The collaborators Erckmann-Chatrain enriched French literature with
many spectral fancies like "The Man Wolf," in which a transmitted curse
works toward its end in a traditional Gothic-castle setting. Their
power of creating a shuddering midnight atmosphere was tremendous
despite a tendency toward natural explanations and scientific wonders;
and few short tales contain greater horror than "The Invisible Eye,"
where a malignant old hag weaves nocturnal hypnotic spells which induce
the successive occupants of a certain inn chamber to hang themselves
on a crossbeam. "The Owl's Ear" and "The Waters of Death" are full
of engulfing darkness and mystery, the latter embodying the familiar
overgrown-spider theme so frequently employed by weird fictionists.
Villiers de l'Isle Adam likewise followed the macabre school; his
"Torture by Hope," the tale of a stake-condemned prisoner permitted to
escape in order to feel the pangs of recapture, being held by some to
constitute the most harrowing short story in literature. This type,
however, is less a part of the weird tradition than a class peculiar
to itself--the so-called _conte cruel_, in which the wrenching of the
emotions is accomplished through dramatic tantalizations, frustrations,
and gruesome physical horrors. Almost wholly devoted to this form is
the living writer Maurice Level, whose very brief episodes have lent
themselves so readily to theatrical adaptation in the "thrillers" of
the Grand Guignol. As a matter of fact, the French genius is more
naturally suited to this dark realism than to the suggestion of the
unseen; since the latter process requires, for its best and most
sympathetic development on a large scale, the inherent mysticism of the
Northern mind.
A very flourishing, though till recently quite hidden branch of
weird literature, is that of the Jews, kept alive and nourished in
obscurity by the sombre heritage of early Eastern magic, apocalyptic
literature, and cabbalism. The Semitic mind, like the Celtic and
Teutonic, seems to possess marked mystical inclinations; and the
wealth of underground horror-lore surviving in ghettoes and synagogues
must be much more considerable than is generally imagined. Cabbalism
itself, so prominent during the Middle Ages, is a system of philosophy
explaining the universe as emanations of the Deity, and involving the
existence of strange spiritual realms and beings apart from the visible
world, of which dark glimpses may be obtained through certain secret
incantations. Its ritual is bound up with mystical interpretations of
the Old Testament, and attributes an esoteric significance to each
letter of the Hebrew alphabet--a circumstance which has imparted to
Hebrew letters a sort of spectral glamour and potency in the popular
literature of magic. Jewish folklore has preserved much of the terror
and mystery of the past, and when more thoroughly studied is likely
to exert considerable influence on weird fiction. The best examples of
its literary use so far are the tale of "The Golem" by Gustav Meyrink,
and the drama "The Dybbuk" by the Jewish writer using the pseudonym
"Ansky". The former, widely popularised through the cinema a few years
ago, treats of a legendary artificial giant made and animated by a
medieval rabbin of Prague according to a cryptic formula. The latter,
translated and produced in America in 1925 describes with singular
power the possession of a living body by the evil soul of a dead
man. Both golems and dybbuks are fixed types, and serve as frequent
ingredients of later Jewish tradition.
(The next issue of THE FANTASY FAN will be dedicated to Edgar Allan
Poe, in which will be published an instalment of Mr. Lovecraft's
article about four times as long as this one, all dealing with this
father of the fantastic. Don't miss part fifteen.)
* * * * *
Subscribe to THE FANTASY FAN
only a dollar a year
Insure yourself of your copy
only a limited number printed
and the supply does not last long
"Our Readers Say"
is open to all--use it
Your suggestions, criticisms, and
opinions are always welcome
The Best Authors of Weird Fiction
contribute regularly to
THE FANTASY FAN
Tell your fantasy friends about it
* * * * *