Songs and Sonnets Atlantean

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Songs and Sonnets Atlantean
Songs and sonnets atlantean.jpg
Jacket illustration by Gordon R. Barnett for first Songs and Sonnets Atlantean
Author Donald Sidney-Fryer
Cover artistGordon R. Barnett
LanguageEnglish
Genre poetry
Publisher Arkham House, Wildside Press, Phosphor Lantern Press, Hippocampus Press
Publication date
First Series June 16, 1971; Second Series summer 2003; Third Series September 2005; trilogy 2008
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrinted volumes
PagesFirst Series; xxx, 134 pp.; Second Series 159 pp.; Third Series 192 pp.; trilogy 550 pp.

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean refers to either the 1971 first volume in a trilogy of poetry collections by Donald Sidney-Fryer or to his complete trilogy. Each volume claims some poems were written by poets in the lost continent of Atlantis and translated by Sidney-Fryer into English. Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series was published in 2003, and The Third Series in 2005. All three Atlantean collections were gathered in the 2008 volume The Atlantis Fragments: The Trilogy of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. Sidney-Fryer also wrote two companion novels. His series has been praised by critics. “Fryer has created, in his fictional Atlantis, an entire civilization and a body of absorbing literature,” said New Bedford Standard-Times. [1] Fritz Leiber wrote in Fantastic Stories: “A total picture of a fabulous Atlantis is presented, more convincing and touching than that of a novel might be. But the book ... shows much more than that. Sunken Atlantis becomes a symbol of all lost glories and grandeurs of Earth.” [2] The Murfreesboro Sidelines reported: “The poems are of unearthly beauty. ... Whether the poems really are from the Atlantean or whether they are the creations of the poet Fryer, they deserve to be read and to be experienced.” [3]

Contents

Creation and publication

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean (later called "the First Series")

Sidney-Fryer began writing the poems in March 1961, inspired by The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. He took three years to write approximately twelve poems and mailed them to August Derleth, the owner of publishing company Arkham House. Derleth praised them and encouraged Sidney-Fryer to write enough poetry for a book. Writing the remainder of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean took Sidney-Fryer another seven years. [4]

The finished book tells the story of the romance between Princess Aïs and Prince Atlantarion in the kingdom of Atlantis, "but," wrote Sidney-Fryer, "in the form of a seemingly miscellaneous or random complilation of poems or 'fragments' ... Thus, the reader must 'work' to discover or recover the main narrative; ... but 'clues' are scattered both carefully and abundantly over the entire 'terrain' from the beginning of the book (including both its outer front dust-jacket and the inner front dust-jacket or flap) up through its finish (including the printer's note, the inner back dust-jacket or flap, and then the final and outer back dust-jacket...)." The book's "Introduction" and "Notes" sections help tell the story. The scholarly "Introduction" explains how the poems were created in Atlantis, how they were lost for thousands of years, and how they were rediscovered. The introduction's author, Dr. Ibid Massachusetts Andor, also provides an explanatory "Notes" section givinging background for individual poems. "Dr. Andor" is actually a pseudonym for Sidney-Fryer. [5] Sidney-Fryer used his memories of the whaling port New Bedford, Massachusetts--where he had spent his childhood and youth--to describe the seaport cities of his fictional Atlantis. [6]


Sidney-Fryer erroneously believed that San Francisco publisher A. M. Robertson published 2,000 copies of poetry collections by George Sterling. He persuaded Derleth that instead of publishing 500 copies (Arkham House's normal print quantity for poetry books) he should publish 2,000 copies of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. [7] The book was published June 16, 1971 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,045 copies. Copies of this verse collection exist both with and without the limitation page bound in the rear of the book; the priorites of these states are not known. The day after the book's publication, the poet went to Sauk City to visit Arkham House, where he personally inscribed, signed, and dated an unknown number of copies. The inscription was identical in each book and reads: "Atlantean Greetings & Salutations/ Donald Sidney-Fryer/ the Last of the Courtly Poets,/ 17 June 1971." Other signed copies with variations of this inscription have been noted and may have been signed at different dates. This first volume went out of print in the early 1980s. [8]

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series

In the late 1980s, Stanley McNail encouraged Sidney-Fryer to write a sequel to Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. As Sidney-Fryer completed a section of the book, "to a circle of close and long-term friends I issued some of the individual sections in a series of photocopied booklets . . . [T]hey made their appearance in 1991, 1992, 1996, and 1997, repectively." He completed writing the book in June 1998 and sent it to publishers. All rejected it, until August 2001, when Keith Allen Daniels, owner of Anamnesis Press, planned to publish it. Before the book was printed, Daniels died of cancer. [9]

Literary historian Don Herron took Sidney-Fryer's manuscript to John Gregory Betancourt of Wildside Press, who accepted it. Wildside Press published Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series in the summer of 2003.

