MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English language and literature

Weird Tales Magazine: Problems of the

Bachelor thesis Brno 2015

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Supervisor: Written by: PhDr. Irena Přibylová, Ph.D. Filip Hanzlík

Prohlášení:

Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

Brno, 23. listopadu 2015 Filip Hanzlík

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank to my supervisor PhDr. Irena Přibylová, PhD. for her guidance, patience and persistence. She provided me some very important advice and directed me in the right way.

Bibliography

Hanzlík, Filip. Magazines: Problems of the Genre: bachelor thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English and literature. 2015. 63 pages. The supervisor of the bachelor thesis: PhDr. Irena Přibylová, PhD.

Abstract

The focus of this bachelor thesis are two selected issues of the Weird Tales magazine and their genre alaysis. The theoretical part consists of various genre definitions, explanations and introductions into the Weird Tales magazine and pulp magazines as a whole. It also includes the historical background of the USA during the 1930s. The analytical part focuses on a cursory analysis of both issues as well as a detailed analysis of some stories. The main purpose of the thesis is to search for the origins of , , crime fiction and fiction in the Weird Tales magazine. The secondary purpose of this thesis is to find suitable definitions for the four listed above.

Key words

Weird Tales magazine, , short stories, pulp magazines, popular fiction, analysis, genre definitions, fantasy fiction, horror fiction, science fiction, crime fiction

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Bibliografický záznam

Hanzlík, Filip. Weird Tales Magazine: Problems of the Genre: bachelor thesis. Brno: Masarykova Univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury. 2015 63 stran. Vedoucí bakalářské práce: PhDr. Irena Přibylová, PhD.

Anotace

Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá dvěma konkrétními čísly časopisu Weird Tales a jejich žánrovou analýzou. Teoretická část sestává z různých žánrových definic, vysvětlení a úvodů do magazínu Weird Tales, stejně jako do problemaiky "pulp" magazínů všeobecně. Taktéž obsahuje historické pozadí USA v třicátých letech 20. století, v době, ze které pocházejí ony dva vybrané kusy magazínu Weird Tales. Analytická část se zabývá všeobecnou analýzu obou vybraných čísel časopisu, stejně jako detailní analýzou některých povídek. Hlavním úkolem této práce je nalézt původ hororu, sci-fi, krimi a fantasy v magazínu Weird Tales. Sekundární úkol této práce je nalézt uspokojivé definice vyjmenovaných žánrů.

Klíčová slova magazín Weird Tales, podivná fikce, krátké povídky, laciné magazíny, populární literatura, definice žánrů, fantasy, horor, sci-fi, krimi

4 Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Topic Choice and Thesis Aim ...... 6 2. Definition and comparison of popular and literary fiction ...... 8 3. Pulp Magazines ...... 11 4. Weird Tales Overview: History ...... 13 5. The Cultural Background of the 1930s in America ...... 16 6. Genre Overview: Introduction and Explanation ...... 18 6. 1. Gothic and Horror Fiction ...... 18 6. 2. Crime Fiction ...... 20 6. 3. The Science Fiction Genre ...... 24 7. Introduction into the analytical part ...... 26 8. Weird Tales, August – September 1936 ...... 28 8. 1. Analysis : "The Door Into Infinity" ...... 31 8. 2. Analyisis: " (part 2)" ...... 37 8. 3. Analysis: "Death Holds the Post" ...... 43 8. 4. Analysis: "The Diary of Phillip Westerly" ...... 47 9. Weird Tales, April 1939 ...... 50 10. Conclusion ...... 56 11. Bibliography ...... 59 11. 1. Primary sources ...... 59 11. 2. Secondary sources ...... 59 11. 3. Web Sources ...... 61 12. The Apendix ...... 63

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1. Introduction: Topic Choice and Thesis Aim

Although the topic choice was a difficult task for me, mainly because I had no experience with writing such thesis at all, I managed to choose the right one for me. I am a big fan of horror, science and crime fiction and I like strange, creepy and surreal stories. It is hard to search for stories like this in most literary fiction, therefore popular fiction was the right choice for me. I also like analysis, clarification and questioning (I am a big skeptic). I decided to combine these interests together, making genre analysis the right choice for my thesis. I was searching the right source to analyse and I came across Weird Tales, a filled with the right fiction for me. During the literature studies we were mostly focusing on English and American literary fiction. Popular fiction is a literature as well and in my opinion, there was not enough space for it during the studies. It is also necessary to say that popular fiction is much more spread and therefore affects much more people, making it also very important. My thesis will focus on genre alanysis of two different pieces of Weird Tales from the 1930s and their contribution to various genres. I will search it for horror fiction, science fiction and crime fiction and the reason to do so is because I want to see how exactly did these genres look like then and if they existed in clear form or were combined with another genres. I consider myself a very pragmatical (athough a pretty absent minded and chaotic) person who loves exact expression and crystal clear method of problem solving. Therefore I will try to justify everything in my work, so I avoid any blind spots, uneccesary chapters and questionable content. My thesis is divided into two main parts, theoretical and analytical. Theoretical part is mostly explanatory and its purpose is to find and possibly challenge the definitions of various genres is academic sources, I also explain what are the pulp magazines and the Weird Tales there. These definitions are crucuial for the the analytical part (for example what exactly is science fiction, literary fcition, Weird Tales magazine), so there will not be left any obscurities for the next part. The analytical part will (as expected) analyse all the concepts and try to find and

6 describe the origins and signs of the above-listed genres in selected Weird Tales magazines. I can not omit the possibility of finding another genres than the three listed above. If I do so, I will introduce and define (according to academic sources) these genres at the end of the analytical part (because they were not the expected outputs, therefore it was not possible to desribe them in the theoretical part). If no currently existing genres will be find (although it is very unlikely to happen), I will describe the ones I found and give them provisory names (also in the analytical part).

7 2. Definition and comparison of popular and literary fiction

As a first step I will explain the difference between popular and literary fiction according to academic sources. This is the most basic step for my further categorizing, as all the literature we are about to investigate is popular fiction. Literary fiction (also known as serious fiction) are fictional works that are not plot centered but theme centered. This basically means that this kind of literature is more about commentary on some social, political or other condition. Or they can be an exploration of any human condition, meaning that this kind of work might as well be centered on a character. (William Coles, 2007, p. 112.) These works are usually written in serious and layered language but this does not mean that they are of high quality by rule, that highly depends on the writer. Popular fiction (also called or paraliterary fiction), on the other hand, is plot centered and its main purpose is to entertain the reader. These works are usually divided in various genres (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, ...) that share many attributes, such as the environment, characters and often plots. Authors of these works usually try to make them well fitting into a concrete genre, the reader is already with. These works can be written seriously as well as humorously or neutral. (J. A. Cuddon, C. E. Preston, 2000 , p. 685) As first we take a look at the plot and characters, in popular fiction plot is considered the main trait and thus this kind of fiction should feature a coherent story full of twists and action. But what is given to the plot is usually taken from characters, so in a popular fiction characters can be very flat and puropseless. (E. Elliot, 1991, p. 357 - 379)) An example of such character is Argus Filch from the Harry Potter series, whose only purpose is to catch students and love his cat, completely lacks any development and we are not given any background information about him. The exact opposite happens in literary fiction, where the characters and their emotions, childhood problems or inner strugles are usually the priority of this form of writing. But the same what happens with characters in popular fiction can happen with plot in literary fiction but does not have to. (Saricks, 2009, p. 181-182.) The next matter is the theme, as first it would be fitting if we define what „a theme“ means. It is in fact a little tricky, so I will try to make it short and clear. Theme is something that happens „beneath the story in a wider conception.“ A theme might be a

8 philosophical, social or ethical issue as well as love or friendship between two different people. (Griffith, Kelley, 2010, p. 40).

In literary fiction, theme is usually present and can as well be the main focus of the work, as well as it can be some character's issue or attribute. But in popular literature theme is often completely or almost absent, there is not much space for it because of the plot. The style of writing might also be very different, as expectable. Literary fiction is expected to be written in elegant and cultivated language. In popular fiction it is tolerated when its writing style is not exactly refined and might also end up being a little bit crude or workmanlike. The book cover and its placing in bookstores will look different between these two kinds of works. Literary works do not have a shrieking cover with a straightforward name and are much more artistic and decent, with a longer and more subtle name. They also do not have a bookshelf for each genre and are there is overall much less of them. On the other hand, popular fiction books have a cover that clearly says what you can expect to be inside the book, for example a bloody cover with clearly is not a romance. Their names are often short, clear and often exorbitant. In a bookstore you will be overwhelmed with them, because each genre has its own shelf. (My own experiences) Speaking of genres, it is a very important (or it would be more fitting to say conventional) part of popular fiction (remember, also called genre fiction). All the genres have their specific rules they have to follow to be massively accepted by their readers (someone who wants to read a fantasy would probably be disappointed when the novel slowly changes into a western). These rules allow their categorization into genres and these make it possible for mass audience to find exactly what their like, as concentrated as possible. Needed to say that this can be very limiting and it lacks any flexibility. Literary fiction is not limited by any of these so-called rules of genres, allowing these works to be much more original and unique. But unabling the possibility of categorization might make it harder for the audience to find exactly what they are looking for. After this short comparison we could make a conclusion that popular fiction is simply literature directly written for its readers just to be consumed and later forgotten.

9 Literary fiction on the other hand is literature written mainly for its own purpose, for exactly to comment on a social issue or to make a psychological study. Personally I think that this distribution is a little arbitrary and maybe limiting. Literary fiction can contain a decent plot as well as popular fiction may contain complex characters. This really depends strongly on the writer and the purpose of the work.

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3. Pulp Magazines

In this chapter I explain what exactly are pulp magazines, why are they called so and something about their history and origins. Until about fifty years ago, the term pulp magazines was not too much known by the general public and was used only by writers as their trade term. And no one who used to read for example our Weird Tales would tell you that he is reading "pulps," for him it was just a "magazine of his favourite genre," for example a horror magazine. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1433) Infrequent and casual articles in such magazines as Esquire and Vanity Fair dealing with the phenomenon of the popular fiction magazines did, of course, use the term pulp, but it did not gain broad usage. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1433)

Now to explain what does a pulp magazine mean at all. Readers who absorbed the stories in pulp magazines did not care much about the paper they are written on, it was about the stories themselves. The same could naturally not be said about the publishers, a high-quality paper meant higher expenditure. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1433 - 1434) The so-called slick paper (high quality paper, made of rag content stock) was a costly item and therefore it was only suitable for massively circulating magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post because they were highly supported from advertisment and thus could afford it. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1433 - 1434) On the other hand, magazines who had only a limited base of readers and therefore were not massively sold could simply not afford the slick paper. The solution for the magazines was the pulp paper (low quality paper, prepared from wood fiber) as it allowed to reach the mass market without any financial aid from advertisers.

