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Post by Dr Strange on May 17, 2020 13:14:32 GMT
I hope CAS devotees will forgive me the liberty of using his term 'Dluku' for the bestial Mercurian natives... I suggest that CAS was in touch with a dimension of truth OK, I'll bite... what "truth" would that be?
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Post by Knygathin on May 17, 2020 14:11:31 GMT
I hope CAS devotees will forgive me the liberty of using his term 'Dluku' for the bestial Mercurian natives... I suggest that CAS was in touch with a dimension of truth OK, I'll bite... what "truth" would that be?
That suggestion above was part of my original quote.
I think it is beyond our reach of understanding. CAS had a big head, and presumably a much larger brain than average.
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Post by Dr Strange on May 17, 2020 14:24:58 GMT
OK, I'll bite... what "truth" would that be?
That suggestion above was part of my original quote.
I think it is beyond our reach of understanding. CAS had a big head, and presumably a much larger brain than average.
It just seems an odd thing to say. Or quote. Google tells me that the human colonists on Mercury called these creatures "Dlukus" because that was a sound they often made. Whoever posted the above acknowledges that this is explained in the story, but they also avoid giving the explanation... and then they suggest that it somehow shows that "CAS was in touch with a dimension of truth which he perceived as fiction". Like I said, it's an odd thing to say. Or quote, if you don't know what they mean by it.
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Post by Knygathin on May 17, 2020 15:26:35 GMT
... it's an odd thing to say. Or quote, if you don't know what they mean by it. Fair enough. I couldn't quite follow that first part about "Dlukus" myself, but hoped someone else would find it meaningful. Perhaps I should have aborted it. My attention was mainly focused on the last part of the sentence. When reading CAS, especially his poetry, I have always felt that he was intellectually towering way above me, that he understood and channeled mysterious things I am unable to grasp.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 17, 2020 15:34:37 GMT
I couldn't quite follow that first part about "Dlukus" myself, but hoped someone else would find it meaningful. Perhaps I should have aborted it. Abort and reboot.
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Post by Knygathin on May 17, 2020 15:44:59 GMT
I couldn't quite follow that first part about "Dlukus" myself, but hoped someone else would find it meaningful. Perhaps I should have aborted it. Abort and reboot. Alas, too late, too late!
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Post by andydecker on May 17, 2020 15:58:25 GMT
When reading CAS, especially his poetry, I have always felt that he was intellectually towering way above me, that he understood and channeled mysterious things I am unable to grasp. I have often read that CAS poetry is so marvelous. But I have to confess that poetry in genre does nothing for me. I guess this is mainly the language barrier, but I am completly tone-deaf to it. I have read some poetry by Howard and Lovecraft, but I couldn't take it seriously. If I stumble upon something written in verse in a collection or anthology, I ignore it. In this I am too narrow minded, I know, but I have a hard time with the idea that poetry about imaginary worlds has any relevance at all.
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Post by Dr Strange on May 17, 2020 15:58:55 GMT
... it's an odd thing to say. Or quote, if you don't know what they mean by it. Fair enough. I couldn't quite follow that first part about "Dlukus" myself, but hoped someone else would find it meaningful. Perhaps I should have aborted it. My attention was mainly focused on the last part of the sentence. When reading CAS, especially his poetry, I have always felt that he was intellectually towering way above me, that he understood and channeled mysterious things I am unable to grasp. And that is fair enough too... sorry, but it wasn't clear to me that it was a quote from elsewhere. For what it's worth, I have enjoyed some CAS, though I've only read some of his better known stories. He is good at "atmosphere", but seems to be a rather odd mix of pessimist and romantic. Have you ever read any R. Murray Gilchrist? He tries something similar, I think, but less successfully - vaultofevil.proboards.com/post/19767/thread
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Post by Knygathin on May 17, 2020 19:23:53 GMT
I have not heard of Gilchrist before. The link sounded mildly inspiring. If one leaves and forgets a newly acquired book under the dripping ceiling, it couldn't have been a keeper. Reminds me how I felt about my Wordsworth Oliver Onions collection. It hastily passed out of my life after a quick divorce. Me and Onions couldn't get along.'
There are so many different writers. Not enough time. I must somehow be discriminate - only the very best will do. My time shall not be allowed to be wasted! A writer should turn himself inside out completely, be one with the spirits and with the cosmos; no compromise, no filler, no lazy mundane bridging, allowed. Every single sentence must be pure inspired ecstasy! Rarely have I encountered such fully.
I counted the writers in Fontana's Great Ghost Stories series, and they added up to 170 individuals!
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Post by cauldronbrewer on May 17, 2020 19:44:25 GMT
But I have to confess that poetry in genre does nothing for me. I guess this is mainly the language barrier, but I am completly tone-deaf to it. I have read some poetry by Howard and Lovecraft, but I couldn't take it seriously. If I stumble upon something written in verse in a collection or anthology, I ignore it. In this I am too narrow minded, I know, but I have a hard time with the idea that poetry about imaginary worlds has any relevance at all. English is my first (and pretty much only) language, and I feel the same way.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 17, 2020 19:51:14 GMT
Every single sentence must be pure inspired ecstasy! You have chanced upon the principle that guides my work.
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Post by helrunar on May 17, 2020 21:46:34 GMT
Clark Ashton Smith wrote one of my favorite poems in any language, Nyctalops. I have used it in ritual contexts because I find the words and what they do to my mind so compelling.
But I have no problem or issue at all with those who have no use for this poetry, or for that matter, any poetry. To each his(her, their) own.
cheers, Steve
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Post by Knygathin on May 18, 2020 4:48:19 GMT
I have often read that CAS poetry is so marvelous. But I have to confess that poetry in genre does nothing for me. I guess this is mainly the language barrier, but I am completly tone-deaf to it. I have read some poetry by Howard and Lovecraft, but I couldn't take it seriously. If I stumble upon something written in verse in a collection or anthology, I ignore it. In this I am too narrow minded, I know, but I have a hard time with the idea that poetry about imaginary worlds has any relevance at all. I agree to some extent. For me poetry has the function of bringing me closer to some profound principle, or connecting together corresponding relations in Life and Nature, to clarify and comfortably bring home something I have vaguely appreciated, so I can appreciate it even more. I like some of William Wordsworth's inspired poems, because they are straightforward and relate to Nature.
But I find poetry less effective at painting fantastic milieus. Prose works much better for that. Or poetic prose, prose poetry, ecstatic writing! I rarely read poems at all.
I do enjoy some of Lovecraft's poems, especially his celebrations of the year's different seasons, and "Old Christmas".
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Post by Dr Strange on May 18, 2020 12:15:56 GMT
I have often read that CAS poetry is so marvelous. But I have to confess that poetry in genre does nothing for me. I guess this is mainly the language barrier, but I am completly tone-deaf to it. I have read some poetry by Howard and Lovecraft, but I couldn't take it seriously. If I stumble upon something written in verse in a collection or anthology, I ignore it. In this I am too narrow minded, I know, but I have a hard time with the idea that poetry about imaginary worlds has any relevance at all.
I agree to some extent. For me poetry has the function of bringing me closer to some profound principle, or connecting together corresponding relations in Life and Nature, to clarify and comfortably bring home something I have vaguely appreciated, so I can appreciate it even more. I like some of William Wordsworth's inspired poems, because they are straightforward and relate to Nature. Yes, that's how I generally feel about poetry too, though I was a bit more open to it when I was younger. For Nature poetry, I'd go to Dylan Thomas, though. Like Andy, I can't really take CAS or HPL seriously as poets; it just seems so contrived, as if they were playing at being over-opiated Romantic poets or Victorian decadents. Anyone know... Did Weird Tales pay the same for poems and stories (e.g. the same number of cents per word, or whatever)?
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 18, 2020 14:03:20 GMT
I can't really take CAS or HPL seriously as poets; it just seems so contrived, as if they were playing at being over-opiated Romantic poets or Victorian decadents. As if?
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