Customer Reviews

The Evolution of the Weird Tale

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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."

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...