Clark Ashton Smith - The Enchantress Of Sylaire

[@ministryoftruth8499]

This story is like a dark Matrix long before the Matrix. One of my favourites by CAS.

[@gregoryblack8109]

It's awesome!

[@implodingsoftly]

It could be that once he saw a mortal see their own darkest self in the mirror it affirmed his belief that all people, mortal or not, are monsters. If one monster is beautiful to you, love the one you're with.

[@RolandWieffering1]

Nice, animals are animals but humans can be beasts. If only more people would do what you said, "Love the one you're with" I know it is from a song but the title won't come to my mind. All the best from Holland. ❤️

[@seanjustinkvalsvig1581]

Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 - August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the "The Last of the Great Romantics" Smith's was praised by contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures" one of "the big three of Weird Tales, with Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft" The fantasy critic L. Sprague de Camp said of him that "nobody since Poe has so loved a well-rotted corpse." A member of the Lovecraft circle and his literary friendship from 1922 until Lovecraft's death in 1937. "My own conscious ideal has been to delude the reader into accepting an impossibility, or series of impossibilities, by means of a sort of verbal black magic, in the achievement of which I make use of prose-rhythm, metaphor, simile, tone-color, counter-point, and other stylistic resources, like a sort of incantation." Clark Ashton Smith stated. Smith's self-education was to read the complete 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica at least twice. Smith retained most or all of whatever he read. After leaving formal education, he embarked upon a self-directed course of literature, Smith later taught himself French and Spanish to translate verse out of those languages, including works by Gérard de Nerval, Paul Verlaine, Amado Nervo, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and all but 6 of Charles Baudelaire's 157 poems in The Flowers of Evil. A fan letter from H. P. Lovecraft, which was the beginning of 15 years of friendship and correspondence. Smith and Lovecraft borrowed each other's place names and the names of strange gods for their stories, so different is Smith's treatment of the Lovecraft theme. Smith was poor for most of his life and often did hard manual jobs such as fruit picking and woodcutting to support his parents. He was an able cook and made many kinds of wine. He also did well digging, typing and journalism.

[@adygarlinghouse9685]

What a suspenseful ending! Poor choices by the main character, he was given every opportunity

[@jayare2620]

Essentially accurate portrayal of the eternal feminine

[@Narconecrotix]

The main character is the simp to end all simps.

[@guaporeturns9472]

Spoken like an anime boy who obviously has never felt a woman’s touch , and never will( mom doesn’t count)

[@guaporeturns9472]

Spoken like an anime boy who obviously has never felt a woman’s touch , and never will( mom doesn’t count)

[@jctrevi89]

Ye olde simp

[@andersonsmith979]

Spoiler. So...the very reason Anselm was given the mirror-that he knows works-to see what Sephora really was, the moment he can use it, he tosses it away. Bearing in mind what awful things it must have shown to the mortal woman, what was he afraid to look at in the reflection of his enchantress' face? The face that belonged to the ancient who had enslaved another enchanter and connived to have him killed using this feckless dupe. Ignorance is bliss, I guess. Anselm decided it was better not to know the truth and not wanting to anger her, flung the mirror away as if it didn't matter. Interesting bones of a story, even if the end here seems like a copout and a pretty big letdown. It just ends. He kills the wolfman FAR too easily. (The wolfman who was plainly Sephora's previous lover.) Anselm's own previous love interest gets her comeuppance and any concerns that he's consorting with a vindictive, ancient witch who obviously easily gets bored with her lovers are just ignored for "matters which have been interrupted too long." Oh, please. This idiot is dead and just doesn't know it yet. Being foolish is one thing but Anselm seems to harbour the same mean-spiritedness that he seems to find such fault with in his previous obsession. His laughter at his erstwhile love seems especially unnecessary and obnoxious. She's not as perfect as she imagines herself to be, (Who is?), having such awful visions sprung on her unaware, BUT did Anselm have the courage to look at his own reflection? I doubt it. Laugh at someone else's unwanted epiphany, despite not having the sense or courage to take stock of himself or his dangerous new love. Who he has just killed for. At her behest. He's a fool and will likely be laughing out of the other side of his mouth when Sephora tires of him, turns Anselm into some beast and then when that's not enough for her, has him murdered. He'll have to abase himself for every day of "freedom." Fool. Just a comment about the video itself, don't try to do beguiling female voices as you did with Sephora. It is off-putting and painfully obvious it doesn't work. It sounds exactly like a guy trying to mimic a woman being beguiling. Just read her parts with your regular voice. And to any fans of Mr. Smith who may happen by, what are some good stories by him? This story was some weak sauce. Not at all like what's promised by wiki: "H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures""

[@roberthawes3093]

"The End of the Story" is somewhat similar to this tale, but I think is even better. Like "The Enchantress," it also features a very flawed 'hero': kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGS1dISEpJqdfq8 I understand your point concerning Anselm, but I believe this is exactly what Smith wanted his readers to understand: people who are consumed with desire (of whatever sort) will justify all manner of vile or outright foolish actions simply to have the object of their desire. I believe Smith wants us to reflect on this. "The Enchantress" is therefore a type of morality tale, rather like "The End of the Story." Man's capacity for self-delusion, or to simply dismiss what he finds inconvenient, is nearly boundless, and always results in tragedy.

[@gregoryblack8109]

This is a great story you just sound miserable