Radical political journals, which tended to alienate advertisers per se, almost always appeared on the cheaepest kind of pulp paper stock, generally called butcher paper. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1434)

Magazines with low to none advertising content used the pulp paper but did not call

11 themselves pulp magazines. Only fiction magazines acquired the term pulp from its writers during the decades in twentieth century. (Thomas Inge, 1979, p. 1434)

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4. Weird Tales Overview: History

This chapter is dedicated to a general overview of the Weird Tales magazine, its history, purpose and form. This chapter is supposed to approach the object we are about to analyze. The history of Weird Tales began in March 1923, as the very first Weird Tales magazine was published by Jacob Clarke Henneberger, edited by . (Carter, 1972, p. 35-37.) The reason behind creating the Weird Tales was to allow some writers create stories that did not fit well in any existing genre that time, by his own words "I must confess that the main motive in establishing Weird Tales was to give the writer free rein to express his innermost feelings in a manner befitting great literature."1 The very first pulp was assisted by and Otis Kline, Baird also brought some other writers, such as and Francis Stevens. During this time, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, an up-coming writer at that time, discovered Weird Tales and send five stories to Baird who rejected every single one. The reason was not that he did not enjoy them but Lovecraft sent them all single-spaced. At first Lovecraft balked but eventually he sent his story "," which was published in the magazine from October 1923, he later became the main pillar of the Weird Tales. (Ashley, 1997, p. 1000-1003.) Weird Tales did not become a mainstream magazine, but they had a small core of audience that loved it. This caused several financial problems and Weird Tales appeared on the verge of bankruptcy. This forced Henneberger to make a special deal with the magazines printer and editor, B. Cornelius.2 The problem was also worsened by the fact that Baird lacked any serious interest for the content of the magazine. Baine got eventually fired from Weird Tales and Henneberger wanted Lovecraft to become the next editor (He even ordered Baine to accpet

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The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/troubled- history-weird-tales-magazine/ - 11. 10. 2015 2 ibid

13 every single story from Lovecraft before he fired him). But Lovecraft with his wife did not want to move to the Chicago, so Henneberger made Lovecraft a special offer: He would be paid ten weeks up front and would have free hand while editing the magazine. Lovecraft did not accept the offer so the next editor became Farnsworth Right. (Murray, 1996, p. 11- 14.) It was a real battle to ressurect the magazine after Baird's editing scourge. The next dawn of Weird Tales began when Right started to accept stories from authors like Sebury Quinn and Clark Ashton Smith. With new talented authors, Weird Tales slowly became something that would later heavily influence the fictional world.3 An interesting thing to note is that Wright had Parkinson's disease, causing him to speak slowly. And he also had an odd taste in literature, allowing him to pick the right weird tales for the magazine. But he aslo had to deal with two different groups of fans, the ones that wanted more science fiction stories and the others who wanted more gothig fiction. Next threat came to the Weird Tales magazine in the late 1920s, as started to be printed, a new magazine dedicated only to science fiction stories. Weird Tales responded with hiring as a cover artist.4 Probably the worst decade for Weird Tales were 1930s, because of the Great Depression and several deaths of various authors, including Lovecraft who died of cancer. Wright's Parkinson's disease progressed as well. All these factors combined caused serious financial problems to the magazine, cutting the salaries of its employees. Wright himself died in 1940, only two yers after a surgery he had to undergo because of his Parkinson's disease. During this time Weird Tales moved to New York where they encountered a brand new complication – magazines that tried to imitate the Weird Tales magazine, for example . But none of these imitation lasted longer than two years.5 Dorothy McIlwraith became a new editor after Wright's death, bringing a whole pool of new writers, such as , Frederic Brown or Margaret St. Clair. She increased the size of the magazine and lowered pay for the authors. But she could not match the right weird tase in the stories, causing many readers to turn away from Weird Tales. Shapless taste in the editing combined with World War II meant a slow demise for Weird Tales, many talented writers also turned away from this magazine and joined some

3 The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/troubled- history-weird-tales-magazine/ - 11. 10. 2015 4 Ibid 5 Ibid

14 other competing magazines. The very last piece of Weird Tales was sold in 1954.6 However, attempts to ressurect the magazine were constantly made from 1970s and 1980s. These revivals were succesful, thanks to editors George H. Sciters, and Darrel Schweitzer. The title was sold to in 2005 and with a brand new group of talented writers, it continues to be sold until today. 7 We are interested only in the Weird Tales from August 1936 until April 1939, as these are the only ones that are easily accessible. I would also like to note that I had to use mostly internet sources because the books are hardly accssesible. I myself would be very interested in what would the history of the magazine look like if Lovecraft actually took the offer but we can only speculate.

6 Ibid 7 The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/troubled- history-weird-tales-magazine/ - 11. 10. 2015

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5. The Cultural Background of the 1930s in America

The 1930s were a prolific decade for both, popular and literary fiction. It was also a prolific decade for the whole culture, not just literature. At the background o the Great Depression and a short Prohibition, the culture was evolving and spawning may new forms, characters and trends. There were contradicting trends in the culture. It was an age of traditionalism and modern experimentation. During this chapter I have to rely mostly on internet sources, the reason behind this is that I can not find an easily accssesible book source that would contain all (or at least larger parts) the information I need together. The sources I use are digitalhistory.uh.edu, retrowaste.com and wikipedia. I would like to make a special comment on wikipedia, since it is often viewed as an unrealiable source, which does not make much sense. The articles on wikipedia often contain the sources they used and the artilcels are also being controlled very frequently, making wikipedia a very reliable source. Regardless of the Great Depression, cinema was higly attended during this period. The movies were full of the typical gangsters with classy suits and Tommy guns, as well as crooked lawyers and judges. The comedies scorned the traditional values and presented an almost anarchic approach.8 During the second half of the 1930s, the gangster were replaced with various defenders of the law instead. Mostly hard-boiled heroes, western figures or private detectives. 9 The most important source of entertainment was radio, although few people already had television. The radio was filled with many stories, poetry, live performance and much more. One of the most well known music figures of the 1930s was Louis Armstong.10

8 Hollywood during the Great Depression, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3453 – 2. 11. 2015 9 Ibid 10 Music in the 1930s, http://www.retrowaste.com/1930s/music-in-the-1930s/ - 2. 11. 2015

16 John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Henry Miller published their work during this period. The literary fiction during this time was mostly focused on blunt social criticism. Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath were also written during this period, depicting the life of Jodas.11 Dashiell Hammet published Maltese Falcon. Maltese Falcon was one of the only three crime fiction works that included Sam Spade.12 The 1930s have also spawned superheroes like and , becoming the dawn of the fututre culture.13 The dime and pulp magazines were widely spread, some notable examples are Dynamic Science Stories, Famous Mysteries and most notably, Weird Tales.14 The popular fiction, unlike its literary counterpart, mostly ignored all the scourging history events (the Great Depression, the Prohibition, the beginning of the WWII) and focused on distraction and sensational entertainment instead.

11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath – 2. 11. 2015 12 Literature and the Depression, https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history- textbook/the-new-deal-1933-1940-25/culture-in-the-thirties-197/literature-and-the-depression-1089-191/ - 2. 11. 2015 13 Popular Culture during the Great Depression, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3452 – 2. 11. 2015 14 The Pulp Magazines Project, http://www.pulpmags.org/magazines.html – 2. 11. 2015

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6. Genre Overview: Introduction and Explanation

In this chapter I introduce my process of genre definitions, the goal of this chapter is to explain you why and how I search and question the definitions I find in academic sources. There are three genres I am about to describe and define, these are science fiction, horror fiction and crime fiction. The reason I chose these genres is because I have already read a few stories in the Weird Tales magazine, as well as some history of the Weird Tales magazine. The process I perform in the following three chapters follows the same pattern, as first I introduce you into the genre, then I shortly summarize its history and as a last step I search for a clear definition. If I find a satysfing definition, I write it into the conclusion part of the chapter, if I do not find any, I summarize what I have found and try to elaborate a definition according to information I am able to find.

6. 1. Gothic and Horror Fiction

In this chapter I will define horror and as well as provide a summary of their history. As usual, I will start with history. If we wanted to date the very beginning of the horror genre, it would be almost impossible, since even the earliest pieces of literature contained many elements of horror fiction, for example various or supernatural forces. Gothic fiction can be considered an ancestor to horror fiction, as it appeared sooner

18 and is more specific than the whole horror fiction. The origin of gothic fiction can be dated to 1764 when The Castle of Otranto was published by by Horace Walpole. It contained elements like flying evil helmet or living portrait. Altough it was of poor quality (but high popularity), it set the standarts for the gothic genre (Adam Roberts, 2012, p. 25). Some of the conventional elements of gothic fiction appeared there: moody and dark atmosphere, forgotten crimes or supernatural. Many other authors inspired themselves by this work, adding many of its features to their work. For example The Champion of Virtue: a Gothic story published by Clara Reeve in 1777, she consideres her work a literary offspring of The Castle of Otranto but avoided all the flaws made by Walpole. Or Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) (Adam Roberts, 2012, p. 28). One of the most influental gothic novel ever written was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), combining the elements of proto-science fiction. During the period of romanticism, various monsters started to appear in gothic fiction (it was full of ghosts and supernatural elements before), especially : some examples are The Vampyre by Gaetano Polidori (1819), Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) or Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A characteristic link between all these monsters (including the dissociative Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) is that they can transform from an elegant and human being into a ravaging barbaric beast. (Adam Roberts, 2012, p. 31) I simply can not omit , whose short stories are one of the most memorable pieces of gothic fiction. Gothic fiction itself has also more definitions but they are more similar to each other than those of science fiction. There is one in The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, "Gothic novel are tales of the macarbe, fantastic, and supernatural, usually set amid haunted castles, graveyards, ruins, and wild picturesque landscapes." (Margaret Drable, 2000, p. 411) This definition is relatively clear but it is always better to have more sources, to see if they do not contradict each other. Another definition can be found in The Cambridge Guide To Literature In English, saying that Gotic fiction is a popular romantic novel during the 18th and early 19th centuries. These stories are usually set in monasteries, dungeons or mountainous landscapes and focus on mystery and supernatural. (Ian Ousby, 1994, p. 383) Both of these definition show us that gothic fiction is defined by elements rather than principles. These elements are medieval or pseudomedieval architecture, use of supernatural or monstrous elements (vampires, ghosts, animate objects...) and of course, a romantic story. (David Seed, 2008, p. 111 – 125)

19 The influence of the classical gothic approach started to fade during the end of the 19th Century, becoming replaced by Victorian approach. Victorian approach meant a naturalistic approach, meaning that individual was a subject to natural laws. Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an example of a this. This change meant that not only the environment got changed but also the morality of the story, meaning that the characters could no longer rely on the help of others, the cities got larger and more violent, it was every-man-for-himself now. During this time, Jack the Ripper was also active, giving one more example of a horror story. (Margaret Drable, 2000, p. 699) The horror fiction developed until today, absorbing our , and darkest fears and criminal cases, becoming a fascinating but shunned genre. It is also one of the most fluctuating genres, meaning that it mostly contains works of low quality but also some legendary pieces. This is a short summary of horror fiction's history but we still do not have any definition how to identify horror fiction. The only thing I found that could serve as a definition is a statement by J. A. Cuddon, who says that horror fiction is basically a prose of any lenght that is supposed to shock, frighten, repulse or loathe the reader. (Cuddon, J.A., 1984, p. 11) This definition might seem vague at first but it works well because it captures everything it should, any story that induces the emotions or reactions listed above could be considered a horror story. It is possible that during the analysis we change or improve this definition according to our results but now we must work with this one. So in this chapter I have briefly summarized the history of horror fiction as well as found a definition for it and elements that define gothic fiction.

6. 2. Crime Fiction

In this chapter I shortly summarize the as well as find some definitions and boundaries of this genre. I start with history, Shakespeare's Hamlet could be considered one of the very first works of crime fiction, but the history of crime fiction as an official genre is dated into the 18th century with two leading personalities, Daniel Defoe and Henry Fielding. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 1) In Defoe's Moll Flanders (1722) we have an anti-heroine, Moll, who escapes the

20 death penalty and faces a punishment of deportation to Virginia. In Fielding's Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749) ignorant squire magistrates are presented as a regular thing and a social contagion. In all these three novels, criminal behaviour and justice dispensation is present. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 4) Arrests, trial and public executions were a form of entertainment during the 18th century period. Criminal cases were often acompanied with pamphlets and sensational headlines, describing their gruesome deeds as sensational as possible. Every such case served as a material for many bestsellers. The state realized how barbaric and degenerate are these tastes for blood, therefore Accounts of the lives, crimes, confessions and executions of criminals were published inn 1728 to regulate these needs. These Accounts were written by chaplaints who interrogated their prisoners and was in a form of mini- biographies. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 4 – 5) During the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe invented an extremely smart and analytical detective, C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin appeared in three of his stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), The Mystery of Marie Roget (1842 – 1843) and The Purloined Letter (1844). Dupin can be considered a predecessor to Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot etc... Dupin was the very first example of a detective who solves the case using his own deductive skills. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 5) Two decades after publishing these Poe's stories, the so-called penny-dreadfuls appeared, short novellas for young working class men who had a taste for the . This was a sort of lower popular literature, ofter crudely written and focused mainly on the description of the gruesome acts. Sometimes they did not include a detective at all. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 11) It would be a crime not to mention Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Sherlock Holmes became probably the most famous fictional detective of all times. Sherlock's very first appearance was in A Study in Scarlet (1887) but he gained popularity first when Doyle published The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891 to 1894). His character became so popular that after his supposed death in The Final Problem (1894), thousands of fans were begging for his return and Doyle eventually revived him in of the Baskervilles (1894). (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 14 – 18) It was in the turn of the 20th century when two major figures appeared, and , both were writers (and possibly the founders as well) of hard-boiled fiction. This is a subgenre of crime fiction, focusing on a private detective, who takes justice in his own hands in a world where official authorities are either

21 incompetent or corrupt, the main is usually a typical antihero. (Martin Priestman, 5003, p. 95 – 97) Some examples of their work are Red Harvest (by Hammett) and Blackmailers Don't Shoot (by Chandler). Both of them contributed into the Black Mask magazine, a popular crime fiction pulp. Hammet created a memorable figure of the private eye fiction, Sam Spade. Sam Spade was created specially for The Maltese Falcon story and as his name suggests, he is a direct man speaking the truth as he sees it, physically he is well built. (Martin Priestman, 2003, p. 100) Hemmet's work is actually very slim, he produced only about five stories, of which only two are remembered today. Chandler, on the other hand, started his writing career in his middle fourties. The Big Sleep is probably his best story, introducing us the character of Detecive Philip Marlowe and including double-crossing characters and many secrets being exposed during the story. (Martin Priestman, 2003, p. 100 - 105) Another notoriously know figure of crime fiction is of course Agatha Christie who created Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, another legendary figures in the history of crime fiction. Her most famous work is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926). All characters presented in this work act just as we would expect them and equal to their social rank. They all seem to have their own secrets and to be a riddle rather than character. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 19 - 22) As the very last thing from my summarization I will name some recent authors because the crime fiction genre stays alive until today. Examples are Henry Porter (A Spy's Life), and Eric Ludlum (The Apocalypse Watch). (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 103 – 109) Now we need a definition of the crime fiction so we can indentify this genre during our analysis. Tzvetan Todorov, a Russian critic, wrote in The Typology of that the crime fiction consists of two stories, the first being the crime and who did it, the second is the detective who then tries to solve the case. 15 This could work well as a definition but I would replace the crime with any case (for example someone anonymously giving shoes to a charity, it is not a crime but we do not know who or why he did it) and detective with anyone who tries to solve the case (curious child, smart student, a vigilante...). Now when I am thinking about it, I violate the very basics of the crime fiction, so the definition I have created could work for detective ficiton. But crime fiction is a term specific enough to be delimited by crime and a

15 http://faculty.washington.edu/akn/typology.pdf

22 detective. Crime fiction also has some notable subgenres like , spy fiction or legal drama. Spy fiction comes from the environment of spies and undercover agents (for example James Bond), an example of this genre is James Fenimore Cooper's The Spy (1821). (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 97) Thrillers focus on suspense, tension and excitement, they are therefore supposed to induce emotions rather than presenting a crime and a calculative way how to solve it, an example of thriller is The Day of the Jackal (1971) by Frederick Forsyth. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 105) Legal drama is about the relationship between the accused, his advocate, the judge and any other figure that appears. It is therefore not about how the detective solves the crime but how all the characters perceive it and how they react. A good example of this is To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee. (Richard Bradford, 2015, p. 112) To summarize this chapter, I wrote something about the history of the crime fiction as well as found a functioning definition for further genre analysis. The definition once again is: A crime fiction is a piece of work that contains two stories. The one being a crime and its committing. The second being the detective (or any other curious figure) trying to solve the case.

23

6. 3. The Science Fiction Genre

In this chapter I am about to find the definition of the science fiction genre and possibly question it if it does not seem fitting enough. But I will start with the history of the science fiction genre. Finding the origin of science fiction is not as easy as it might seem because it depends on its definition, a problematic question I will examine later. But traditionally the beginning of the science fiction genre can be dated to the 1818, when Mary Shelley wrote her Frankenstein. (David Seed, p. 27) It tells a novel about a young scientist Victor Frankenstein who creates a sentinent creature trough a strange experiment. But hypothetically we could consider any piece of literature that somehow works with science and was written early enough, the very first science fiction work. The genre of science fiction continued with well-known authors like Jules Verne ( Journey to the Center of the Earth) and H. G. Wells (The Time Mashine) and is still a very productive genre until today (Zebrowski, Tem, Stirling, Aikin). Science fiction was formerly called "scientific fiction," a title credited to . (David Seed, p. 27) Altough the history of science fiction is much longer and complex, I will now focus on the definition of this genre, this is because the definition is not as clear as it might seem at first. When I was trying to find one clear and absolute definition, I failed, there are various definitions instead. For a genre analysis we simply need some definition, otherwise we have no idea what we are looking for (you can not identify science fiction when you do not know what it is). Brian Adams for example claims that the genre Mary Shelley was writing is "The Gothic" and science fiction is a transformation of this genre. (A Companion to Science Fiction, p. 27) But as a defintion for a throughgoing genre analysis is this completely

24 unacceptable because it is extremely vague and unclear, so we will simply ignore this one. The next definition comes from Mark Rose and is also very vague and not very useful for a genre analysis, according to him science fiction is a specifically modern form of romance. (David Seed, p. 27) Then there is another by Pierre Versins, who defines science fiction as "conjecture romanesque rationelle." I dont know french, therefore I had to translate this and the result is "rational romantic conjecture." It is stated that he sees reason as the main organ of science and "rational conjencture" as its elementar method, this allows him to track the beginning of the science fiction back to the Epic of Gilgamesh. (David Seed, p. 27 - 28) Although he is basically right about science, I have no idea how to use this definition practically to recognize a work of science fiction. But I will alanyse it for a short time (to show you why does it not work well), it consists of three words, first of them being "rational," which means "based on reason." Then there is romantic, that can mean "based on emotions," to stay abstract enough. Last word is "conjencture," basically meaning a conflict. After shredding this definition into its components and their clarification, there are too many ways how to put them together again (that means how to understand the original definiton). It can for example mean that science fiction is a piece of work including a conflict between heart and brain or a conflict between many various minds that is affected by emotions. It can be a romantic story set in rational utopia or dystopia. This definiton also seems completely unacceptable, so I will try to look for some at least partially fitting definition(s). The author of A Companion to Science Fiction himslef tries to make a definition of science fiction, claiming that discussions about other genres (detective stories, westerns) do not begin with definitions, which might be because no one challenges their boundaries and that is because these kind of works are about their subject matter (westerns about cowboys, crime fiction about crime). He then assumes that science fiction is about science too, about how science changes, influences and penetrates various themes, forms and worldview. (David Seed, p. 28) This definition is much better than those before but it still has holes in it, there can still be a story full of various futuristic gadgets that absolutely is not about them or the technology and completely puts these things in the background. Then this story would not be considered a science fiction according to the last definition but the futuristic setting intuitively makes it one. Of course, we identify the genres and we create the definitions, I

25 am just trying to find the one that includes all the works we consider science fiction (a reverse process). The previous definition is similar to Asimov's definition, he says that "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology." (Asimov, 1975) There are dozens and dozens of definitions, I chose to use the one from Christoper Evans and improve it, the definition goes like this "Perhaps the crispest definition is that science fiction is a literature of 'what if?' What if we could travel in time? What if we were living on other planets? What if we made contact with alien races? And so on." (Evans, p. 9. ) This definition needs to add one more component and that is "how to," this is what distinguishes science fiction from fantasy fiction. In fantasy fiction, things happen usually because of magic, destiny or just because. In science fiction there is usually a more or less scientific reason behind it, a corpse gets reanimated beacuse of a virus or time travel is possible thanks to spacetime bending. I could also start on hard and soft science fiction but there are two different approaches to these terms, one saying that hard science fiction deals with natural sciences and soft science fiction with social sciences. The other is that hard science fiction is scientifically accurate and soft science fiction is not. But we do not need this differentiation for our analysis, therefore I will not go deeper. In this chapter we have finally set a more or less clear definition of science fiction and questioned some other vague definitions. The definition we have extracted is "The science fiction is a literature of 'what if?' and 'how to?', meaning what if we had some technological and scientifical opportunities we do not have and how to approach them."

