The Statement of Clark Ashton Smith

   Saturday 6:30 am. Doing a little literary archeology this morning. (Yes, I wake up like this.) While I was reading 'Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill', the correspondence of HP Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, last night, a letter from January 1930 caught my attention. Smith was complimenting Lovecraft's story 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' and he mentioned that he had just written a story, 'The Epiphany of Death', which was his tribute to 'Carter'. He even dedicated it to Lovecraft. So of course I had to pull out both stories for a reread. It's very easy to see how CAS adapted the basic structure of Lovecraft's tale, the nervous, scholarly narrator, the occult expert, the visit to a graveyard and the night journey down into the depths of the Earth. (Though here Smith's protagonist does actually accompany his mentor) There's the last revelation, the twist ending. Lovecraft's story still has more impact, but not surprisingly, Smith's is more dreamy and poetic. (Okay, HPL's was based on an actual dream, but you know what I mean) HPL was quite flattered by the dedication and he compared 'Epiphany' favorably with the works of Poe. Anyway, much fun to read both tales back to back and the letters that spin around them.