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The Averoigne Chronicles #4
The Maker of Gargoyles
This fine collection of Clark Ashton Smith's work reprints eight of his classic fantasies, including two set in Hyperborea.
156 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Clark Ashton Smith
737 books950 followersClark Ashton Smith was a poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. It is for these stories, and his literary friendship with H. P. Lovecraft from 1922 until Lovecraft's death in 1937, that he is mainly remembered today. With Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, also a friend and correspondent, Smith remains one of the most famous contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
His writings are posted at his official website.
His writings are posted at his official website.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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December 15, 2024Since I'm particularly taken by the art and music of the Middle Ages, The Maker of Gargoyles by Clark Ashton Smith counts as one of my personal all-time favorite short-stories. Thus, I wanted to give the tale its own extended review.
“Among the many gargoyles that frowned or leered from the roof of the new-built cathedral of Vyones, two were preeminent above the rest by virtue of their fine workmanship and their supreme grotesquery.”
The two gargoyles were created by the stone-carver Blaise Reynard. Reynard grew up in Vyones and, on the strength of his artistry, spent his adult years traveling Europe as one of the most preeminent artists working in stone.
Sidebar: What I personally find so fascinating about gargoyles is what they signified for the actual medieval artists, well-trained craftsmen who could let their imaginations soar well beyond any fixed rules set down by the church. The creation of gargoyles was one area that went uncensored by authorities and where the very human capacity to imagine and express itself in all its breathtaking and bizarre, stunning and wacky, fabulous and weird fullness became manifest. Ah, the ultimate breath of artistic freedom in the medieval world.
But there's a conflict in the city of Vyones. Ambrosius, the city's archbishop, loves art and especially appreciates the accomplished artistry of Reynard; matter of fact, if it was up to Ambrosius, Reynard would have received a commission to carve all the gargoyles for the city's new cathedral. However, the people of Vyones take exception to Renard's art, judging the carver in league with the devil since, after all, his two gargoyles exude an unnatural air most sinister, malignant and evil, as if his two gargoyles embody the very stench of the demonic. Besides which, the people knew Reynard from his boyhood, a boy and now a man taciturn and saturnine, a dark-skinned one with slanting, ill-matched eye and bluish-black beard.
Clark Aston Smith employed sophisticated rococo language as magical incantation to transport a reader to dark realms beyond the ordinary. Here's how the author describes the gargoyles perched on opposite corners of a high tower of the cathedral:
“One was a snarling, murderous, cat-headed monster, with retracted lips revealing formidable fangs, and eyes that glared intolerable hatred from beneath ferine brows. This creature had the claws and wings of a griffin, and seemed as if it were poised in readiness to swoop down on the city of Vyones, like a harpy on its prey. Its companion was a horned satyr, with the vans of some great bat such as might roam the nether caverns, with sharp, clenching talons, and a look of Satanically brooding lust, as if it were gloating above the helpless object of its unclean desire. Both figures were complete, even to the hindquarters, and were not mere conventional adjuncts of the roof. One would have expected them to start at any moment from the stone in which they were mortised.”
As we continue reading this tale, it becomes evident the gargoyles mirror their maker, Blaise Reynard. For, as critic Ted Gioia notes, “Even more than Poe or Lovecraft, Smith anticipated a deadly age in which the greatest destruction came not via ghosts or goblins but from deep inside the human soul.”
Destruction, anyone? You're familiar with the expression of how a great work of art can take on a life of its own. Well, the city of Vyones finds out the hard way this simple statement can translate into literal truth.
One evening returning home, two prominent citizens are attacked. One is torn to shreds and the second flees, telling afterward how “a flying monster, black as the soot of Abaddon” swooped down with flapping wings and seized the other with enormous teeth and talons.
And this is just the beginning. The gargoyles continue their murderous rampage, in the streets, in the cathedral itself and finally in a tavern where Blaise Reynard leers with lust at the innkeeper's daughter, Nicolette.
And it's this scene in the tavern where the intimate connection between the gargoyles and the heart and soul of Blaise Reynard becomes supremely manifest, harking back to the stone-carver's reflections on his own creations:
“He would have said, if asked for the reason for his satisfaction, that he was proud of a skillful piece of handiwork. He would not have said, and perhaps would not even have known, that in one of the gargoyles he had imprisoned all his festering rancor, all his answering spleen and hatred toward the people of Vyones, who had always hated him; and had set the image of this rancor to peer venomously down for ever from a lofty place. And perhaps he would not even have dreamt that in the second gargoyle he had somehow expressed his own dour and satyr-like passion for the girl Nicolette — a passion that had brought him back to the detested city of his youth after years of wandering; a passion singularly tenacious of one object, and differing in this regard from the ordinary lusts of a nature so brutal as Reynard's.”
I've read and listened to the audio book for The Maker of Gargoyles multiple times. By the author's use of language, his descriptions, his impeccable timing and arc of plot, I judge this Clark Ashton Smith short-story a work of sheer perfection.
Link for the story in its entirety: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/...
September 28, 2024
A perfect short read for the Halloween season, this is the fourth entry of Clark Ashton Smith's "Averoigne" cycle of fantasy stories, first appearing in the August 1932 issue of "Weird Tales" magazine.
Something terrifying haunts the skies over the city of Vyônes. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the talons of this flying killer is found horribly mangled, or never seen again. Even the shelter of their holy cathedral is violated, as the winged demon goes on a deadly rampage during the liturgy. What is this horrible creature? A demon that has grown frustrated with the supremacy of Christ in this pious town? And is it coincidence that the gargoyles on the cathedral bare an uncanny resemblance to their tormentor?