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Third Series

Even before Sidney-Fryer's Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: Second Series was published, he began to write a third volume. "I began to create the series in the Winter of 2001-2002, and managed to complete it in the Winter of 2004-2005. During the three years required to complete the collection, I issued—again to a circle of close and long-term friends—some of the individual sections in a series of photocopied booklets, thus privately printed, and they made their appearance in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, respectively." It was accepted for publication by Black Coat Press, but for some reason Black Coat did not publish the book. Black Coat did, however, produce the volume for Sidney-Fryer. [10]

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Third Series was self-published by Sidney-Fryer while he lived in Los Angeles, under his own Phosphor Lantern Press company name, in 2005.

The Trilogy of the Songs and Sonnets Atlantean

Finally, in 2008 New York publisher Hippocampus Press produced all three books together in one volume titled The Atlantis Fragments: The Trilogy of the Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. The hardcover edition also includes a front endpaper map of the continent of Atlantis "and its Relationship to the Known World," back endpaper maps of showing details of the isle of Atlantis and its capital, the city of Atlantis; and an introduction by author Brian Stableford.

The Atlantis Fragments: The Novel

Sidney-Fryer's companion novel about the history and end of Atlantis, The Atlantis Fragments: The Novel, was published in 2011 by Hippocampus Press.

West of Wherevermore: Interlude in Atlantis

He also wrote a shorter second novel, West of Wherevermore: Interlude in Atlantis, printed in Sidney-Fryer's 2016 book West of Wherevermore and Other Travel Writings. The second novel describes the five-year wedding voyage of the Princess Aïs and the Prince Atlantaryon. [11] (Confusingly, the novel was not included in Sidney-Fryer's similarly-named book West of Wherevermore and Other Essays, published in 2019.)

Critical responses to the First Series

August Derleth’s publishing company Arkham House published Songs and Sonnets Atlantean on June 16, 1971. 18 days later Derleth died of a heart attack. His small publishing company did little to publicize the new book. Sidney-Fryer mailed copies to newspaper and magazine reviewers himself. [12]

Only a few mainstream media publications paid any attention to a poetry book from a small publisher by an unknown poet. The New Bedford Standard-Times said: “Fryer has created, in his fictional Atlantis, an entire civilization and a body of absorbing literature.” [1] In the national magazine The Advocate, poet Richard L. Tierney enthused: “It is sheer beauty, and one can tell that Mr. Sidney-Fryer is a lover of life and beauty to the core of his being. ... I am overwhelmed by the depth of feeling and the rich intricacy with which Donald Sidney-Fryer depicts his world. For this creation is indeed a world, not just a book.” [13] University Bookman: A Quarterly Review called Songs and Sonnets Atlantean “a delightful book of verse ... a work that reflects a glittering imagination and no mean talent.” [14] “The poems are of unearthly beauty,” said the Murfreesboro Sidelines in Tennessee. It continued: “The imagery is lush, exotic, full of colors and magic names. ... Whether the poems really are from the Atlantean or whether they are the creations of the poet Fryer, they deserve to be read and to be experienced.” [15] The Lake Geneva Regional News ended its review: “Our complaint is that we cannot possibly thank Donald Fryer enough for this book which hints of a land beyond redemption and entices us into believing we have traveled there.” [16]

Sidney-Fryer generated additional coverage by sending copies to reviewers with specialty journals that cover science fiction and fantasy literature. Most of their reviews were favorable, but not all. In Luna Monthly, Mark Purcell wrote a lengthy review that decided “... Mr. Fryer has nothing to say in his poems. ... The strict prose sense in Fryer's poems is banal.” [17] Sidney-Fryer published a long, polite response which expressed his gratitude to Purcell for reviewing Songs and Sonnets Atlantean and then walked through Purcell's review step-by-step correcting misunderstandings and errors. [18]

Other fantasy specialists disagreed with Purcell. Author Jack L. Chalker wrote: “Fryer's an entertaining and competent poet who reads well, and people who like fantasy poetry in general (as I do) will find the collection worth reading.” [19] In Fantastic Stories, Fritz Leiber said: “A total picture of a fabulous Atlantis is presented, more convincing and touching than that of a novel might be. But the book ... shows much more than that. Sunken Atlantis becomes a symbol of all lost glories and grandeurs of Earth.” [20] In The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , Gahan Wilson reported: “He has managed in his slim book, slim only in size, to evoke an Atlantis which is both haunting and astonishingly solid.” [21]