7. Introduction into the analytical part

26 In the theoretical part I have set some genre definitions according to various academic sources, explained what are pulp magazines, Weird Tales magazine and the difference between literary and popular fiction as well as described how does such a piece of Weird Tales magazine look like. The reason I have done this is to fully prepare you for the analytical part and give you all the necessary knowledge you need to understand what I am talking about. To recap it, the most essential knowledge we need are the definitions of genres we are analysing, these definitions go like this:

Horror Fiction: Basically a prose of any lenght that is supposed to shock, frighten, repulse or loathe the reader. (Cuddon J.A, p. 11)

Gothic Fiction: A horror fiction set in medieval or pseudomedieval environment, often including moody and dark atmosphere, forgotten crimes or supernatural. (Roberts, p. 28)

Science Fiction: A literature of 'what if?' and 'how to?', meaning what if we had some technological and scientifical opportunities we do not have and how to approach them. (Evans, p. 9 and my addition)

Crime Fiction: A piece of work that contains two stories. The one being a crime and its committing. The second being the detective (or any other curious figure) trying to solve the case.16

The method I use during the analytical part is relatively simple, I read trough the story, summarize it and then search if some or any parts fit into at least one of the definitions above. If they do, I categorize it. It can also happen that the story does not fit into any of the genres above, in that case I analyse the elements of the story and search the academic sources for any possible genre that it could fit in. It is also possible than one story will fit into more genres than one, this can naturally happen. And if this happens, we will see that the results of our research is that the

16 The Typology of Detective Fiction, http://faculty.washington.edu/akn/typology.pdf – 4. 11. 2015

27 genres in the Weird Tales magazine were not pure but combined.

28 8. Weird Tales, August – September 1936

As first I am about to analyse the issue from August to September 1936. I have already read trough the whole magazine and found that it contains stories of blended genres as well as pure genres. The issue contains nine original stories, two poems and one rewritten story from the previous magazine. There are longer and shorter stories. The longer stories are eleven to twentyfour pages long. The shorter stories are three to five pages long. Both poems are only one page long. There are six longer stories and three shorter stories only. The genres are mostly science fiction and horror fiction, crime fiction appears in two stories and there are also fantasy fiction stories. Now I am about to make a short summary of each story. The first story is called "The Door Into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) and it is about a detective who is investigating a mysterious cult of the door. He is also helping his client, Ennis, to find his wife. This story is a science fiction and crime fiction blender, it contains elements of horror fiction as well. ( 1936, p. 130 – 153) The second story is called "The Mask Of Death" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) and it introduces a strange disease that causes a complete paralysis. There is a blackmailer wanting a vast sum of money in exchange of a cure and an explanation for the disease. This character calls himself Doctor Satan. At the end of the story it is explained that this disease is caused by a small gadget that slows the time flow of a concrete object or human. This story is science fiction bordering horror fiction. (Paul Ernst 1936, p. 154 – 173) The third story, " of Sahara," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) tells a tale about a group of rich people who travel into a town called Siwa. One man, Gunnar, from the group is a werewolf and only one another man, El Shabur, knows this secret. El Shabur is also a member of an evil cult that wants to sacrifice Gunnar's wife in a dark ritual. This ritual eventually fails, changin El Shabur into dust. This story is hard to identify, it is slightly a horror fiction. (G. G. Pendarves 1936, p. 173 – 193) The fourth story, "Medici Boots," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is about a cursed pair of boots that turns everyone who wears them into a ruthless psychopath. A group of people find their history written in a small book and laugh at it. One woman then attempts to wear those shoes, making her poison a little cat and almost commit adultery. The shoes are destroyed after this. A cursed object forcing people kill is either a fantasy or horror fiction

29 element. Because of the realistic nature of the story, excluding the shoes, it is a horror fiction. (Pearl Norton Swet, 1936, p. 194 – 204) The fifth story, "Red Nails (part 2)," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is about a warrior- like woman and a group of people, it takes part in the past but the age is not stated. This group of people is going trough corridors inside a town that is located inside a building. They find a council of wizards there who tell them a story about this town. Because this story is basically lacking a plot and is mostly an environmental description, it is hard to tell the genre. But the setting, warriors and wizards make it a fantasy fiction. (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 205 – 220) The sixth story, "Death Holds the Post," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a tale. It features a post located in African desert, that stopped to receive messages from another post, Mechar. They sent fifty men to Mechar but only one returned, speaking something about living corpses. No one believed him until one of those corpses tried to attack the original post. Then they sent troops into Mechar, where they found a mad doctor, who was animating corpses with some strange potion. One soldier, masked as a corpse, got to him and shot him, causing all the corpses to die again. This story is an obvious horror fiction because of the zombie element. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 222 – 232) The seventh story, "The Diary of Philip Westerly," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is written in a diary form. It tells a story about a cruel and narcissistic Philip Westerly, who kept looking into a mirror everyday. Once of a sudden, he saw a fat and ugly man in the mirror who did not reflect any of his moves. Day after day, the man in the mirror looked more like him and he looked like the man. Eventually, when the transformation was complete, Philip entered the mirror, causing it to break and his person disappear from this world. (Paul Compton, 1936, 233 - 236) This is a very strange genre to identificate, I would even say it is just a pure weird tale. The story includes a strange mirror, which can be a fantasy element, but that itself does not make it a fantasy genre. It is unsettling but not terryfing enough to be a horror story and it fits no other genres. The eighth story, "In The Dark," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) features a man who is recoding a diary on a dictaphone for his wife. He is a watchman on a chemical plant and he is confessing to a crime he did. He once had an affair with a young girl, then killed her and threw her body into an acid tank. She at first disintegrated into a grave mold but the mold started to form a skeleton after a while. This skeleton became solid and formed organs,

30 flesh and skin, it formed the girl back. He also says that the girl will wake up today and that he is about to commit suicide. He was blind for three years, since he killed the girl, because the acid spilled into his eyes. (Ronal Kayser, 1936, 236 -239) The story is a science fiction becuase of the acid able to regenerate dead bodies. It also contains horror fiction elements (a dead body forming back, lone chemical plant) and a crime ficiton element (the murder no one knew about) The last story, "Four Wooden Stakes," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is about a man, Remson, who lives in the middle of nowhere. He had a large family but they all started to die in the same way, one by one. They got exhausted, hungry and tired, then they died mysteriously. When Remson was already alone, he had a friend visiting him. When his friend woke up after a sleep, he spotted two red dots on his neck. The next night, the friend went on a watch, seeing a bat flying into the apartment and transforming into a . He woke Remson up and they both followed the bat back to a crypt, into a coffin of one of Remson's ancestors. They have completely eliminated the dead body, causing them both to start to feel well again (Remson was bitten during the second night). (Victor Rowan, 1936, p. 240 - 249) A mysteriously disappearing family is a crime fiction element and a vapiric explanation is a horror fiction element. After a complete reading, I find out that the magazine mostly contains crime fiction, horror fiction and science fiction, the genres I have introduced. Some stories are of only one genre, others are blended. But there is also a fantasy story as well a strange story that is hard to identify. Now I am about to give a detailed analysis of selected stories. These stories will be "The Door Into Infinity," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) because it contains three genres. "Red Nails (part 2)," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) because it is of a genre I have not focused on. "Death Holds The Post," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) because it is of pure genre and "The Diary Of Philip Westerly," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) becuase it is hard to identify.

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8. 1. Analysis : "The Door Into Infinity"

The exact text in italics under the title of "The Door Into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is "An amazing weird mystery story, packed with thrills, danger and startling events." (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 130) The text in italics indicates that this story might probably be a thriller, since it is supposed to be packed with thrills, dangers and startling events.

"The Door Into Infinity:" A Short Summary

The very first chapter of "The Door Into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is called "The Brotherhood of the Door," it introduces three characters. The first character is Ennis, a man whose wife, Ruth (the second character), has been kidnapped by some mysterious cult that makes human sacrifices. The last character is Inspector Campbell, who is investigating this strange cult as well as the abduction of Enni's wife. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 130) The story starts in Campbell's office, Ennis and Cambpell talk about the cult and Campbell suggests that the cult is supposed to have its local center in Café of one Chandra Dass. Campbell and Ennis then decide to enter the Café in disguise. They meet Chandra himself inside the Café, a dark eyed Hindoo with a turban. The chapter ends with Ennis and Cambpell searchig a corridor with many doors while the cultists are being distracted by a fight that occured outside. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 130 – 135) The second chapter, "Death Trap," Campbell and Ennis are thrown into water with weights attached to their legs. Chandra threw them into water because they knew too much. But Campbell saves himself as well as Ennis and start to chase Chandra again, this time on a boat with additional crew members. After a few fights between Chandra's cultists and Campbell's crew, Chandra escapes once again, on a boat. This is the end of the second chapter. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 135 – 138) The third chapter is called "Up the Water Tunnel." It starts with the Chandra's

32 escape and Campbell and Ennis find two strange badges on two dead cultist bodies. Ennis and Campbell proceed to chase Chanra's boat again as they see it disappearing somewhere in the cliffs. Campbell suggest that there must be a hidden entrance somewhere in the cliffs and manages to find it. When Ennis and Campbell go trough the entrance, they find a rocky coast, they leave their boat there with one of their crew's members (called Sturt Wilson, the captain of the ship) waiting on it. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 138 – 144) Ennis and Campbell are then met with the company of one cultist that asks them if they are from the cult and where are their badges. Ennis and Campbell show him their stolen badges and are allowed to get dressed for the upcoming sacrifical ritual. The third chapter ends with all the surounding cultists aiming at Ennis and Campbell with guns, Chandra is among them. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 144) The fourth chapter is called "The Cavern of the Door." The fourth chapter starts with Chandra explaining that he expected Ennis and Campbell to come and that they will now share the destiny of other sacrifical victims. Ennis and Campbell attack Chandra and other two cultists while they are being escorted to the sacrifical hall. Ennis and Campbell eventually manage to kill all the cultists. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 144 - 147) Ennis and Campbell then dress into the cultist robes (asbestos-like suits) and follow trough the corridor until they reach the sacrifical hall. The hall is full of chanting people surrounding a strange mechanism. One of the standing cultists gives a speech about the cult and explains that the sacrifical ritual is about to start. The victims then enter the hall, they are completely drugged. The fourth chapter ends with Ennis going in the front of the cultists and giving orders. The reason behind this is the fact that his robe was stolen from Chandra himself and thus has two stars instead of one, giving him extra power. (Edmond Hamilton, 1936, p. 147 – 149) The last chapter is called "The Door Opens." The chapter starts with the strange mechanism opening and releasing some creatures that are about to capture their victims. Ennis captures Ruth, which causes the door to close instantly. While gunshots are being fired at Ennis, Campbell and Ruth, they all manage to escape back to the boat and swim away from this place. There the story ends.

