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:

Re: H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival

15 May, 2012 8:00PM by wilum pugmire

“I'm not on any heart transplant list or any such thing. I have a heart doctor and I take me meds, that's as much as I want to do. The only reason I want to live is to share life with the man I love and write Lovecraftian weird fiction until I go… ”

Re: Would CAS Have Met His Match, Vocabulary Wise?

15 May, 2012 7:37PM by K_A_Opperman

“Absquatch,

I ain't joinin' nothin', don't care to, would very probably fail even if I tried--which I wouldn't ;)… ”

Re: Would CAS Have Met His Match, Vocabulary Wise?

15 May, 2012 6:46PM by Absquatch

“Radovarl:

Based on the times and the general context of when he wrote, I suspect that CAS is referring to literary style, and not to the style of academics or philosophers. I think that the targets are those who believe that someone such as WIlliam Carlos Williams is even a poet, let alone a great one.… ”

Re: Would CAS Have Met His Match, Vocabulary Wise?

15 May, 2012 5:05PM by K_A_Opperman

“Well thank you kindly, Radovarl :) I've always had a liking for vocabulary, and as an avid weird poet in the formalist tradition, I find it quite necessary to possess a large vocabulary :) I am in the habit of writing down every word I don't know that comes up in my reading--and when I… ”

Re: Would CAS Have Met His Match, Vocabulary Wise?

15 May, 2012 10:14AM by Radovarl

“K_A_Opperman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got 156 on the first, and was too lazy to take
> the second. In truth, my score should've been
> lower, for I guessed on tons of them, and luck may
> have boosted my score slightly.... ;) I'm quite
> happy to NOT be a genius--I wouldn't have it any
> other way!

I think that… ”

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