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.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. 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.”Fritz Leiber, “Fantasy Books,” Fantastic Stories, v. 21 n. 6 (August 1972), p. 108; reprinted Nyctalops (April 1976), pp. 79-80. 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.”Chris Keith, “Book Makings,” Murfreesboro Sidelines (October 5, 1971); reprinted Nyctalops (April 1976), pp. 77-78.
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.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.
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.Sidney-Fryer, “A Defense and Illustration of the Poetic Method,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 82. 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.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.
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.Don Herron, "Rediscovered: Every Copy of an Edition" (April 10, 2021). 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.Jaffery, Sheldon. The Arkham House Companion. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1989, p. 101.
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.Sidney-Fryer, "Continuity via Songs and Sonnets Atlantean; reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea, p. 94.
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.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.
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.
Sidney-Fryer described the novel's origins: "The [Atlantean] poetry grew out of the background I had created for the novel, but I didn't write the novel until within the last few years. Obviously Atlantis is a metaphor for me. People ask, 'Do you believe in Atlantis?' 'I do believe in it,' I respond, 'at least metaphorically.' It has real emotions attached to it."Darrell Schweitzer, "An Interview with Donald Sidney-Fryer," New York Review of Science Fiction (August 2010); reprinted in Sidney-Fryer, Random Notes, Random Lines: Essays and Miscellanea (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2021), p. 224.
West of Wherevermore: Interlude in Atlantis He also wrote a shorter second Atlantean 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.Sidney-Fryer, "A Note on The Interlude", West of Wherevermore and Other Travel Writings (Auburn, California: Phosphor Lantern Press, 2016), p. 7. (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.Sidney-Fryer, “A Defense and Illustration of One Poetic Method,” Nyctalops v. 2, nos. 4/5, whole numbers 11/12 (April 1976), p. 81.