entirety, one realizes what a blight pulp-editing is to this type of writing. The Weird Tales version, true, did contain the entire story. Nothing vital was actually ommitted. But Lovecraft tales are not narratives wherein economy of wordage is an asset; the editing, therefore, did constitute a bereavement, just as the "cut" versions of Tschaikovsky's Fifth Symphony deprive the listener. The tales included in the "Collaborations and Revisions" section are all good, solid weird stories, most of which would be accepted as genuine Lovecraft wre they not otherwise designated. At this point, jsut where it seems that the volume is going to turn our well, despite a poorish start, we find another slump. I refer to the "Early Poetry" . The selections herein (and I assume that the better examples of these early efforts where selected) May have some value in depicting Lovecraft's viewpoints and thoughts at that period of life -- but that is hardly justification for preserving them -- least of all in a volume of this nature! For, outside of this very slight service to those who may be interested in Lovecraft's thought processes at that period in his life, these effusions have nothing to offer. And they say there's a shortage of paper! Nearly twenty pages are frittered away on material which has not only nothing creative to offer, but which further gives and essentially unfair and untrue picture of Lovecraft to the uninitiate. (Why were not more of the "collaborations" presented? Two -- no three -- tales done with Hazel Heald: "The Man of Stone", "Winged Death", idea referred to in Commonplace Book, and "The Horror in the Burying Ground", are not included.) The "Appreciation" which terminates the volume, mentions that Lovecraft's early years were ones in which he held many prejudices; there is no need to give horrible examples of these. And, worst of all, there is no counter-balance to this offal presented. No hint, in the material presented, exists that his views gradually altered, became more balanced and in keeping with his vast erudition, his vital interest in life and the world as an object of stufy, and the intellectual integrity which would not permit him to dwell a lifetime in the narrow, and essentially ignorant prejudices which early environment instilled in him. We do not know, of course, if any evidences of intellectual maturing exist in later poems; but if they do not, then, surely, these pitiful specimens should have been cast aside. When we consider that Lovecraft himself felt the necessity of disavowing such material, some of which, while admittedly not his best, was far from poor, then we feel urged to protest the impertinence of perpetuating, in a volume of this nature, material which he could not have indorsed in his last
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*********************************************************************** Agenbite of Inwit ... Spring 1944 .... Page Two *********************************************************************** There follow fourteen stories by HPL, most of which are fairly good reading, but, excepting "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", few are representative of what Lovecraft really had to offer in the way of fantastic fiction. "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" is an overlong, albeit charmingly written, Dunsanyish fantasy which too often steps from the sublime to the ridiculous. (For the Lovecraftian, it is an example of HPL's humor, a subtle burlesque of his serious flights of speculation.) And the reader will find, in the end, that he has already read the thing, some pages back, in a short tale called "The QUest of Iranion". By itself, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" is a masterly work, up to the level expected of HPL. Reading it in its entirety, one realizes what a blight pulp-editing is to this type of writing. The Weird Tales version, true, did contain the entire story. Nothing vital was actually ommitted. But Lovecraft tales are not narratives wherein economy of wordage is an asset; the editing, therefore, did constitute a bereavement, just as the "cut" versions of Tschaikovsky's Fifth Symphony deprive the listener. The tales included in the "Collaborations and Revisions" section are all good, solid weird stories, most of which would be accepted as genuine Lovecraft wre they not otherwise designated. At this point, jsut where it seems that the volume is going to turn our well, despite a poorish start, we find another slump. I refer to the "Early Poetry" . The selections herein (and I assume that the better examples of these early efforts where selected) May have some value in depicting Lovecraft's viewpoints and thoughts at that period of life -- but that is hardly justification for preserving them -- least of all in a volume of this nature! For, outside of this very slight service to those who may be interested in Lovecraft's thought processes at that period in his life, these effusions have nothing to offer. And they say there's a shortage of paper! Nearly twenty pages are frittered away on material which has not only nothing creative to offer, but which further gives and essentially unfair and untrue picture of Lovecraft to the uninitiate. (Why were not more of the "collaborations" presented? Two -- no three -- tales done with Hazel Heald: "The Man of Stone", "Winged Death", idea referred to in Commonplace Book, and "The Horror in the Burying Ground", are not included.) The "Appreciation" which terminates the volume, mentions that Lovecraft's early years were ones in which he held many prejudices; there is no need to give horrible examples of these. And, worst of all, there is no counter-balance to this offal presented. No hint, in the material presented, exists that his views gradually altered, became more balanced and in keeping with his vast erudition, his vital interest in life and the world as an object of stufy, and the intellectual integrity which would not permit him to dwell a lifetime in the narrow, and essentially ignorant prejudices which early environment instilled in him. We do not know, of course, if any evidences of intellectual maturing exist in later poems; but if they do not, then, surely, these pitiful specimens should have been cast aside. When we consider that Lovecraft himself felt the necessity of disavowing such material, some of which, while admittedly not his best, was far from poor, then we feel urged to protest the impertinence of perpetuating, in a volume of this nature, material which he could not have indorsed in his last
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