The most impressive coverage in a publication focused on fantasy literature appeared in the journal Nyctalops, which devoted sixty percent of a double issue to Sidney-Fryer, Songs and Sonnets Atlantean, and his other works. Included in the many articles was one praising “the joy of sound” in Sidney-Fryer's poetry and calling Songs and Sonnets Atlantean “that modern Arkham House masterpiece.” [22] Professor Charles K. Wolfe wrote a detailed, insightful investigation of the book's parts and how they affected readers, pointing out: “Songs and Sonnets Atlantean contains many different kinds of writing, but its impact is above all synergistic: its overall structure and overall effect are more than simply the sum of its parts and make the book what it is, a unique application of the most modern literary methods to some of the oldest literary forms.” [23]

Decades later in France, fantasy editor and critic Philippe Gindre wrote of the poems: "Even if their formal precision might not fail to disconcert the contemporary reader, the end product remains fascinating. Poems in prose and in verse, scholarly annotations, digressive commentaries succeed and complete each other so as to result in a literary object beyond compare." [24]

Critical responses to the Second Series

All known critical evaluations of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series were favorable. Most called Sidney-Fryer's long narrative poem "A Vision of a Castle Deep in Averonne" a highlight of the book.

Literary historian S. T. Joshi stated:

“This remarkable collection of poems and prose poems displays Sidney-Fryer as an assured master of many poetic forms—the quatrain, the sonnet, the ode, and especially the alexandrine, which has become his signature metre—as well as a fantastic imagination that, to be sure, draws upon the work of [Clark Ashton] Smith, [Ambrose] Bierce, and the Elizabethans but remains distinctively his own. … It displays all the virtues we have come to expect from Sidney-Fryer: felicitous word-choice, precision in metre, and especially a vibrant, exotic imagination that vivifies realms of fantasy into living realities.

“The crown jewel of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series is “A Vision of a Castle Deep in Averonne”, a sixty-page narrative poem with all the richness of incident, depth of character portrayal, and fantastic imagination of a novel, yet written in smoothly flowing alexandrines that leave the reader hoping the poem will never end. … The volume concludes with a hefty section of notes on the poems—notes that, in the substantial background they provide on the poems, are in many cases nearly as fascinating as the poems themselves.” [25]

Fantasy critic Jesse F. Knight wrote: “Sidney-Fryer is a master of the sonnet form, and there are plenty examples in this collection, from the poignant “In an Atlantean Bath” to the unsettling “Rêverie Gothique,” from the bleak “Beyond Ultima Thule” to the idealistic, yet at the same time sensual “An Enchantress out of Time.” But he also displays his poetic strength, too, his ability to sustain a narrative, with an extraordinary and enormous poem of sixty pages, a weird tale of Averonne. … He writes about something more fundamental than nostalgia, something rooted more deeply in the human psyche. For after all, perhaps the ultimate haunting is that recognition of what might have been.” [26]

In France, Philippe Gindre reported: “The privileged few who could appreciate, on our side of the Atlantic, the first volume of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean, will rediscover intact the inspiration so sui generis of Donald Sidney-Fryer in such poems at “Our Lady of the Unicorn,” “Reverie Gothique,” or the very beautiful “Beyond Ultima Thule”, attributed to the prince Atlantarion.” [27]

In England, novelist Brian Stableford summarized the book's contents: “The metafictional stratification of the whole body of work is fascinating in its depth and complexity, moving from the bedrock of a beautifully ornate version of the legendary Atlantis through the Elizabethan fabulations of Edmund Spenser, the neo-paganism of the French Parnassians and the unrepentant fantasizing of the American Bohemians of the West Coast, to a fresh and deftly-stylized present day. Such scope is rare; coherence of vision and supple exploitation of exotic methods within such scope is even rarer. The accomplished dexterity with which so many innovative links are forged and sewn is remarkable, and the whole tapestry is a brilliant achievement. [28]

Critical responses to the Third Series

Because Sidney-Fryer self-published Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Third Series, little publicity was generated. Fantasy literature historian Scott Connors reviewed the new book in Weird Tales: "A linear descendent of Edmund Spenser by way of the California Romantics (a group that included [Clark Ashton] Smith, George Sterling and Nora May French), Sidney-Fryer's work emphasizes clarity, accessibility and simplicity in form, and magic, music and continuity in content. … There is little here that is terrible, but much that is wondrous, often infused with a fey wit that reflects a gentleness we could only wish were more often found in this world." [29]

Contents of the First Series

Songs and Sonnets Atlantean contains the following pieces. Items presented as written by poets from the lost continent of Atlantis are prefaced with "(A)". All (A) items are presented as originally written in the Atlantean language but surviving only as French translations by Michel de Labretagne (a pseudonym of Donald Sidney-Fryer) and translated by Sidney-Fryer. Items without the (A) label are presented as either written by Sidney-Fryer or translated by Sidney-Fryer from other French poets.

