Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith

by David E. Schultz (Editor), S.T. Joshi (Editor)

Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth came in touch in 1930 through their mutual colleague H. P. Lovecraft. Thus began a thirty-year association that ended only with Smith’s death in 1961. Their letters afford an intimate glimpse into the lives of two working writers. They offer a rare opportunity to see how Derleth managed his writing and also his growing publishing company, Arkham House, even to the particulars of content selection, royalty payments, and so on. Derleth’s concern for Smith’s well-being is manifestly evident, as is the commitment of Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publishing Smith’s greatest book—even if it meant twenty-two years of enduring patience to do so.

For his part, Smith clearly regarded Derleth as a friend, colleague, and financial lifeline. Even if their interests somewhat diverged in their later years, they both cherished each other’s association and worked together where they feasibly could. These letters chronicle the heyday and then the demise of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines; the establishment of what long remained the leading small press in the weird fiction field; and many other personal and literary issues that illuminate the minds and personalities of their authors.

The volume has been thoroughly edited annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, two of the leading authorities on both writers, and includes exhaustive bibliographical information on all works cited in the letters.

602 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This large volume of collected (not selected!) correspondence is intimidating at first, given its large size and comprehensive nature. And it does start rather slowly, as Smith and Derleth write to each other about the humdrum details of pulp fiction publishing in the first half of the twentieth century.

But things get more interesting beginning with the letters from the late 1930's as Derleth moved to found Arkham House publishers, and began to converse with Smith about how to preserve his literary legacy. There are also many references to Smith's sculptural work in stone, of which Derleth was a fan and collector.

And to round things out, the book contains excerpts from letters between Derleth and Smith's wife (the former Carol Jones Dorman) that encompass Smith's passing in 1961. These letters reveal Carol's true dedication to Smith, the man and the artist, and make an excellent coda to this volume.