The Door into Infinity: A Detailed Analysis

The plot of "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) revolves around an investigator (Campbell) searching for a wife (Ruth) of his client (Ennis). This makes "The

33 Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) a crime fiction. To support this claim, I provide a citation from the story: „It’s been hours since she was kidnapped. They may have taken her anywhere, even outside of London now. And instead of searching for her, you sit here and talk gibberish about Doorrs!“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 130) Besides investigating the abduction, Campbell is also investigating some strange cult. The cult is supposed to make human sacrifices (which is confirmed later in the story) as well as to have an acces to some mysterious door. „Where leads the Door? It leads outside our world. Who taught our forefathers to open the Door? They Beyond the Door taught them. To whom do we bring these sacrifices? We bring them to Those Beyond the Door.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 130) A cult making human sacrifices itself is a strong element but it can belong to many kinds of fiction, depending on its characteristics and functions for the story. "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a confirmed crime fiction, with the cult being one of the investigated things. The cult itself is mysterious enough to make it another crime fiction element (besides the man storyline, which is about investigating). „Now again comes the time appointed for the opening of the Door. In their universe on the other side of it, They are waiting now to take the sacrifices which we have procured for them.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 148) „And as it expanded, Ennis saw that he could look trough that green light! He looked through into another universe, a universe lying infinitely far across alien dimensions from our own, yet one that could be reached through this door between dimensions.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 150) Revealing some facts about the cult makes it clear that it is full of madmen who are in connection with some alien creatures from another dimension and sacrifice people for them. The door itself is a strong science fiction element. I was thinking if it is not a fantasy fiction element, because science fiction is the fiction of „what if“ and „how to.“ (Evans, Christoper, p. 9) It is important to look at this issue from more perspectives. The first perpective is „how to contant an alien dimension.“ Technically, this story provided an answer in the form of some strange door. Te next perspective is „how does the door work?“ I have only learnt that the door requires sacrifices to be opened but nothing about how the sacrifices start the opening. Hypothetically, those alien creatures might have contacted the Earth first, creating the door for it. To support this claim, I provide a citiation: „Who taught our forefathers to

34 open the Door? They Beyond the Door taught them.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 130) This confirms this element as a science fiction element, making "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) a science fiction too. There are more science fiction elements however. „The jewels flashed and dazzled with deep color, but it was a color wholly unfamiliar and alien to their eyes.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 141) A jewel of unfamiliar color is a very interesting element. I would like to notice that our eyes can not see any other color than we see, because of our brains and eyes. Threfore it is very hard to even state what kind of element is this. I thought this would be a science fiction element but thinking deeper into it, there is no explanation of „how to.“ Hypothetically, those jewels could stimulate some parts of the brain to allow it to produce a new color. To do this, it must emit some alien radiation, making it actually a science fiction element. The story contains many tense moments as well, even in the text in italics is written that i tis packed with thrills, danger and startling events. (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 130) „The water under this pier is twenty feet deep, Chandra Dass told the two prisoners. I regret to give you so easy a death, but there is no opportunity to take you to the fate you deserve.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 136) Here in this part Chandra is about to throw Ennis and Campbell into the deep water, with weights attached to their legs. I am submiting this to prove that "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a thriller as well. I provide more citations to support this claim. „Ennis could not hold him, the Hindoo’s body seeming of spring-steel. He rolled over, dashed the young American to the floor, and leaped up, his dark face and great black eyes blazing.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 146) „Clinging to the girl, Ennis fought like a madman through a darkness in which no one could distinguish friend or foe…“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 151) "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is full of various fights and suspense situations. The first one is Campbell and Ennis being thrown into the deep water and somehow managing so save themselves. The second is the long boat chase. The third is the fight with cultists in a corridor. The last one is the great fight in the dark after closing the strange door. These elements are actually the strongest of all, as they are present trough the whole story. The story i salso more about Campbell and Ennis somehow escaping death

35 rather than actually investigating something. Therefore "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a thriller (which is a subgenre of crime fiction) with strong science fiction elements. I have also been thinking about considering "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) a horror fiction but this is very subjective. The only element one could consider a horror fiction element is probably the cult and its nature. It is also very interesting how Ennis and Campbell always escape death. Campbell was first able to untie a rope underwater, then had a bulletproof vest on while being shot and did not take a single hit in the great battle at the end. It is almost as if he were superhuman, or just good at predicting and escapology. I provide some citations to support this claim. „Easy, now, said Inspector Campbell. Wait till I cut your hands loose. Campbell! Ennis choked. How did you get loose?“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 137) „Campbell had something in his hand, a thin, razor-edged steel blade several inches long. Its hilt was an ordinary shoe-heel“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 137) „That trick’s done me good service before.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 137) „Nothing og the king, he said, and tapped the soiled gray vest he wore beneath his coat. Chandra Dass didn’t know this vest is bullet-proof.“ (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 147)

Conclusion:

"The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is mostly about the Inspector and Ennis escaping death and chasing Chandra, making it a thriller. The main plot revolves about Campbell investigating the strange cult that makes human sacrifices, therefore this story is a normal crime fiction too. It contains a strange door that allows alien creatures to enter our world and capture their victims. It also contains a jewel of unknown color, making it also a science fiction. Hypothetically, someone might consider the idea of the cult unsettling, making it a potential horror fiction. My last statement is that "The Door into Infinity" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a crime fiction thriller with science fiction elements and might be viewed as horror fiction by some readers.

36

8. 2. Analyisis: "Red Nails (part 2)"

The exact text in italics uder the title of “Red Nails” (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) (part 2) is "One of the strangest stories ever written – the tale of a barbarian adventure, a woman pirate, and a weird roofed city inhabited by the most peculiar race od men ever spawned." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 205) "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a continuing of a previous story, wich I do not have access to. The text in italics indicates that this story is adventurous and strange, including a woman pirate. It seems like but we have to read trough it to alanyse it properly. I summarize the whole story and analyse it right after.

“Red Nails (part 2)”: A Short Summary of the Story

Before the part two of "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) starts, a summary of the previous story is presented. The title of the summary of the previous story is "The story so far." I learn that in the previous story, Valeria (the main heroine of the story, a barbaric woman) killed her officer and deserted. She then met Conan, a Cimmerian ("Cimmerians were an ancient Indo-European people living north of the Caucasus and the Sea of Azov as early as 1300 BC"17) who joined her. (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 206) Conan is shown to be a slayer and that he and Valeria entered a city located inside a giant building. The structure of the city is many small rooms connected via door to

17 Cimmerians, http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/siberia.html#Cimmerians – 1. 11. 2015

37 each other, much like a cellular structure. Conan and Valeria have separated to explore the city (it is called Xuchotl). Valeria met there a strange creature wearing a hyponic skull, this creature was killing random people that the creature met. Valeria killed it and found that it was actually a dog. They later save a man, Techotl, and with some issues escrort him to his part of the city. Here the prechapter ends. (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 206 – 210) The next chapter is called "The People of the Feud" and is labeled a third chapter, meaning the previous two chapters are in the previous issue. In Techotl's part of the city, Valeria and Conan meet over thirty men of the same race as Techotl. His race is called "Tecuhltli" and is at war with another race, the Xotalancas. One of the people they meet there is Prince Olmec, a giant man and also the leader of the Tecuhltli. Olmec learns that Valeria and Conan are able to kill undead , an ability that is unheard of. Olmec tells them that this city was built a very long time ago by black slaves and that there are three clans in it that are at war witch each other. These clans are the Xotalancas, living in the eastern quarter of the city, the Tecuhltli, living in the western quarter and Tolkemec's family, living by the southern gate. (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 210 – 215) Olmec also states that all the clans are dying, no child was born in the entire city for fifteen years. Olmec also asks Valeria and Conan to help him slay all the undead dragons in the forest for valuable rewards, both Valeria and Conan agree. Valeria and Conan then go to sleep into their guest rooms. Here the third chapter ends. (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 215 – 218) The fourth chapter is called "Scent of Black Lotus." In this short chapter, Valeria wakes in the middle of the night, seeing a black woman bending over her. She also sees a giant black flower on the ground (this flower is the black lotus, a flower with narcotic effetcts). The woman escapes into a hidden corridor and Valeria follows her. The story ends with Valeria reaching some door and hearing the sounds of clinging swords.

A Short Introduction into Fantasy Fiction

"Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) contains many fantasty elements, meaning this story is a fantasy fiction. But to work with the term "fantasy fiction," I first have to introduce it. Fantasy fiction is a relatively complex genre, defined by many different factors and authors. According to Richard Beach and James Marshall, fantasy fiction contains the conflict between good and evil. It also contains a , that means not only the fight

38 versus evil but also a character's development. There should also be a metamorphosis present, this means a change of animals into humans or objects or vice versa. (Richard Beach, James Marshall 1991, p. 419) The deciding element, however, is the presence of a secondary world. This means that the author sets the story in an alternative universe with different or unclear psychical laws, for example allowing magic and alchemy to work. (Richard Beach, James Marshall 1991, p. 420) A fantasy fiction story should also contain magic and supernatural elements, which is self-explanatory. (Richard Beach, James Marshall 1991, p. 420 – 421) Tolkien considers the basic elements of fantasy to be fantasy, recovery, espace and consolation. To explain it, fantasy means that the story does not have to operate with empirical and objective facts. Recovery means that the reader will change his perspective of viewing the real world. Escape means that while reading the story, the reader escapes into a fictional world, allowing him to ignore his real life struggles for a while. Finally, consolation means that the reader gets a good feeling about the of the story. (Tolkien, 1997) These two definitions are totally different in their basic principles, while Beach and Marshall consider some story elements as the defining factors, Tolkien focuses on the impact on the reader. I personally consider the Beach and Marhshall's definition as much better because the Tolkien's one is too subjective and therefore unreliable. It might be because Tolkien commented on fantasy fiction a long time before the genre got stabilized. Also, according to Beach and Marshal, there should be a conflict between good and evil, and a quest (or journey, search). Considering only these factors, the story would be something of an adventure fiction. Therefore, I simply omit these factors becuase they are unreliable. That leaves metamorphosis, an alternative world and supernatural or magical elements. Metamorphosis itself is a magical (or supernatural) element (unless it is explained via science, which will make it a science fiction element), thereofre I really do not see the need for adding it as a separate element. With the conflict, quest and metamorphosis omitted, we get an alternative world and magical (or supernatural) elements. These are the defining factors for clearly stating that the story is a fantasy fiction.

