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  • Disturbing the Ant-Hill: Misanthropy and Cosmic Indifference in Clark Ashton Smith’s Medieval Averoigne

    Author(s):
    James Smith (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Cultural Studies, History, Medieval Studies, Speculative and Science Fiction, The Lone Medievalist
    Subject(s):
    Medievalism, Science fiction, Horror, Fantasy literature, Twentieth century, Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937, Poetry
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales, Genre, 20th-century fantastic literature, Weird fiction, H.P. Lovecraft
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6GP1R
    Abstract:
    Clark Ashton Smith—unlike the more famous H.P. Lovecraft—engaged with the medieval as a setting for his fiction. Lovecraft admired classical Roman civilization and the eighteenth century, but had little time for medieval themes. As Brantley Bryant has related, Lovecraft wrote contemptuously that the Middle Ages was a period that “snivel[ed] along after real civilization faded.”2 Smith, however, has a more complex and curious relationship with the medieval. It is not necessary to admire the Middle Ages to be preoccupied by it—Ernst Robert Curtius devoted a great deal of his scholarly life to studying a period that he considered derivative, its achievements reflections of a superior Classical tradition.3 Lovecraft actively vilified the medieval, but Smith basked in its literary poetics and textures while being indifferent to historicism. In this essay, I explore a medieval world created with a fleshed-out topography and fully-formed cultural context serving as a backdrop for bizarre and hideous themes of weird fiction in the face of human insignificance.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    International Society for the Study of Medievalism
    Pub. Date:
    May 2018
    Journal:
    Year\'s Work In Medievalism
    Issue:
    32
    Page Range:
    1 - 9
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    Attribution

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf 32_smith.pdf
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    Activity: Downloads: 426

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