Alda Porto | Traductora |
Lenita Maria Rimoli Esteves | Traductora |
H. P. Lovecraft | Escritor |
Escrito en agosto de 1925. Publicado por primera vez en Weird Tales Vol. 09 No. 01 en enero de 1927.
Le gustaba el encanto envejecido de aquel barrio de Brooklyn; pero cuando vió a toda aquella gente en el metro, en las calles, los parques, empezó a odiarles. Padecía realmente por culpa de aquel odio. Detestaba sobre todo a los pueblos semitas. Los trataba de "asiáticos de ojos globulosos y cara de rata". De un modo general, los extranjeros para él eran "bastardos". Una noche, cuando estábamos cenando con Morton, Sam Loveman y Rheinhart Kleiner —si mis recuerdos son exactos— una banda de maleantes entró en el restaurante. Howard quedó tan impactado por su actitud agresiva que decidió escribir "Horror en Red Hook". Esta historia es sintomática de su odio por Nueva York, un odio que no hacía más que incrementar la nostalgia que sentía por Providence.
The idea that black magic exists in secret today, or that hellish antique rites still survive in obscurity, is one that I have used & shall use again. When you see my new tale The Horror at Red Hook, you will see what use I make of the idea in connexion with the gangs of young loafers & herds of evil-looking foreigners that one sees everywhere in New York.
I have a nest of devil-worshippers & devotees of Lilith in one of the squalid Brooklyn neighbourhoods, & describe the marvels & horrors that ensued when these ignorant inheritors of hideous ceremonies found a learned & initiated man to lead them. I bedeck my tale with incantations copied from the "Magic" article in the 9th edition of the Britannica, but I'd like to draw on less obvious sources if I knew of the right reservoirs to tap. Do you know of any good works on magic & dark mysteries which might furnish fitting ideas & formulae? For example—are there any good translations of any mediaeval necromancers with directions for raising spirits, invoking Lucifer, & all that sort of thing? One hears of lots of names—Albertus Magnus, Eliphas Levi, Nicholas Flamel—&c., but most of us are appallingly ignorant of them. I know I am—but fancy you must be better informed. Don't go to any trouble, but some time I'd be infinitely grateful for a more or less brief list of magical books—ancient & mediaeval preferred—in English or English translations. Meanwhile let me urge you, as I did over a year ago, to read The Witch Cult in Western Europe, by Margaret A. Murray. It ought to be full of inspiration for you.
Carta a Clark Ashton Smith, 9 Octubre 1925.
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