"Red Nails (part 2):" Detailed Analysis

39 From the title of the story itself ("Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) ) I can not learn much. The text in italics under the title is "One of the strangest stories ever written – the tale of a barbarian adventure, a woman pirate, and a weird roofed city inhabited by the most peculiar race od men ever spawned." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 205) When I cut the title into separate parts, I get a barbaric adventure, woman pirate and weird roofed city. These elements intuitively indicate that "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is an adventure fiction. To either confirm or refute this statement, I have to go trough the whole "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) to search it for another elements. On the page 206, Conan kills a dragon: "Conan killed the dragon with a spear dipped in the juice of a poisonous fruit" (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 206) Killing a dragon means that there are magical or at least mythical creatures present during this story. A dragon does not exist in our natural world, therefore this story has to operate with a ficitonal (alternative) world. As Beach and Marshall claim, the presence of an alternative world is a fantasy genre element. Because there is no number of elemets that a story has to contain (according to my sources) to be considered fantasy fiction, "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) can be already be considered fantasy fiction. Next element to support my claim of "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) being a fantasy fiction is the presence of a hypnotic skull, formerly worn by a wizard. "A hideous apparation appeared wearing a luminous skull whose effect was hypnotic upon the onlooker. Valeria cut the thing down, disclosing it as a man wearing the enchanted skull of an ancient wizard." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 206) The hypnotic skull itself could most likely be a fantasy fiction element but there is no explanation given why it is hypnotic. Hypothetically, it could for example release some narcotic gas, although it is enchanted. More important, this skull used to be worn by an ancient wizard. I still do not know if the wizards in this world are a real thing or they are just charlatans. I need some more verification. Some parts of "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) are filled with unilateral fights, with Valeria and Conan easily winning against any number and kind of enemies. "Her blade swished as it cut the air in an upswinging arc with a blur in the middle, and the headless boody slumped down, spurting blood." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 207) "She killed the first who came within reach before he could strike a blow." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 207)

40 "Conan lashed down with his great sword and felt the blade shear trough something that might have been flesh and bone." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 209) I am putting this here because of the first element that Beach and Marshall consider to be an element of the fantasy fiction. The element is the fight of good versus evil with both forces clearly distinct. (Richard Beach, James Marshall 1991, p. 419) Nowhere in the story is clearly stated that either Valeria and Conan or the people of Xotalancas are either good or evil. They all just pursue their own interests, making them more or less neutral (chaotic neutral and lawful neutral, respectively). I put this up to challenge the statement of Beach and Marhall that the fight of good versus evil should be present. "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) already has fantasy fiction elements but no conflict of good versus evil. I would change the statement of Beach and Marhsall to a simple statement that there should just be a fight present, regardless of alignments. Unless Beach and Marshall want to state that all the elements must be present in a story to be considered a pure fantasy fiction. That would mean that stories with only some of these elements would just be stories with fantasy fiction elements but not a pure fantasy fiction, but they did not say anything like this. Further in the story, the reader learns that the hypnotic skull is acutally a so-called Burning Skull and it has the ability to paralyze its onlooker. "Before I could flee, the Burning Skull came upon me, and when I looked upon it my blood became as ice and the marrow of my bones melted. I could niether ran nor run. I could only await the stroke." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 211) The reason why does the skull cause this is nowhere to learn, it probably is magic. Such a magical artifact would support the claim that this story is a fantasy fiction. Another magical elements occur while Olmec tells the story about how the city of Xuchotl was built. "And their magicians made a terrible magic to guard the city; for by their necromantic arts they re-created the dragons which had once dwelt in this lost land." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 214) Necromacers reanimating undead dragons indicates that the magic in this world is a real thing, confirming that this story contains magical elements. Necromany is the art of creating zombies, ghouls and other undead (sometimes even unliving) creatures. The concept of "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is two roguish warriors going on an aimless journey, randomly encountering creatures and people.

41 "Valeria, a woman pirate forced by circumstances to join a mercenary army stationed on the Stygian-Darfar border, killed an officer who insulted her and deserted, fleeing into the wilderness that lay to the south." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 205) There is no reason given why Valeria chose south or that there is a destination she wants to get in. She just escaped and wanders aimlessly. I put this up because the second element that Beach and Marshall consider to be a fantasy fiction element is a quest. (Richard Beach, James Marshall 1991, p. 419) A quest usually has a purpose, Valeria and Conan do not have any, they just randomly wander into a town, where they are given the opportunity of getting rich. As Olmec says: "Aid us to wipe out the Xotalancas, and we will gice you all the jewels you can carry." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 217) Conan replies: "We're both penniles vagabonds, he grinned hardily." (Robert E. Howard, 1936, p. 217) They eventually get a quest but not for the sake of fighting against evil but to get rich. I put this up to challenge Beach and Marshall's statements again. And ironically, to support my claim of "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) being partially a fantasy fiction.

Summary and Conclusion:

"Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) contains some fantasy elements, dragons, magic, . It also contains two characters randomly wandering into a town, where they fight and are ultimately recruited by Olmec who promises them jewels. "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) were not considered a fantasy fiction in its time because of a very simple reason, the fantasy fiction genre was not stabilized yet. All stories that we call fantasy fiction today would be called weird fiction in the 1930s. According to our actual definitions (to year 2015), "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) combines two genres, fantasy fiction and adventure fiction. Fantasy fiction stories almost always include an adventure (that happens because of the quest that the heroes are trying to acomplish), therefore I do not think it is neccesary to claim that any story combines adventure fiction and fantasy fiction. My eventual statement is that fantasy fiction is adventure fiction with magic or

42 mythical creatures (or people), just as "Red Nails (part 2)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is.

43 8. 3. Analysis: "Death Holds the Post"

The exact text in italics under the title of "Dead Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is "A strange tale of living dead men and an unearthly horror that struck at dead soldiers in an African fort and brouht them back to a gruesome ressurection." (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 222) The text in italics indicates that this story includes living dead (they would be called zombies today but in 30s the term was not used yet). Living corpses can be eiter a fantasy fiction, science fiction or horror fiction element, depending on the way of ressurection and the story as a whole.

"Death Holds the Post:" A Summary of the Story

"Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) starts with a text written in capitals, meaning it is a message sent trough telegraph. The message encourages all the Algerian posts to find and arrest doctor Otto Prettweg who has escaped from the sanatorium. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 222) Two characters, Eddie Cranston (a soldier) and Lieutenant Praguer (the leader of the unit) are waiting in the Surdez post. They wait for about fifty men to return from the post Mechar, this post was sending messages about an army coming from the nearest outpost. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 223) Suddenly, one of the fifty men emerges near Surdez (his name is Gaspari), he is completely exhausted ans shocked. Gaspari then says that there were living corpses and wandering skeletons shooting at the men of Surdez in Mechar. No one believes him. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 224) Another incoming man appears, mechanically walking to Surdez. Ourlet (one of the soldiers from Surdez) tries to welcome him but the incoming man starts to shoot at him. The soldiers ambush the incoming man and see that a whole half of his face is missing. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 224 – 227) Lieutenant Praguer then orders his men to go to Mechar and chooses Cranston for a special misson. Cranston has to fake death to get inside Mechar. Mechar will also be bombed later. When the troops get near Mechar, they are attacked by shooting living

44 corpses, Cranston pretends to be dead. All the men retreat shortly after. A man in a white coat comes out of Mechar, putting a strange potion into the mouths of fallen soldiers, reanimating them eventually. (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 227 – 230) The old man is Prettweg and he takes all the living corpses and Cranston (who pretends to be a wandering corpse too) back to Mechar. Cranston discovers that Prettweg uses some psychic powers to control the corpses, so he tries to shoot him. All the corpses try to stop Cranston but he manages to kill Prettweg. All the living corpses fall on the ground and become ordinary cadavers right after Prettweg's demise. August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 230 – 233)

"Death Holds the Post:" Detailed Analysis

"Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) includes various elements but all of them are science fiction bordering on horror fiction. The strongest and most defining element of "Death holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) are living corpses. They occur in various parts of "Death Holds the Post." (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) "That Army, he repeated. Dio! It was no army. We shot, we struck home – but not one of them fell. His voice rose abruptly. They were dead already! Some of them were skeletons, half-rotten corpses..." (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 224) "One by one they rose and stood at attention, their dead faces turned expressionlessly toward the commanding figure whose medicine and mental magic had brought their bodies to ghastly life." (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 230) The corpses are animated via some medicine and mental magic. Now there are two possibilities. The medicine is either some sort of infection that allows theose corpses to walk again or it is simply a magical potion. Also the mental magic is either a real magic or some kind of mental connection based on (made up) natural laws. The nature of these two elemts is important because they define if the story is either fantasy fiction or science ficion. I remember saying that it was a pure horror fiction but after thoroughly reading it again I must deny this former statement. Nowhere in the story this is explained but the whole nature of the story does not indicate the presence of any other magical elements, therefore I would say that this is a scientific reanimation, meaning the story includes science fiction elements. According to Christoper Evans, the sicence fiction is a literature of "what if" and I added "how to," because just "what if" fits only fantasy fiction much more. Dead Holds the Post operates

45 with the possibiliy of "what if" could corpses walk again when you use some kind of potion on them ("how to"). "Perhaps the crispest definition is that science fiction is a literature of 'what if?'" (Evans, Christoper A & C, p. 9. ) Considering "Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) to be a horror fiction is very subjective. Someone might be scared (or loathed, disgusted) by the idea of wandering corpses but someone else might completely ignore it. According to J. A. Cuddon, horror fiction is a piece of fiction that is supposed to shock, frighten, repulse or loathe the reader. (Cuddon, J.A. (1984). "Introduction". The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 11) The most important part here is the word "supposed," meaning that even when the shocking/frightening/loathing element fails, the story is still considered a horror fiction. If this story was supposed to shock/frighten or loathe the reader is a matter of debate but maybe there is something in the story to support this claim. "...he stood then, watching the corpse intently for a few moments, moving away only when he had seen – as Cranston, too, saw a faint, horrible movement from the dead man!" (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 229) "Death could sweep over the earth, could hold every fort, every outpost, every great city, could reign over all the country, directed by the cancerous brain of this madman!" (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 230) Both of these extracts try to exaggerate the situation and probably unnerve the reader. "Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is thus really trying to frighten the reader and that makes it a horror fiction too. "Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) ends with Cranston killing Prettweg, causing all the corpses to die once more. "Cranston lay in the midst of a ghastly mound of dead flesh. He felt nausea assailing him, buried his face in his hands, and waited for dead. Nothing happened." (August W. Derleth and Mark Shorer, 1936, p. 232) I put this up because I am trying to learn something more about how the mysterious potion works. It is said that it reanimates the dead again (but not back to life) and that Prettweg's mental powers allow to control them. This would mean that any formerly living (thus dead) creatures that drinks this potion will walk again but only to listen to Prettweg's orders. It would make more sense if the corpses just stopped moving or started to wander disoriented around, rather than just dying again. Or does this potion allow the mental

46 conection to be made? Then why do the corpses only listen to Prettweg? Do they only listen to the one who gave them the potion? Honestly, I think that these questions would be hardly answered as the writer probably did not think about this. The reason why I put is up is that when I learn how exactly does the potion allow the corpses to walk and why do they only listen to Prettweg, I would be able to finally decide if this is a fantasy fiction or science fiction element. I personally think it is a science fiction one because of the nature of the story and also, not every science fiction must be realistic and exact.

Summary and Conclusion

"Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is based on science fiction (bordering on fantasy fiction) and has some horror fiction features. The strongest element are the walking corpses, reanimated via some mysterious potion and listening to Otto Prettweg only (their creator). I was not able to get any description of how does the potion and Prettweg's mental powers work, leaving this problem on my imagination. The horror fiction elements are present but they mostly consist of exaggerated descriptions, full of negative and overwhelming adjectives. Interesting thing to note is that today we would consider this a zombie story. In the 1930s the word zombie was not used yet, it was not used until 1968 when George Romero's Night of the Living Dead was released.18 My final statement is that "Death Holds the Post" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a science fiction story with horror fiction elements.

