Charles Fryer

Donald Sidney-Fryer, who later went by Charles Fryer, was an American poet, literary historian, critic, and performer. He identified his poetry as part of a "Modern Romanticism" tradition, influenced by figures like Edmund Spenser and Clark Ashton Smith, whom he considered his primary mentors. Fryer's critical work focused significantly on California literature and writers, particularly Clark Ashton Smith, for whom he is considered a preeminent scholar. He also extensively researched and wrote about Romantic Ballet, focusing on composer Cesare Pugni. Fryer promoted poetry through one-man shows, often adopting an Elizabethan persona. His education was supported by the G.I. Bill after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he discovered many of the authors who would later influence his work. He pursued studies in French and Spanish at UCLA, alongside ballet training.

Fryer established himself as a leading scholar of Clark Ashton Smith's work, laying groundwork for future research and offering insightful evaluations. He saw his own poetry as belonging to a "Modern Romanticism," a tradition he associated with writers like Ashton Smith, Ambrose Bierce, and George Sterling, often referred to as the "California Romantics." Richard L. Tierney noted that Fryer's poetry evoked ideals of adventure, life, and the beauty of a vanished world. Fryer's deep engagement with Smith began during his Marine Corps service and continued through dedicated research, including the compilation of bibliographies and the editing of Smith's prose poems and uncollected stories. He also drew significant inspiration from Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene," which spurred his own poetic endeavors.

Beyond his literary scholarship, Fryer was a dedicated historian of Romantic Ballet. His extensive research led to a five-volume history titled "The Case of the Light Fantastic Toe," which focused on the era and the career of composer Cesare Pugni. This work was recognized as valuable for music libraries. Fryer also engaged in performance, presenting one-man shows across the United States and Great Britain. He often appeared in historical costume, styling himself as "the last of the courtly poets," using these performances to promote poets and poetry. His academic pursuits included studies in multiple languages, reflecting a broad intellectual curiosity.

“make us see ... the ideals that moved us when we were less 'secure' and more human: adventure, love of life, and above all, the intricate beauty of a world long vanished—yet not vanished, if only we had eyes to see.”

“the pre-eminent scholar of [Clark Ashton Smith]’s work”, who “... not only established the foundations for all future scholarship in this field, but he also wrote some of the most insightful and valuable evaluations of Smith's oeuvre ever written.”

“deserv[es] to be in every college music library.”

“the last of the courtly poets.”

“Emotionally and spiritually this last narrative, written in quite a remarkable and highly poetic prose, the like of which I had never encountered before, bowled me over and knocked me down, not just because of the colorful, vivid, and intense imagination that had shaped the story but equally because of the uncommon vocabulary without which the story could not have come into existence. Because I had studied Latin, French, and English each for four years in high school, particularly Latin, the vocabulary per se gave me no real problem. However, I had almost never before encountered such uncommon words, obviously Latinate, employed in a piece of fiction ...”