[Speaking Mute]

I might be quibbling over terms, but I think Weird Fiction has more of a "cult of history" than "obscurity". The growing interest in Belgian Fantastique, for example, seems to me to owe quite a bit to tracing back Ligotti's influences. Machen, Blackwood, and to lesser extant, M.R. James, might never have been forgotten, but it's hard for me to see how Lovecraft's popularity, and Supernatural Horror in Literature specifically, hasn't contributed to a surge in their readership. There are always fans in any form of media who look at influences, but it seems more intrinsic to Weird Fiction than other corners of genre fiction. This strikes me in keeping with what Robert Adam Gilmour said about the obscurity of being widely known but rarely read - I've seen plenty of SF fans discuss and debate the history of genre, but it never translates into a push to see more translations from earlier, non-English contributors like Yevgeny Zamyatin, J.H. Rosny, Paul Scheerbert etc. or even a prescription to read well known and available works like Mary Shelly's The Last Man. Fantasy has a little more historical depth due to the literary esteem that's been assigned to mythology and folkore, but when it comes to looking at fantasy consciously written as fantasy prior to the 20th century, there doesn't seem to be much interest.