The Wizard of Lemuria
The fantasy community has always had a schizophrenic response to Lin Carter. Mention his stint as the editor of the justly renowned Ballantine Adult Fantasy series and you’ll hear plaudits (from readers of a certain generation at least.) Carter was the man responsible for bringing a bunch of neglected classics back into print. He had […]
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Michael
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Jul 15, 2015 04:22PM
In addition to ransacking Howard and Burroughs, Carter 'appropriated' a lot of material from Blavatsky's Theosophical writings about Lemuria, including the lizard men and advanced technology.
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Carter was one of those writers who, when I read the back cover copy I said, "That's exactly the story I want to read!" but in almost all cases the execution left much to be desired.But add me to the "plaudits for his stint as an editor" list.
Hi Michael, sorry about taking so long to reply. I didn't even know anyone could comment on my blog posts in Goodreads until I saw this (or maybe I did and just forgot!). Just wanted to say you were right about Blavatsky. I suspect she was one of the great unsung influences on S&S what with the whole prehistoric world thing.
No problem, William :-)I've a memory of Ignatius Donnelly possibly being an influence, too, though it's a long time since I read about him. I think he claimed to have 'translated' Mayan writings about Atlantis and a sunken Pacific continent called Mu. I don't know if Carter was aware of him, but I'd be surprised if not as I think Donnelly was pretty well known in the USA in his time.
Michael wrote: "No problem, William :-)I've a memory of Ignatius Donnelly possibly being an influence, too, though it's a long time since I read about him. I think he claimed to have 'translated' Mayan writings ..."
This is making me think I should reread
L. Sprague de Camp's Lost Continents again.
