The Evolution of the Weird Tale eBook S T Joshi
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S. T. Joshi is one of the premier critics of supernatural fiction. His pioneering research on H. P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, and other writers has set a standard of scholarship that few have equaled. In The Evolution of the Weird Tale -- an informal follow-up to his earlier studies, The Weird Tale (1990) and The Modern Weird Tale (2001)--Joshi assesses a wide array of American and British supernatural writers of the past century or more, meticulously scrutinizing their weird work and gauging their place in the canon of horror fiction.
Such American writers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries as W. C. Morrow, F. Marion Crawford, Robert W. Chambers, and Edward Lucas White come under scrutiny, as well as their British counterparts E. F. Benson, Rudyard Kipling, and L. P. Hartley. Joshi includes substantial essays on Lovecraft and his disciples Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, and Frank Belknap Long.
In a provocative section on contemporary writers, Joshi dissects the vampire novels of Les Daniels, the short stories of "Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling, David J. Schow and the school of splatterpunk, and the novels and tales of Poppy Z. Brite. All in all, Joshi has provided some of the most in-depth analyses of both classic and modern weird writers ever written.
The Evolution of the Weird Tale eBook S T Joshi
If for no other reason, I would recommend THE EVOLUTION OF THE WEIRD TALE to readers interested in the genre for its first two sections: 'Some Americans of the Golden Age' and 'Some Englishmen of the Golden Age'. While a few of these names were familiar to me, Mr. Joshi's essays accomplish exactly what he sets out in his introduction as his goal - "I am writing here as an advocate...someone who is convinced of the worth of the writers he is treating and who hopes to convey that worth to others.'Before I go any further, here's a list of the writers he 'treats' in these first two sections:
W.C. Morrow
Robert W. Chambers
F. Marion Crawford
Edward Lucas White
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Rudyard Kipling
E.F. Benson
L.P. Hartley
Many of these essays began as introductions to collections of tales, or were first published as magazine pieces elsewhere, though Mr. Joshi states that they were all revised for this edition. So, more than just boosterism, he arranges this material to conform to the theme of the evolving form of the weird tale and how these writers built on one another's work. Along with biographical and bibliographic information of each writer, he looks for a philosophy or world view of these authors where it touches on their 'weird' output, in order to show how others who came later might have used their predecessors as springboards. In most of the golden agers he seldom finds any central ideas holding together their weird work, though in the remaining two sections--'H.P. Lovecraft and his Influence' and 'Contemporaries'--he sees more to go on.
Mr. Joshi has done a lot of writing and research into this subject, so I'm more than willing to take his word for things, but there's something about his academic approach to the middle section (Lovecraft and his Influences) that sort of sucks the interest out of these stories for me. I have no doubt Lovecraft had a philosophy behind his stories, and it isn't without interest to read his thoughts on the 'weird' tale, but to dissect his 'philosophy of materialism' in the same manner one might dissect John Maynard Keynes 'philosophy of economics' seems either to elevate Lovecraft into a strata he doesn't belong in, or else to place the entire field of literature on a level plain. Don't get me wrong--I can think of few authors who made a greater impression on me than Lovecraft when I discovered him as a teenager. But it simply doesn't add any enjoyment to my memory of these stories to critique them in the manner Mr. Joshi does here--I think they operate on too visceral a level to bear that kind of scrutiny.
The last section moves past Lovecraft and his immediate influences to contemporary practitioners, and discusses authors I probably would not have associated with the idea of the 'weird' tale. I wish Mr. Joshi had provided a definition for what he believes constitutes 'weird'. By context, it's obvious he means something much more specific than the generic appellation, 'boy, was that weird', though in some respects, that might be about as good a definition as there can be. Still, the authors Mr. Joshi introduces in this last section--Rod Serling, Dennis Etchison, L.P. Davies, Les Daniels, David J. Schow and Poppy Z. Brite--give an indirect indication of what he believes the future of the genre consists of, and how it has moved beyond the ideas presented in the classics. Mr. Joshi is less than enthusiastic about much of this output.
I was grateful to the author for introducing me to several of the writers in the first two sections, as well as for the essay on L.P. Davies, which made the collection valuable to me and something I would recommend to those interested in some of the more obscure authors in this genre, though several of the other essays were more hit-and-miss. Kindle readers will be able to find many of the golden age authors in free formats in the kindle store.
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The Evolution of the Weird Tale eBook S T Joshi Reviews
Despite the fairly imposing exterior, Joshi's The Evolution of the Weird Tale is an exceedingly approachable, enjoyable book. It collects a dozen essays that he's written on various "weird tale" authors - from big names like Lovecraft, Kipling and Leiber to near-forgotten talents like Chambers (my favorite) and Benson. As well as providing a strong definitional introduction to the genre, this book serves as an invaluable survey of its origins and evolutions, all the way through to the present day.
Critically, Joshi probably deserves a bit of flak for being too approachable. He writes in a conversant, human vernacular and very clearly loves his subject matter. There's an occasional tendency to gloss over some of the dodgy aspects (race & gender politics) of his subjects, but most readers will undoubtedly have reconciled themselves to those issues on that coming in to the book already.