"Introduction" by Dr. Ibid M. Andor (pseudonym of Donald Sidney-Fryer)

Minor Chronicles of Atlantis


Sonnets on an Empire of Many Waters

Commendatory and Dedicatory Poems

"Notes" by Dr. Ibid M. Andor (pseudonym of Donald Sidney-Fryer)

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Earl J. Dias, “Books,” New Bedford Standard-Times (March 5, 1972); reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 79.
  2. ↑ Fritz Leiber, “Fantasy Books,” Fantastic Stories, v. 21 n. 6 (August 1972), p. 108; reprinted Nyctalops (April 1976), pp. 79-80.
  3. ↑ Chris Keith, “Book Makings,” Murfreesboro Sidelines (October 5, 1971); reprinted Nyctalops (April 1976), pp. 77-78.
  4. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, "Continuity via Songs and Sonnets Atlantean, in Continuity, ed. Scott Connors, mailing 136, Esoteric Order of Dagon Amateur Press Association (Hallowmas 2006); reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2021), pp. 92-93. Sidney-Fryer, Hobgoblin Apollo: The Autobiography of Donald Sidney-Fryer (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2016), pp. 180-181.
  5. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, “A Defense and Illustration of the Poetic Method,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 82.
  6. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, "Afterword" part II, Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 35-40; reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2021), pp. 104-110.
  7. ↑ Don Herron, "Rediscovered: Every Copy of an Edition" (April 10, 2021).
  8. ↑ Jaffery, Sheldon. The Arkham House Companion. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1989, p. 101.
  9. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, "Continuity via Songs and Sonnets Atlantean; reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea, p. 94.
  10. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, "Continuity via Songs and Sonnets Atlantean," Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 2-5; reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea, pp. 94-95; Sidney-Fryer, note to "Donald Sidney-Fryer, dernier poete courtois," Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity, p. 16.
  11. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, "A Note on The Interlude", West of Wherevermore and Other Travel Writings (Auburn, California: Phosphor Lantern Press, 2016), p. 7.
  12. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, “A Defense and Illustration of One Poetic Method,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 81.
  13. ↑ Richard L. Tierney, “Books: Sidney-Fryer's Poetry Evokes Courtly Grandeur”, Advocate n. 79 (February 16, 1972); reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), pp. 78-79.
  14. ↑ James Gorski, University Bookman: A Quarterly Review, v. 13 n. 2 (Winter 1973/1974); reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 80.
  15. ↑ Chris Keith, “Book Makings,” Murfreesboro Sidelines (October 5, 1971); reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), pp. 77-78.
  16. ↑ Burton Frye, “Book Reviews,” Lake Geneva Regional News (August 12, 1971), p. 6; reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 77.
  17. ↑ Mark Purcell, “Reviews: Songs and Sonnets Atlantean,” Luna Monthly, n. 43 (December 1972), pp. 22-23; reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 80; reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Aesthetics Ho!: Essays on Art, Literature, and Theatre (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2017), pp. 117-118.
  18. ↑ Sidney-Fryer, “A Defense and Illustration of One Poetic Method,” pp. 81-87.
  19. ↑ Jack L. Chalker, “Books,” Mirage n. 10 (1971); reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 78; reprinted
  20. ↑ Fritz Leiber, “Fantasy Books,” Fantastic Stories, v. 21 n. 6 (August 1972), p. 108; reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), pp. 79-80.
  21. ↑ Gahan Wilson, “The Dark Corner,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , v. 43 n. 2 (August 1972), p. 23; reprinted Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 79.
  22. ↑ Allene Phy, “Master Donald Sidney-Fryer & Baudelaire,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), pp. 50-55.
  23. ↑ Charles K. Wolfe, “Romantic Synergy: Sidney-Fryer's Songs and Sonne[t]s Atlantean,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 67.
  24. ↑ Philippe Gindre, “Donald Sidney-Fryer, dernier poéte Courtois,” Le Boudoir des Gorgones: Revue de littérature étranger et fantastique n. 7 (October 2003), p. 57; reprinted in Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), p. 15, translated into English by Donald Sidney-Fryer.
  25. ↑ S. T. Joshi, title unknown, Necropsy (October 8, 2003); reprinted in Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 11-13.
  26. ↑ Jessie F. Knight, title unknown, All Hallows n. 34 (October 2003); reprinted as “Reviews: Songs & Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series,” Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), p. 10.
  27. ↑ Philippe Gindre, “Donald Sidney-Fryer, dernier poéte Courtois,” Le Boudoir des Gorgones: Revue de littérature étranger et fantastique n. 7 (October 2003), pp. 56-58; reprinted Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 14-16, translated into English by Donald Sidney-Fryer.
  28. ↑ Brian Stableford, “In Re: Songs and Sonnets Atlantean, by Donald Sidney-Fryer,” Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 13-14.
  29. ↑ Scott Connors, "The Den," Weird Tales n. 342 (October-November 2006); reprinted in Esoteric Order of Dagon: Continuity n. 136 (November 2006), pp. 31-32.
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