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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Conan the Barbarian was first a literary figure. |
| 2006-12-13 |
| by John J. Miller, Wall Street Journal If Conan isn't first remembered as a literary figure, it's because the culture has embraced him so completely on film, in comic books, and as an icon of thick-muscled, sword-wielding manhood. Yet he got his start on the printed page as the invention of Robert E. Howard, a rural Texas pulp writer who lived from 1906 to 1936. Enthusiasts have celebrated Howard's centenary all year long with pilgrimages to the tiny town of Cross Plains, where a family home has been turned into a shrine-like museum, plus the release of several anthologies of stories and a new biography, "Blood & Thunder," by Mark Finn. These festivities culminated at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas, last month when a group of devotees announced the establishment of the Robert E. Howard Foundation, which hopes to arrange for the publication of everything its namesake ever wrote--an estimated 3.5 million words of prose and poetry. The Conan stories make up only a small fraction of this huge output: There are 21 of them, including a novel, and they were written at breakneck speed between 1932 and 1935. As with everything by Howard, their quality varies dramatically: A fantasy classic such as "Beyond the Black River" remains a riveting tale that undermines popular notions of frontier progress and manifest destiny; "The Vale of Lost Women," however, is a clunky piece of hackwork that would be instantly forgotten were it not for the fame of its star character. Yet the stories share a fundamental power because Howard was a skilled action-adventure storyteller. So were a lot of other pulp writers, of course. What ultimately set Howard apart was a dazzling imagination that dreamed up the sword-and-sorcery subgenre of fantasy literature before anybody had heard about J.R.R. Tolkien and his hobbits. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #9 The "Chtulhu mythos" was made a posteriori, and the writings of Robert Howard and Clark Asthon Smith, both friends of Lovecraft who would play "private jokes" in each other's books, by dropping names or mentioning places, are indeed canon. Lovecraft got involved in that, too. I've got a lot of the collections of stories that try to identify the influences on Lovecraft, and he dropped lots of references to other authors, including his correspondents, into his stories. But, it's right there's no mention of Cthulhu or whatever in Howard, and the feeling is quite different (as the writers themselves). No mention of Cthulhu himself, from what I recall, but mention of other Mythos figures. Been a while since I read them, so I can't remember exactly who. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-12-13 20:26 |
| #8 Odd footnote: This writer of heroic fantasy lived at home with Mom and was so depressed when she died, he committed suicide.... |
| Posted by: Glesing Chaiting1369 2006-12-13 18:24 |
| #7 The "Chtulhu mythos" was made a posteriori, and the writings of Robert Howard and Clark Asthon Smith, both friends of Lovecraft who would play "private jokes" in each other's books, by dropping names or mentioning places, are indeed canon. But, it's right there's no mention of Cthulhu or whatever in Howard, and the feeling is quite different (as the writers themselves). IIRc, the big thing is the Serpent people and Yig, created by Howard for Kull, "appropriated" by HPL as obscure references, and later incorporated into the Mythos. I'm not really in top Mythos form (last time I took an online test, I got a 70+% only, tsk, tsk), but I think Mr. Crawford is right (Conan's per-recorded History, post-sinking of Atlantis times are Mythos canonical). |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-13 12:54 |
| #6 Except for nobody having heard about Ctlhu in the many Conan novels I have read, except fotr the fact it takes place milleniums before the Ctulhu tales and except for the fact their spirit is completely different: in teh Ctulhu mythos humans are hunted by the minions of Ctulhu minions while Conan spends his time hacking them to pieces and even in a couple of occasions evil Gods or demigods. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-12-13 12:22 |
| #5 Conan, yes, but Howard wrote dark fantasy too (he was a friend of HPL and had his part in the making of the Cthulhu mythos, notably the Serpent people. I believe Conan is TECHNICALLY part of the Cthulhu mythos, with a number of Mythos creatures mentioned in the Conan stories and at least one Conan reference in Lovecraft's works. The critter in "The Tower of the Elephant" was definitely cut from the Mythos mold, if not as malevolent as the rest. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-12-13 11:58 |
| #4 Hum, I can't seem to find the next best pic of Conan I know of, that is him brooding with his chin rested on the pommel of his sword, as drawn by John Buscema, at least in a correct version. Only this |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-13 08:28 |
#3 And while I'm looking for pics, you've got Frazetta's take on old' Conan... |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-13 08:20 |
| #2 Wrote also many other stuff in addition to Conan, he was very prolific, western, boxing tales, pulps mystery novels,... he created other great heroic fantasy characters (Kull notably, Solomon Kane, Red Sonja...),... I'm by no means knowledgeable about his writing bar the novels I own and enjoy, but he sure was a man whose work I really liked as a kid. Large cover by Nicollet.    |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-13 08:16 |
#1 Conan, yes, but Howard wrote dark fantasy too (he was a friend of HPL and had his part in the making of the Cthulhu mythos, notably the Serpent people. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-13 08:05 |
