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Clark Ashton Smith: A Critical Guide to the Man and His Work, Second Edition Paperback – 21 Mar. 2013

by Steve Behrends (Author)
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Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a major writer of fantasy and science fiction during the first half of the twentieth century. Together with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith was one of the "Three Musketeers" of legendary Weird Tales magazine, and contributed some of the most distinctive (and controversial) fantastic fiction to ever appear in Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories. His "City of the Singing Flame" and "Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" are acknowledged classics in the field, but represent only two selections from a career that produced more than one hundred short stories and over five hundred poems. His imagination roamed the exotic realms of Zothique, Poseidonis, and Averoigne, settings for piquant and colorful tales of beauty and death--stories that value image and atmosphere over plot and action, told in a richly ornate prose-style that has won him ardent admirers, and has influenced such writers as Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, and Bruce Sterling. This Second Edition of the first book-length study of Smith--a substantial examination of his life and works, his artistic evolution and literary heritage--includes a supplementary suite of essays that delve into the most interesting aspects of Smith's fiction, plus Smith's own tale of Mars, "Mnemoka," unpublished in his lifetime, but resurrected here from the fragments of its burned manuscript. Drawing on unpublished materials and correspondence, and conversations with surviving friends and colleagues, critic Steve Behrends paints a portrait of Clark Ashton Smith as a gifted, stubborn iconoclast, one of the last surviving Romantics in the heyday of Realism--a man born outside his time, whose escape lay in the dream-journeys of his fiction and poetry.
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  1. Print length
    220 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Borgo Press
  4. Publication date
    21 Mar. 2013
  5. Dimensions
    15.24 x 1.42 x 22.86 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1479400564
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1479400560
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Borgo Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 21 Mar. 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 220 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1479400564
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1479400560
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 327 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.42 x 22.86 cm

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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Archie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great read. CAS seems to be the most over-looked of the classic Weird Tale authors so this was a very interesting read
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  • James Rockhill
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful critical introduction to Clark Ashton Smith
    Reviewed in the United States on 4 May 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is a welcome, expanded edition of Behrends' work for Starmont, to which the Behrends added further examples of his scholarship. Smith's life, verse, prose poetry, the story cycles and individual prose fictions are treated in a number of chapters that are brief in duration, but packed with Behrends' insights into this man's work.

    The reprinted essay, "The Song of the Necromancer: 'Loss' in Clark Ashton Smith's Fiction" is particularly important in focusing attention away from the common misconceptions that Smith's work delights above all else in depictions of torture, depravity, and decay, a view reinforced by L. Sprague De Camp's facile and oft-quoted remark that "Nobody since Poe has so loved a well-rotted corpse". Smith may well be the Master of Magnificent Dooms, but the lingering impression most strongly felt after the majority of his poems, prose poems, and stories is the melancholy consideration of all that these characters, the world, and even we ourselves have lost.

    My only complaint about this book lies with Wildside's decision to reprint Behrends' Primary and Secondary Bibliographies exactly as they appeared in the 1990 edition, thus ignoring scholarship devoted to Smith from the last 25 years. This does not detract from the value of Behrends' work, which remains clearly written, well-argued, deeply felt.

    Nonetheless, these bibliographies, as they stand, are no longer as useful to the reader of Smith as they were when first compiled, and are a disservice to the many men and women who have devoted their time and energy to Smith studies since Behrends published this study, especially when those studies have resulted in such seminal volumes as the SELECTED LETTERS (Arkham House, 2003), the collected fiction published by Night Shade Press (5 volumes between 2007-2010, and a miscellany in 2011), as well as several volumes from Hippocampus Press, including the collected correspondence of Smith with George Sterling (2005), the three-volume collected poems and translations (2007-2008), and the volume of essays and appreciations on Smith edited by Scott Connors (2006). Beyond this is a variety of worthy material ranging from newly uncovered stories, prose poems, and verse by Smith, variant texts of familiar work by Smith, essays in print and electronic media, journals, and collections.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Several Analyses of Clarck Ashton Smith's life and works
    Reviewed in Canada on 29 September 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It would of course be best to have read a bunch of CAS stories before reading this, (but that's obvious). While essays, reviews, and criticisms of his work do float around the internet and are even coalated in some sites, it is nice to have this wide set of examinations (and sometimes peans to CAS) in one physical copy.
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  • Favier
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enfin réédité !
    Reviewed in France on 13 December 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Rares sont les monographies à la fois critiques et biographiques dédiées exclusivement au poète-écrivain-fantastiqueur d'Auburn.
    Bien écrite, claire et concise.
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  • Chad Eagleton
    3.0 out of 5 stars Clark Ashton Smith has long been my favorite of the Weird Tales triumvirate
    Reviewed in the United States on 18 March 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Clark Ashton Smith has long been my favorite of the Weird Tales triumvirate. So it’s refreshing to see him finally emerge from out of Lovecraft and Howard’s shadow with so much of his work being reissued and thoughtfully discussed. There’s a lot to like in Behrends’ book. His Critical Study hits everything it should: Smith’s life, his poetry, the different story cycles, his stand-alone works, and his reoccurring themes. It’s a very thoughtful and well-researched nonfiction work. Without a doubt, Behrends knows his Smith

    However, I had some issues with it. First, the Amazon synopsis describes it as “a substantial examination of his life and work”. However, the opening chapter on Smith’s life is a mere 25 pages of a 220 page book, less actually if you only look at the biographical facts contained in those 25 pages. The supplementary essays would have been better served worked into the book itself rather than tacked on to the end where they seem more an afterthought to raise page count. Furthermore, the “virgin” essay was pointless and unnecessary without a greater discussion of Smith’s love life for appropriate context. And this book certainly was not the place to include a story of Smith’s that Behrends completed.

    But the worst offense, I think, is for a second edition of a nonfiction book released by an actual publisher to contain a single typo. And this book has several, which absolutely undercut any claim of critical authority for me.
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  • James J. Omeara
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to CAL
    Reviewed in the United States on 19 January 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Perfect for those seeking an entrée, as he might say, into the formidable world of CAL's fiction. Biography, lit crit, guide to further reading, it's all here, and cheap too!
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