Hyboria - More of the same?

[Desdichado]

Thanks for your answers guys. I realise now that one's taste for a setting depends on what angle one comes at it from (story v. character v. backdrop v. whatever). Each to his or her own.

And I was well aware that Howard was first, though to me that means very little - just because the Beatles were first doesn't stop me from seeing them as 'just another boy-band' for example...

Well, yeah, I guess there's nothing we can do to change your mind then.

 

[Henry]

It's not so much that the Hyborian age is simply absurd as an even fictional postulation of Earth's prehistory* (though it surprises me that a construction worker like myself can have a better grasp of history than an academic like Howard) but rather that Hyboria's history (and thus culture development) is only slightly more internally consistent than a world like Greyhawk, which was built around the early, unconnected modules, and the many and varied locations described therein.

I have a few extra observations that may help put a few things in perspective.

Howard was not an "academic" in the sense that Tolkien was. Robert E. Howard sold his first pulp story at age 18, finished high school, and took some business courses. That was the extent of his formal education. He was, however, like Lovecraft, VERY widely read (However, a large portion of his reading was also works of fictional nature, so that may be where he got his portrayal of various ethnicities and historical groups). He was a deeply troubled individual, and committed suicide at age 31 shortly after the death of his mother. (It was either just before or just after, my recollection fails me). Rumor has it he considered suicide after the death of his dog at age 12!

This isn't a condemnation of Howard, but it may help shed some light on his life. I think the reason for the darkness and violence of his stories is that mentally he kind of "lived there" emotionally speaking, for the last part of his life.

(most of this info comes from the foreward of a book I own, a collection of Cthulhu short stories that Howard wrote using Lovecraft's universe.)

Also, it's interesting to note that Tolkien ALSO pulled the "earth's pre-history" idea with Middle Earth - look into some of the Tolkien critiques for his vision of the "history" and "future" of Middle Earth. So, yes, Middle Earth is a "Pre-history" of western Europe, according to some of the Tolkien sources.

 

[Desdichado]

(most of this info comes from the foreward of a book I own, a collection of Cthulhu short stories that Howard wrote using Lovecraft's universe.)

I've been trying to talk my library into buying that book for the last few months, actually. How is it?

 

[Sherlock]

He was a deeply troubled individual, and committed suicide at age 31 shortly after the death of his mother. (It was either just before or just after, my recollection fails me). Rumor has it he considered suicide after the death of his dog at age 12!


(most of this info comes from the foreward of a book I own, a collection of Cthulhu short stories that Howard wrote using Lovecraft's universe.)

Howard committed suicide while his mother was on her death bed. She died shortly after he did.


As for Howard's Cthulhu mythos stories. Nameless Cults is very good. I would recomend it highly.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...insearch/104-4531829-0779149?v=glance&s=books

 

[Henry]

I've been trying to talk my library into buying that book for the last few months, actually. How is it?

Not bad, and a worthwhile read, but, as in the case with Derleth's stories, there's no one who quite writes like the master. He definitely hits a darker mood though.

 

[Desdichado]

Not bad, and a worthwhile read, but, as in the case with Derleth's stories, there's no one who quite writes like the master. He definitely hits a darker mood though.

I was actually hoping they'd be better than Lovecraft's -- I like Lovecraft for his ideas, not for his writing. And none of his stories are actually scary, either...

 

[StalkingBlue]

I was actually hoping they'd be better than Lovecraft's -- I like Lovecraft for his ideas, not for his writing. And none of his stories are actually scary, either...

So true! Both for LC's writing and the utter lack of scariness of his stories ....

 

[S'mon]

So true! Both for LC's writing and the utter lack of scariness of his stories ....

I kinda like them even though they're not scary - but I was a fan of the Call of Cthulu RPG many years before I read any Lovecraft, so I tended to read them more as source material than as 'terror tales'. My favourite Lovecraft pastiche is from 'New Tales of the Cthulu Mythos' I think, set in modern London and called "Crouch End". It's actually a little scary in places - mostly the way it uses the British city-scape environment to unsettling effect. I particularly like the newsstand banner with the unexplained headline "Twelve Lost in Underground Horror"...

 

[Desdichado]

The first Lovecraft story I ever heard of, ever read, and still my favorite to this day is not even intended to be a horror story; The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Howard, I think, had a better handle on emotional writing; his style was very raw and visceral, and I'd have thought he could probably out-Lovecraft Lovecraft. The same is sometimes said of Clark Ashton Smith, the other node of the Weird Tales triumvirate, and arguably the most talented writer amongst them.

 

[Henry]

Lovecraft not scary? I'll just say I'm of the totally opposite opinion and leave it at that. Mind you, CoC was not scary per se, but many of his stories just leave me feeling just plain unsettled at the end of them, Rats in the walls being my favorite, and Charles Dexter Ward being just plain eerie, and Dunwich Horror creeping me out the best. But then, I'm not a fan of "it's right around the corner" horror, but more of the tales that just end weirdly and make me think second thoughts about suppositions that I take for granted.