Yes, you lovers of horror literature, this story adds living gargoyles to the Averoigne pantheon, which includes such classics of supernatural villainy as a swamp-witch, vampires, a satyr, loup garous, phantoms, and all things that go bump in the night. The series is largely noted for its incredibly expressive language that conjure primal archetypes to evoke fear and wonder, but here we have a straightforward monster story. It's not the strongest of Smith's shirts, but it is sure to entertain you on a spooky autumn night.
All of the Averoigne stories had been published separately in pulp magazines in the Thirties. They are loosely connected, so they can be enjoyed on their own merit. These days, if you are interested in reading all of the complete Averoigne entries in isolation, you can easily do so. I recommend "The Averoigne Chronicles" edited by Edward Stasheff and published by CASiana Enterprises, which is the literary estate of Clark Ashton Smith. And if you want a quick synopsis of each individual story in the cycle, I will leave individual reviews for them on Goodreads.
SCORE: 3 glaring gargoyles out of 5
WORD OF THE DAY: Potation
Something terrifying haunts the skies over the city of Vyônes. Anyone unlucky enough to be caught in the talons of this flying killer is found horribly mangled, or never seen again. Even the shelter of their holy cathedral is violated, as the winged demon goes on a deadly rampage during the liturgy. What is this horrible creature? A demon that has grown frustrated with the supremacy of Christ in this pious town? And is it coincidence that the gargoyles on the cathedral bare an uncanny resemblance to their tormentor?
Yes, you lovers of horror literature, this story adds living gargoyles to the Averoigne pantheon, which includes such classics of supernatural villainy as a swamp-witch, vampires, a satyr, loup garous, phantoms, and all things that go bump in the night. The series is largely noted for its incredibly expressive language that conjure primal archetypes to evoke fear and wonder, but here we have a straightforward monster story. It's not the strongest of Smith's shirts, but it is sure to entertain you on a spooky autumn night.
All of the Averoigne stories had been published separately in pulp magazines in the Thirties. They are loosely connected, so they can be enjoyed on their own merit. These days, if you are interested in reading all of the complete Averoigne entries in isolation, you can easily do so. I recommend "The Averoigne Chronicles" edited by Edward Stasheff and published by CASiana Enterprises, which is the literary estate of Clark Ashton Smith. And if you want a quick synopsis of each individual story in the cycle, I will leave individual reviews for them on Goodreads.
SCORE: 3 glaring gargoyles out of 5
WORD OF THE DAY: Potation
January 4, 2022
Reynard created two gargoyles that are displayed on the roof of the church. One looks, murderous and the other filled with desire.
Suddenly people start perishing as a demonic force is believed to be at work in the town.
In the meantime, Reynard is in love with the daughter of the tavern owner.
Reynard will come to understand who is attacking the town and will try to stop it.
I loved this story about created beings coming to life. Gargoyles have always fascinated me and this early horror story brings them wonderfully to life.
Suddenly people start perishing as a demonic force is believed to be at work in the town.
In the meantime, Reynard is in love with the daughter of the tavern owner.
Reynard will come to understand who is attacking the town and will try to stop it.
I loved this story about created beings coming to life. Gargoyles have always fascinated me and this early horror story brings them wonderfully to life.
January 2, 2012
His work reminds me (and many others, apparently) of H. P. Lovecraft, but Smith is the better writer, in my opinion. But alas, Lovecraft will always be my favorite of the two. For the mention of giant penguins, for example.
July 22, 2021
I must admit, I enjoyed this tale *immensely*. Despite its clear nods to many of the prejudices and outdated psychology of the late 19th and early 20th century, it is a deeply evocative story of repression and profound horror that belies its lurid cover.
August 6, 2023
A good story, marred by spoiling itself at the very beginning. Could have been much higher, because the dread, the mounting tension, the drive of primordial destructive desires are captured perfectly.
6.5 or 7/10, depending on how forgiving or forgetful you are
6.5 or 7/10, depending on how forgiving or forgetful you are
June 26, 2018
What happens when the work of an artist gains a mind of its own and begins a murderous rampage? A simple premise, yet very well presented and executed.
March 16, 2022
Una historia que no se soporta en la orginalidad sino en el encanto de las viejas tradiciones que son traspasadas alrededor de un fuego nocturno.
March 30, 2024
Gargoyles of violent volition are the solution to the human condition.
November 24, 2017
A sculptor's macabre creations come to life and terrorize the local town.
May 20, 2021
This is another story where I only "read" (listened to) the short story The Maker of Gargoyles, not the whole collection under the paperback with the same title. And it was also another pick from Tony Walker of the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast.
It's short and sweet, a tale about two Gargoyles that come to life and seek their creator (hence the title), and what becomes of both the creator and the Gargoyles themselves. It's a story with beautiful imagery though, and while you might be able to see what's coming long before the end of the story, it doesn't take away from what it makes you feel when you get there.
Definitely intrigued to read more by Ashton Smith after reading this tale.
It's short and sweet, a tale about two Gargoyles that come to life and seek their creator (hence the title), and what becomes of both the creator and the Gargoyles themselves. It's a story with beautiful imagery though, and while you might be able to see what's coming long before the end of the story, it doesn't take away from what it makes you feel when you get there.
Definitely intrigued to read more by Ashton Smith after reading this tale.
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June 12, 2022Horribly overwritten.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews