Captain Tagon said:
Just a lot of the little turns of phrase that Howard uses telling the tale from Conan's point of view are a bit, well disturbing. His near epic love of violence as the means to get whatever he wants and the constant bashing of anything resembling structured society are a bit much.
Fair enough. Conan is definitely an anti-establishment character, and I think Howard distinctly wrote him to be a kind of celebration, not of anarchy, necessarily, but of the kind of freedom to choose one's own destiny outside the constraints of rules and rulers. Sort of an early Marlboro Man, or free-range cowboy, or pioneer.
Actually, in many ways, I think that's very much what Sword & Sorcery literature is about. You might take a look at the Niven that I mentioned. He's got some different takes on things, and in particular, the character of Orolandes in
The Magic Goes Away is a character with a conscience that tries to do the right thing, and is sometimes wrong in trying to do the right thing (I'm not explaining this very well).
Though I should make the point that I don't think Conan revels in doing the wrong thing. I think he definitely has a conscience. Toward the end of the "The People of the Black Circle" (for example) he jumps into a massive fight to side with the Afghuli tribesmen that are headed for slaughter, knowing the odds are against them, and they'll probably all die, but Conan knows where his loyalties lie, and he believes in supporting his men. So he joins them, despite the apparent doom upon them. Of course, he's also been a thief, and a kidnapper, and he does solve many of his problems with his knife. I think that is why he's a great character, in many ways (and why I was disappointed in his portrayal in the movie), because there's a lot of complexity to him and the circumstances he's in. He's described by Howard as a man of "great joy, and great melancholy" or something similar (maybe Conan was bi-polar) and I think that's what Howard tries to celebrate in those stories.
There's a movie (and a pretty good one) that's a fictional account of Howard in Texas in the 30s, called
The Whole Wide World. It stars Renee Zellwiger (or however her name is spelled) and it's not a bad film. It deals alot with Howard's personality and what he was trying to write about. You might check it out. It's by no means totally authentic, nor does it rest heavily on historical accuracy for some things, I'm sure, but I think there are several moments where Howard's "inner workings," so to speak, are revealed when it comes to writing.
What are some of the books you think arey excellent examples of what you'd like to see transferred to the screen?
Warrior Poet