Title: The Colossus of Ylourgne
Author: Clark Ashton Smith
Date of First Publication: June 1934
Place of Publication: Weird Tales
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER
Critical Summary: Nathaire, an infamous necromancer, suddenly departs from the town of Vyones with ten pupils. Shortly after their disappearance, freshly buried bodies mysteriously start going missing from their graves. These bodies, comprised of criminals and other outcasts, are discovered to have left their graves through dark magic. As the townspeople begin to investigate, they find that the bodies’ destination was Ylournge, a castle located on the mountainous cliffs of Averoigne. When two monks try to investigate the castle, they find corpses lying on top of a pile of human bones and flesh. A dwarfish sorcerer discovers the monks and sends two demons to drive the monks out of the castle. When the town hears of the monks’ trek to the castle, they determine that the dwarf-sorcerer is the infamous necromancer Nathaire.
With the newfound knowledge of Nathaire’s location, Gaspard du Nord, a former pupil of Nathaire, sets out to put a stop to the dark sorcery going on inside the walls of Ylournge. At the castle, he discovers Nathaire and his army of demons have sculpted the remains of the corpses into a one hundred foot colossal monster. Nathaire discovers Gaspard and imprisons him within the castle. Before trapping Gaspard in a pit, Nathaire tells him his plan to seek revenge on the town of Vyones for rejecting him for his magical practices. The sorcerer plans to cast a spell to transfer his soul into the colossal monster to wreak havoc on the town.
While Gaspard is trapped, Nathaire successfully embodies the monster, starting on his revenge, destroying anything and anyone that comes into his path. As the chaos ensues, Gaspard is able to escape. He then uses his magical training to create a powder that returns the souls of the dead back to their rightful resting place. Armed with a sac of the powder Gaspard climbs to the top of a cathedral tower in which he is on equal ground with the Colossus of Ylourgne. He lures the monster close enough to throw the powder in its face. As a result, the individual souls of the monster return to their rightful graves, returning Yvones to a peaceful state once again.
Within the short story, Smith explores the theme of the mad scientist through Nathaire; he is a brilliant sorcerer who takes his knowledge and experimentation too far by creating a monster formed from the combination of corpses’ flesh and bone. Meanwhile, Gaspard du Nord embodies a Byronic hero. He breaks away from his misanthropic tendencies to use his brilliant mind to save the town, though he ultimately returns to his state of isolation.
Administrative Notes: Shaun Haber, CSUF; Alexis Shanley, CSUF (editing)