I still remember vividly the first time i read one of his stories. I was twenty, i was at the beach on a sunny August day, and up until then i only knew (as many of my friend did) Lovecraft's works, which all of us were more or less engrossed with.
When i stumbled upon tales such as "The Coming of the white worm" and "Vulthoom" i was so hypnotized and enchanted, and the overall atmosphere was so otherwordly that i immediately cognized (i think with the soul, not with the mind) that i was in the presence of something not simply special, but unique.
And i forgot, yes, completely forgot Lovecraft and his works. I realized i had found something superior (which i wouldn't have considered possible, by the way).
To me, it was similar to the Parable of the Pearl in the Gospel of Matthew: the very moment you find "the pearl of great price", only then you are willing to sell all your other possessions, because they now encumber you.
Someone is going to say that i am exaggerating, because at the end of the day these are just imaginary tales. There are things more important in life to pursue.
This is not tantamount to saying that i regard Smith's works with a religious attitude, nonetheless i do not consider them simply a bunch of literary works, because in my humble opinion they are not. There is inside a profound philosophy of Beauty, similar to the one encapsulated by John Keats in his famous verses
Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all. Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
And i am sure Clark Ashton Smith read "The Poetic Principle" (link) written by Edgar Allan Poe (you havent'? Go now!) and that he espoused all that is expounded therein.
I am sorry, but no one would ever convince me easily that CAS's tales (and especially his poems) are just literary achievements and that they meant nothing more than that for their author.
I venture to say that Clark Ashton Smith arrived at the conclusion that Beauty is Truth, and therefore Beauty is worshippable, worthy of worship. In other words, Beauty may be likened to the Absolute worshipped in Abrahamic religions.
Whereas you bow down to an invisible Entity deemed worthy of worship due to His infinite Goodness, our author would have maintained that a more reasonable approach would be that something is worthy of worship if and only if it contains in itself infinite Beauty and Charm.
What is best in life? The Sublime, the Mystical, the Transcendent. You must seek this, you must seize this. And if it is impossible to seize it, at the very least you must worship it.
This is the sort of answer i would expect from the lips of Clark Ashton Smith.
I may be proven wrong, but in an impossible interview with CAS i wouldn't be surprised at such an utterance on his part.
Beauty and Beauty alone was his aim, because for him Beauty was the same as Truth. This kind of philosophical consideration would not be something new in the history of ideas. As i said, Edgar Poe and John Keats arrived at the same conclusion, and i could cite several others.
What was mundane and "terrestrial" was on no use for him. He was just not interested in this stuff. His thirst was of a different kind, he could not be satiated by anything present in the real world.
Today i want to briefly highlight some CAS's resources (not in english, i am sorry!) which have been recently published that not everyone might be aware of.
The first is Zothique issue 16, entirely dedicated to the Bard of Auburn (170 pages of goodness, you can find it here).
No comments:
Post a Comment