The Eldritch Dark

The Sanctum of Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), perhaps best known today for his association with H.P Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, is in his own right a unique master of fantasy, horror and science-fiction. Highly imaginative, his genre-spanning visions of worlds beyond, combined with his profound understanding of the English language, have inspired an ever -increasing legion of fans and admirers.

For most of his life, he lived in physical and intellectual isolation in Auburn, California (USA). Predominantly self-educated with no formal education after grammar school, Smith wore out his local library and delved so deeply into the dictionary that his richly embellished, yet precise, prose leaves one with the sense that they are in the company of a true master of language.

Though Smith primarily considered himself a poet, having turned to prose for the meager financial sum it rewarded, his prose might best be appreciated as a "fleshed" out poetry. In this light, plot and characters are subservient to the milieu of work: a setting of cold quiet reality, which, mixed with the erotic and the exotic, places his work within its own unique, phantasmagoric genre. While he also experimented in painting, sculpture, and translation, it is in his written work that his legacy persists.

During his lifetime, Smith's work appeared commonly in the pulps alongside other masters such H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and E. Hoffmann Price and like many great artists, recognition and appreciation have come posthumously. In recent decades though, a resurgence of interest in his works has lead to numerous reprintings as well as scholarly critiques.

The Eldritch Dark is a site to facilitate both scholars and fans in their appreciation and study of Clark Ashton Smith and his works.

Last 5 Eldritch Words Discussion Forum posts:

17 Feb, 2025 1:45PM by Knygatin

“In the letter from Smith dated "c. 15-23 February 1931", I happened to see two more pages in the Brown John Hay Library files, attached at the end of the letter. What happened to those pages in the book?

link … ”

1 Feb, 2025 12:54AM by Minicthulhu

“Thank you for your answers.… ”

28 Jan, 2025 12:48AM by Knygatin

“Is it overall correct to say that Scott Connors and Ron Hilger continued the unexpurgated text editing from where Will Murray and Steve Behrends left off?… ”

27 Jan, 2025 4:22PM by Sawfish

“"Maybe the author is a little too educated, and a little too conscious of Latin roots."

Hah!

After stewing over this a bit yesterday, and coming to the working conclusion that, while the term, as used, was not categorically incorrect, it really added nothing positive to the sentence, and if anything made it more ambiguous.

It was the… ”

27 Jan, 2025 12:19PM by Platypus

“I am guessing that "absolve" in this context means to set loose or set free. In other words, the Thing cannot act yet, because it is not yet fully formed. It is stuck.

Just a guess, though. I have never seen "absolve" used in quite this way before. Maybe the author is… ”


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