Robert E. Howard and Materialism

[ghostfactory]

Thanks for posting, Ancient History. This quote alone convinced me to purchase a copy of Howard's horror stories. Can't wait to dig in.

This thread has inspired me to have a Solomon Kane reread. Just finished Red Shadows. Howard's artistry is all there fully formed.

[Stu]

Penguin Classics published a Howard collection called Heroes in the Wind a few years back. Not sure how much respect that got him.

[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

Penguin Classics published a Howard collection called Heroes in the Wind a few years back. Not sure how much respect that got him.

Does it include 'Pigeons from Hell'?

[Stu]

Yeah.

[Stu]

Wordsworth also has some Howard titles in their Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural line. Never quite sure if that was separate line to their Classics or a subset.

[Stu]

Quote Originally Posted by Zaharoff

Does REH have any critical champions?

One of my friends, who is something of a REH scholar himself, says his favourites are Rob Roehm, Rusty Burke, Don Herron, Morgan Holmes and Leo Grin.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

Wordsworth also has some Howard titles in their Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural line. Never quite sure if that was separate line to their Classics or a subset.

Definitely a subset. It's a shame that line wasn't successful enough to continue but it's not surprising that a lot of it didn't have a wide appeal.

[Ancient History]

Quote Originally Posted by Stu

Quote Originally Posted by Zaharoff Does REH have any critical champions? One of my friends, who is something of a REH scholar himself, says his favourites are Rob Roehm, Rusty Burke, Don Herron, Morgan Holmes and Leo Grin.

Also Patrice Louinet, who is doing his dissertation on Howard at the Sorbonne.

[Ancient History]

Quote

From the time when the earth was too hot to support human life to the time when it will be too cold, will be a mere instant in the earth’s history, compared to the millions of years before and the millions of years after man’s complete disappearance from its face. Man is an elemental being, bound by the same basic and fundamental rules which bind all elements. He is cursed with a consciousness of Life, a blessing which is a curse, as are all such blessings. He realizes his inability to control his own destiny and he rebels. He demands a special creative act, a kinship to Deity, a life and an afterlife entirely different from the rest of earth’s creatures. He rants and he roars, he boasts and he shouts, but after all, after all his self glorifying, he dies and the chemicals in his body disintegrates back to the elements which produce him.

- Robert E. Howard to Harold Preece, 1928, CL1.198