Literary criticism, even of something as entertaining as the weird tale, can tend towards the dry. By making his work approachable (without sacrificing the scholarly rigour), Joshi not only provides the reader with a good book, but also aids in the enjoyment of all the books he references as well. If anything, I should resent him for giving me such a lengthy reading list...
5.5" x 8.5" softcover book. 216 pages.
The name S. T. Joshi has become synonymous with quality scholarly investigation. By spear-heading the campaign to uncover and correct the life as well as works of H. P. Lovecraft, Joshi won rapid recognition by fans of the weird. But it was his ability to "fuse the biographical, critical, and philosophical approaches" within essays insured that this recognition was deserved and lasting. There are people that will buy any book bearing Joshi's name, for they know it indicates both an interesting read and quality content.
The Evolution of the Weird Tale, as the name implies, is a comprehensive overview of essays regarding specific authors from the Golden Age of weird fiction ("the period roughly spanning the years 1880-1990") thru Lovecraft and his influence thru to the contemporary weird writer. Both sides of the Atlantic are pleasantly represented for the Golden Age sections as in-depth scrutiny is given to W. C. Morrow, Robert W. Chambers, F. Marion Crawford, Edward Lucas White, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Rudyard Kipling, E. F. Benson, and L. P. Hartley. The Lovecraft essay, "The Fiction of Materialism", defines the author's "aesthetic of the weird" and lends a thought-provoking introduction to the examination of Lovecraft's disciples (Frank Belknap Long, Robert Bloch, and Fritz Leiber).
The essays regarding contemporary authors absent-mindedly omits Joshi's analyses of Thomas Ligotti, but does include dissections of Rod Serling's moral supernaturalism, the 'psycho fiction' of L. P. Davies, Les Daniels and his vampire novels, the non-genre limited Dennis Etchison, David J. Schow and Splatterpunk, and the erotic-horror of Poppy Z. Brite. All the essays herein have been previously published, either as introductions or essays (mainly in Joshi's own Studies in Weird Fiction journal), but they have all been "revised--in some cases substantially--from their first appearances."
If for no other reason, I would recommend THE EVOLUTION OF THE WEIRD TALE to readers interested in the genre for its first two sections 'Some Americans of the Golden Age' and 'Some Englishmen of the Golden Age'. While a few of these names were familiar to me, Mr. Joshi's essays accomplish exactly what he sets out in his introduction as his goal - "I am writing here as an advocate...someone who is convinced of the worth of the writers he is treating and who hopes to convey that worth to others.'
Before I go any further, here's a list of the writers he 'treats' in these first two sections
W.C. Morrow
Robert W. Chambers
F. Marion Crawford
Edward Lucas White
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Rudyard Kipling
E.F. Benson
L.P. Hartley
Many of these essays began as introductions to collections of tales, or were first published as magazine pieces elsewhere, though Mr. Joshi states that they were all revised for this edition. So, more than just boosterism, he arranges this material to conform to the theme of the evolving form of the weird tale and how these writers built on one another's work. Along with biographical and bibliographic information of each writer, he looks for a philosophy or world view of these authors where it touches on their 'weird' output, in order to show how others who came later might have used their predecessors as springboards. In most of the golden agers he seldom finds any central ideas holding together their weird work, though in the remaining two sections--'H.P. Lovecraft and his Influence' and 'Contemporaries'--he sees more to go on.
Mr. Joshi has done a lot of writing and research into this subject, so I'm more than willing to take his word for things, but there's something about his academic approach to the middle section (Lovecraft and his Influences) that sort of sucks the interest out of these stories for me. I have no doubt Lovecraft had a philosophy behind his stories, and it isn't without interest to read his thoughts on the 'weird' tale, but to dissect his 'philosophy of materialism' in the same manner one might dissect John Maynard Keynes 'philosophy of economics' seems either to elevate Lovecraft into a strata he doesn't belong in, or else to place the entire field of literature on a level plain. Don't get me wrong--I can think of few authors who made a greater impression on me than Lovecraft when I discovered him as a teenager. But it simply doesn't add any enjoyment to my memory of these stories to critique them in the manner Mr. Joshi does here--I think they operate on too visceral a level to bear that kind of scrutiny.
The last section moves past Lovecraft and his immediate influences to contemporary practitioners, and discusses authors I probably would not have associated with the idea of the 'weird' tale. I wish Mr. Joshi had provided a definition for what he believes constitutes 'weird'. By context, it's obvious he means something much more specific than the generic appellation, 'boy, was that weird', though in some respects, that might be about as good a definition as there can be. Still, the authors Mr. Joshi introduces in this last section--Rod Serling, Dennis Etchison, L.P. Davies, Les Daniels, David J. Schow and Poppy Z. Brite--give an indirect indication of what he believes the future of the genre consists of, and how it has moved beyond the ideas presented in the classics. Mr. Joshi is less than enthusiastic about much of this output.
I was grateful to the author for introducing me to several of the writers in the first two sections, as well as for the essay on L.P. Davies, which made the collection valuable to me and something I would recommend to those interested in some of the more obscure authors in this genre, though several of the other essays were more hit-and-miss. readers will be able to find many of the golden age authors in free formats in the kindle store.
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