18

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie – 10. 11. 2015

47

8. 4. Analysis: "The Diary of Phillip Westerly"

The exact text under the title, written in italics, says "A strange, brief tale of the terrible fear inspired by a man's horendous reflection in a mirror." (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 233) The text includes words "terrible" and "horrendous," indicating that it should probably be a horror story.

"The Diary of Phillip Westerly:" A summary of the story

Before the diary entries start, Westerly’s nephew describes him as a wealthy, cruel and selfish man with many whims. One of these whims was keeping a diary and the second one was his passsion for mirrors he liked to look in. One whole wall in his room was covered by a giant mirror, the one that is connected to his disappearance. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 233) The first entry comes from August 3rd. Westerly claims that when he was looking into his mirror, his reflection did not reflect his movements, it stand still. It also had no tie, beard and big hands and legs. Westerley is confused and consideres this impossible, then goes to bed. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 233 - 244) In the entry from August 4th. Westerly describes seeing „him“ again (he refers to the reflection as „him“), this time sleeping. Westerly says he is a skeptic when it comes to things like this one but it comes to his mind that the reflection could be his soul. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 234) August 5th., Westerly’s wife came to his house and kept arranging her hair in the front of the mirror. She did not notice anything but Westerly says „he“ was still there, staring at Westerly. Westerly did not even see his wife’s reflection when she was arranging her hair. Westerley starts being paranoid that someone finds out his secret. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 234 - 235) During August 6th. and August 7th., Westerly locks himself inside his room, his maid is bringing him food but he does not each much. His paranoia gets stronger and stronger. Westerly also sees „him“ laughing, altough he can not hear him.(Paul Compton,

48 1936, p. 235) August 8th., Westerly’s clothes disappeared from his warderobe and were replaced by the ones „he“ was wearing. His reflection also changed clothes into Westerly’s. His reflection started to resemble Westerly and vice versa. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 235) During August 9th. and August 10th., the reflection gets Westerly’s full shape and he transformes into „him.“ He prays to the god and as a very last entry he claims that after laying his pen on the desk, he will enter the mirror. (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 235)

"The Diary of Phillip Westery:" Detailed Analysis

The story itself is a little constrained. It does not have a clear ending, neither a good beginning. All the things there just happen, for no given reason. The author probably just wanted (or had to) write a three pages long story and dismissed it. At the beggining of the story, Westerley is presented as a bad person, this should probably make the reader hate Westereley. I mention this because this is a relatively cheap way of introducing the character, fitting for this story. "He was a wealthy man, and also a cruel, selfish man. His wealth was attributed to this same cruelty and selfishness." (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 233) The strongest element of this story is the Westerley's mirror refletion. It slowly changes its place with Westerley alone. "A remarkable thing has happened. I had gone to my room to dress for dinner and I was standing before the mirror tying my tie. I had begun the usual procedure that one follows, when I noticed that no such action was recorded in the mirror." (Paul Compton, 1936, p. 234) Note to say that this is probably the only significant element of the story. The question is what kind of element this is - fantasy, horror, science fiction? It is very hard to decid because there is no explanation of why does this happen. Intuitivelly, one would say that this is a clear horror fiction element but the definition of horror fiction we are working with is "a prose of any lenght that is supposed to shock, frighten, repulse or loathe the reader." (Cuddon, J.A. (1984). "Introduction". The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 11) A shapeshifting mirror reflection is probably supposed to frighten the reader, making the story a horror fiction attempt. I have also been thinking about some potential meaning of the story and the most

49 probable option is that Westerley gets punished for his behaviour in this strange way.

Summary and Conclusion:

"The Diary of Phillip Westerley" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a cheap horror fiction attempt, using an interesting element. The story itself is very constrained, lacking any beginning or ending, maybe it was supoosed to be like this. The reader does never find out why does anything in the story happen. In the beginning, Westerley is introduced as a bad person and then exchanges his position with his mirror reflection, that is basically it. My last statement is that "The Diary of Phillip Westereley" (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) is a cheap horror fiction attempt.

50 9. Weird Tales, April 1939

In this chapter I make a quick analysis, comments and notes of the last issue I have an access to, this means the issue from April 1939. I have just read trough the magazine and checked if it is similar to the issue from August – September 1936. The issue from April 1939 contains eleven original stories, four poems and one reprint of a story from the previous issue. In the center of my attention are those ten stories. In the issue from April 1939, there are longer as well as shorter stories, the longest story is twentyfour pages long and the shortest story is only two pages long. All the poems are less than one page long. The issue from April 1939 also has cca thirty more pages than the issue from August – September 1936 and there is much more advertisment present. There is advertisment on the first, third and fourth page as well as on pages 161 and 162. There is also much more illustrations. The genres are a little bit subtle in the issue from April 1939. Most of them combine some elements from different genres or are hard to categorize according to our definitions. The name of the very first story is "The Red God Laughed," (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) it is about an alien who comes to Earth in the search of water. The Earth was doomed by a chemical war long time ago. The alien finds some gun and accidentally inhales the poisonous gas that the gun launches, then he dies. This story is a clear science fiction as it works with the idea of chemical war set in a distant future. There is also an alien visiting the Earth, also a science fiction element. (Thorp McClusky 1936, p. 5 – 9) The second story is called "Susette," (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) taking part during the French revolution. The main protagonist, Mordecai saves a woman, Susette, from being taken by the local authorities. She then allowes him to live in her house with her and her mother. Mordecai pretends that the house belongs to him and that no one else lives there, which saves Susette and her mother from being arrested. Susette wants to marry Mordecai, because he is an Ameriac. The marriage would mean that the French law does no longer apply on Susette. The night before the marriage, Susette is about to be taken by local authorities and she faints. Thinking that she is dead, they put her in a coffin and the coffin is put into a sepulcher.

51 Susette wakes up and is horrified by the fact that she has been buried alive. Mordecai wants to see her at any cost, even when he thinks she is dead. To reach his desire, he bribes the guard of the graveyard and they open Susette's coffin together. Mordecai finds her ailve and they both kiss. This story is almost entirely a romance, with a slight thriller element when Susette wakes inside a coffin. ( 1936, p. 12 – 36) The name of the third story is "Hellsgrade," (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) it is about a woman, Jirel, who wants to find a legendary treasure. She serves to Guy of Garlot and she was told that the castle, Hellsgrade (where the treasure is supposed to be located in) is entirely empty. When she approaches the castle, she finds some men killed with one spear and pinned to the wall of the castle. After entering the ruin, she is met by a company of various freaks and dwarves who are also searching for the treasure. While talking to them, she is suddenly kissed by some invisible force. The inhabitans of the castle tell her that this is the ghost they try to summon and that she is able to do it. They demand her to do it once more. The ghost eventually appears and gives her the treasure, a small box she is told to never open. This story contained dwarves, ghosts and a haunted ruin of a castle, which are all fantasy fiction elements, making this story an obvious fantasy fiction. (C. L. Moore 1936, p. 37 – 60) The fourth story, "Armies from the Past" (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) is about a soldier, Ethan Drew, who is taken two milion years to the future. The reason behind this is that the world is overruled by evil masters, who keep their mindless slaved drugged so they can not resist. The inventor of the time mashine and his daughter, Chriss, want Ethan and another historical perons to fight by their side. After a succssesful fight, the fighters realize that the inventor and his daughter were abducted, so they enter the local prison in a disguise and get the inventor out of there. His daughter is not in the jail, she was taken into some twisted underground dungeon where she is being prepared fot the Ritual of Life, that no one has ever survived. The inventor summons whole armies from different times and fights basically the whole town until they reach the dungeon. They save Chriss from there and all the armies decide to stay in this time. In this story is time travel that is provided by a time mashine. That means that the time travel is not magical but technical, making the story a science fiction. (Edmond Hamilton 1936, p. 61 – 82)

52 The fifth story, "The red swimmer" (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) tells a tale about a very evil pirate, Luke Treach, who slaughters the innocent and steals their property with his crew. Once he kills a man, Montelupe, who practiced alchemy and created a golden elixir that was supposed to provide eternal life. He also kills his daughter, both are killed in very violent and painful ways. The bodies are thrown into water. They all then sail the seas again, ready to reach another coast. Shortly after their start, a storm emerges. The storm fills their ship with water and two men drown. After this event, two red hands emerge from the sea evey night and take one or more men of Treach's crew into the water. Eventually, Treach is the last man standing, falling more and more into insanity. A few meters from the coach, those hands appear again, they are connected to a body this time. It is the body of the Montelupe's daughter, skinless and eyeless. This undead creature kills Treach in the same way she was killed. The story itself starts as an adventure fiction, featuring a very evil antihero. But the potion created via alchemy is a fantasy fiction element and those strange hands border horror fiction. ( 1936, p. 83 – 96) The sixth story is named "Hydra." (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) It tells a story about a man, Scott, who dies by very strange conditions, with his head severed off and a strange gray fluid spilled all around his body. It is then revealed that he was an accidental victim of an esoteric ritual performed by two cannabis users, Edmond and Ludwig. They both thought that they were only performing an astral projection, as was written in the book that they have found the ritual in. The ritual was actually a sacrifice of the person you tried to connect to. The person was sacrificed to multiheaded creatures living in the fourth dimension. The story ends with Edmond being sacrificed to these creatures by Scott from the dimension he is in (his spiritual form has changed). The story combines scientific and fantastical elements. There is another dimension above our third, multiheaded creatures are supposed to live there. The idea of another spatial dimension is a science fiction element, as modern science already knows that it is possible to have a world with more spatial dimension. Those creatures living there are more of a fantasy element, as the story itself does not explain how they got there or what are they supposed to do there. Also the whole ritual itself is a very paranormal element, making it a fantasy fiction element. ( 1936, p. 98 – 109)

53 The seventh story, "Fearful Rock (End)" (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) is a conclusion of some previous stories. Without the whole context, I felt a little bit lost. The conclusion alone is about a man, Kane Lanark, who is trying to reach and open a box that is located inside a small house. In some of the previous parts of this story, the house was burning with purple flame. The house was also surrounded by unliving moving bodies that Kane tried to shoot but it did not seem very effective. When he finally reached the inside of the house, he found the box. It could only be opened during full moon, and now it was full moon. When he opened the box, he found only ahses inside, also all the wandering corpses fell on the ground and became ordinary corpses now. Opening the box caused to break the curse and the ahses inside used to be a piece of paper that contained various secrets about how to bring dead to an animated state. The purple fire had to destroy the paper. The conclusion itself is a combination of fantasy and horror genre. The wandering unliving corpses are a typical horror fiction element. Breaking a curse via opening a box is more of a fantasy element, because that must mean magic. Although magic can be present in horror fiction as well, it is still a fantasy fiction element. ( 1936, p. 110 – 122) The eighth story, "High Places," (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) is one of the shorter stories. It tells a story about a woman who is flying into the town of Witchia. She is sitting right next to the pilot. The story also says that her former boyfriend died a year ago. Shortly after the flight, the plane starts to rise, the story takes part during night, when the woman looks at the pilot, he looks different. His form changed into her former boyfriend, Enis Graf. The woman told him that this is not a nice jole, answered that it is not a joke and that he wants to be with her. After that, the plane started to head down, the pilot tried to kill the woman. The story ended with things returning to the previous state, the pilot did not remember anything from what has happened. This story is very short, only four pages long. Maybe it is its lenght, but this story seems more like a short extract, rahter than a full story. The only horror fiction element it contained was the pilot changing into Enis and trying to kill them both. But that is all, so this story is basically a fragment with slight horror fiction elements. (Frances Garfield 1936, p. 123 – 127) The ninth story, "Mommy" (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) is about a woman, Mrs. Ellison, who wants to adopt a child. She visits the local orphanage, where she meets a

