In final analysis, I have to agree with the majority
of Clark Ashton Smith scholars and readers: the Zothique and
Hyperborean cycles hold the most gems. The Averoigne cycle, however,
I think has been vastly overlooked.
In compensation, I have probably included too many from Averoigne, but my picks
are also to balance Smith's overabundant dire conclusions, especially in the
succubus stories.
But remember
that the cycles contain only about one-half of CAS's motherlode.
Admittedly, I did not don the headlamp and canary for further
digging after finding a number of non-cycle stories unsatisfactory.
When reading these collections of Smith's short stories,
remember it is not the way he originally intended or expected
his work to be absorbed. This is especially crucial regarding
plot, as many of his tales live within the same formula or ones
shared with fellow writers. Original publication was in magazines
distributed monthly—and
with their own agenda prejudices—so comparison was far less immediate.
But what he lacks in diversity, he certainly makes up for in atmosphere,
or, more specifically, the ability to transpose his readers into
the spectral to live, feel, touch, smell and witness worlds of
truly original splendor, stupefaction, and strangeness.
Personally, I find the best place to read Clark Ashton
Smith is as far into the wilderness as I can get, removed from
civilization and surrounded by the natural world least influenced
or altered by humanity. Out there—as in Smith's best stories—it
is as safe as it is scary, as known as it is incomprehensible,
where your senses and imagination can fill with wonderment as
easily as trepidation.
And, be sure to pack a dictionary.
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