54 strange child, Martha. The nurse tells her that this little girl is haunted by a ghost of her mother. But it is a very protective ghost rather than a malicious one. Mrs. Ellison decides to adopt Martha but the little girl tells her that she has to ask her mommy if Mrs. Ellison is the right mother. After a few days, Mrs. Ellison enters the orphanage once more to hear that she is the right mother. She and Martha then drive in a car when suddenly, a truck hits them. No one is ijnured. This story borders both, fantasy fiction and horror fiction. It contains the element of a ghostly presence, set in a non-, it is more horror like. However, the ghost is actually a friendly one, the story itself is not scary at all, therefore it is a fantasy fiction. (Mary Elizabeth Counselman 1936, p. 128 – 133) The tenth story, "Wicked Clergyman," (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) tells a tale about a man in a dim room, containing only a box and a purple lamp. Suddenly, more people emerge in the room, they have a meeting there. The latest incomer has a bluebearded chin, a cape and evil eyes. He throws his dark magic books into a fireplace, causing flames of various colors to come out of the fireplace. After this, he attempts to hang himself but is stopped by the main character of the story, the latest incomer then takes the main hero to a mirror. In the mirror, the hero sees the latest incomer, meaning he is now him. This story also look more like an extract and the genre is hard to indetify. The first element are dark magic books, which is a fantasy fiction element. The second is the metamorphosis in the mirror, which is hard to categorize. This story is a short fragment with fantasy fiction elements. (H. P. Lovecraft 1936, p. 135 – 137) The last story, "Special News Bulletin" (in Weird Tales, Volume 33) is about Doctor Crandon, who is taking a flight. On the plane, he is given the opportunity of listening to radio via headphones. He agrees and listens. He hears messages that were broadcast already a very long time ago. This gives him an idea that all the messages ever broadcast are still contained inside the magnetic field of the Earth. After that, he hears some messages from the future too, he then starts to think about ways how he can become rich with a knowledge like this. The last message he hears is about the crash of the plane he is sitting in. This two page long story contains only a slight science fiction element and that is the idea of broadcast messages being stuck somewhere in the magnetic field of the Earth. (H. P. Lovecraft 1936, p. 138 – 139)

55 After completely reading the issue from April 1939, I conclude that its nature is similar but slightly different than the issue from September – August 1936. First, this issue contains science fiction, fantasy fiction and horror fiction but no crime fiction. Second, it contains adventure fiction and romance as well, two genres that were completely missing in the issue from August – September 1936. It also contained much more fragmented stories, when the issue fom August – September 1936 only had "The Diary of Phillip Westerly."

56

10. Conclusion

In this very last chapter I summarzie what I have done and what did I find out. As the very first step I had to choose a topic, which was the genre analysis of two selected issues of the Weird Tales magazine. The selected issues were from August – September 1936 and April 1939. After reading through the first issue I decided to make a detailed analysis of some of the stories, the reason behind this is in the introduction. During the analysis I found out that most (if not all) of the stories of the 1936 issue are of combined genres. The most widespread genre in the 1936 issue is science fiction but there were also stories of crime fiction, horror fiction and even fantasy ficiton, at least according to our today genre definitions. The 1939 issue contained mostly horror fiction, science fiction and fantasy fiction – but no crime fiction. There was also adventure and romantic fiction present as well. Although I can see all these genres in those two issues, no one from the 1930s would say that Weird Tales contain fantasy or science fiction. The reason behind this is that those genres were not stabilized yet, but as I found out, the roots of these (now very widespread and popular) two genres were already blooming in the Weird Tales magazines. The people from the 1930s would call this fantasy-science fiction hybrid "weird fiction." Crime fiction and horror (or gothic) fiction was already stabilized and I could see how these genres were also present in the Weird Tales magazine. The most flourishing and prominent genre in the Weird Tales is science fiction. Both the magazines focus mostly on some scientific and pseudoscientific phenomenons. In

57 the first magazine, for example, is the door into infinity. The door was basically a wormhole into some anohter universe or dimension. Next such phenomenon is the corpse reanimating elixir that allowed the dead to walk again, although this one was bordering fantasy fiction as well because it lacked any explanation of how it is supposed to work. The last two science fiction elements was the time slowing deivce and also the acid that causes the flesh to regrow on a dead body. Fantasy fiction elements from the first magazine (August – September 1936) include , vampires, magic and curses. All of these elemets are typical fantasy elements of today but in the ages of 1930s this was called weird fiction. The horror (and gothic) fiction elements are also present, for example the cursed boots and some of the named fantasy fiction elements could be considered horror ficiton elements as well. Crime fiction is not that much present in this issue, the only three examples that could be conisdered crime fiction are "The Door Into Infinity," (in Weird Tales, Volume 28) with its sacrifical cult and woman abduction; Mask of Death, where a source of sudden immobilization is being searched for and the last example is Four Wooden Stakes, where a man tries to find the reason behin the deaths in his family. The issue from April 1939 also consists of science fiction, horror fiction and fantasy fiction but no crime fiction. To find any examples, read trough the general analysis of the April 1939 issue. The science fiction elements are an alien coming to our Earth (destroyed by chemical war), time travel, astral four dimension (although this borders on fantasy fiction) and all the broadcasts being stuck in the magnetic field of our Earth. The fantasy fiction elements used in the issue include from ghosts, dwarves, wandering corpses and magic books. Some of the horror fiction elemets are connected to the fantasy fiction elemets, for example the ghosts and wandering corpses. Ghosts are an especially strong element of this issue, remember the little girl haunted by her dead mother and the strange story form that plane. Crime fiction is not present there, the only slight crime fiction element is the girl being wanted by local authorites in Susette but that is not enough to consider this story a crime fiction. The very last conclusion of this thesis is that the roots of fantasy fiction and science

58 fiction were blooming in the Weird Tales on the background of crime fiction and horror fiction. The elements of these genres are present there and can be observed easily. My own subjective opinion is that although some of the stories in the Weird Tales are interesting and original, most of them are not of a great quality. Personally, I liked the issue from 1936 much more.

59 11. Bibliography

11. 1. Primary sources

1) Weird Tales, Popular Fiction Publishing Company, Volume 28, 2457 East Washington Street, Indianapolis, August – September 1936, available on http://www.pulpmags.org/pdf/wt19360809.pdf

2) Weird Tales, Weird Tales, 9 Rockefeller Plaza, Volume 33, New York, April 1936, available on http://www.pulpmags.org/PDFs/WT_1939_04.pdf

11. 2. Secondary sources

1) ASHLEY, Mike. CLUTE, John. GRANT, John. "Weird Tales" in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997

2) ASIMOV, Isaac. "How Easy to See the Future," in on Science Fiction, Books, March 1981.

3) BRADFORD, Richard. Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press USA, 2015.

4) CARTER, Lin. Lovecraft: A Look Behind the Mythos, Ballatine Books, 1972.

5) COLES. William. Story in Literary Fiction: A Manual for Writers, AuthorHouse, 2007.

6) CUDDON, J.A. "Introduction". The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.

7) CUDDON, J. A. Literary Therms and Literary Theory, Pinguin Classics 2015.

8) CULLEN, Jim. Popular Culture in American history 1st ed; Massatchusetts: Blackwell, 2001.

60 9) DAVIDSON, James. West Nations of nations: a concise narrative of the American Republic, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

10) DRABLE, Margaret. The Oxford Companion To English Literature, 6th ed, OUP Oxford, 2000.

11) ELLIOTT, Emory. DAVIDSON, N. Cathy. The Columbia History of the American Novel, New York: Columbia University, 1991.

12) EVANS, Christoper. Writing Science Fiction, London: A & C Black, 1988.

13) GRIFFITH, KELLEY. Writing Essays about Literature, Cengage Learning, 2010.

14) INGE, Thomas. Handbook of American Popular Culture (Volume 2), Greenwood Press, 1979.

15) MARSHALL, James. BEACH, Richard. Teaching Literature in the Secondary School, Wadsworth Publishing, 1991.

16) MURRAY, Will. SMITH, Clark Ashton. The Book of , Necronomicon Press, 1996.

17) OUSBY, Ian. The Cambridge Guide To Literature In English, Cambridge University Press, 1994.

18) PRESTON, C. E; CUDDON J. A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Penguin Dictionary) 4th Edition, Penguin Books, 2000.

19) PRIESTMAN, Martin. The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction, Cambridge University Press, 2003.

20) ROBERTS, Adam. The Cambridge Companion to , Cambridge University Press, 2012.

61 21) SARICKS, Joyce. The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction, 2nd ed.. ALA Editions; 2009.

22) SEED, David. A Companion to Science Fiction, Malden: Blackwell, 2008.

23) TOLKIEN, J. R. R. "On -Stories”, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997.

24) WESTFAHL, Gary. GAIMAN, Neil. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders, Greenwood Press, 2005.

11. 3. Web Sources

1) LIPTAK Andrew, The Troubled History of "Weird Tales" Magazine, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/troubled-history-weird-tales-magazine/ Retreived on 11. 10. 2015

2) Regnal Chronicles, http://my.raex.com/~obsidian/siberia.html#Cimmerians – 1. 11. 2015

3) Retro Waste, http://www.retrowaste.com/1930s/music-in-the-1930s/ Retreived on 2. 11. 2015

4) TODOROV Tzvetan, http://faculty.washington.edu/akn/typology.pdf/ Retreived on 4. 11. 2015

5) Hollywood during the Depression, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3453 Retreived on 2. 11. 2015

6) Literature and the Depression, https://www.boundless.com/u-s- history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-historytextbook/the-new-deal-1933-1940-25/culture-in- the-thirties-197/literature-and-the-depression-1089-191/ Retreived on 2. 11. 2015

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7) The Grapes of Wrath, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath Retreived on 2. 11. 2015

8) Zombie, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_%E2%80%93 Retreived on 10. 11. 2015

12. The Apendix

63

The cover pages of the two selected issues. The one on the left is from August – September 1936 and the one on the right is from April 1936.

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