He went long before his time with many great adventures unwritten. It's hard to believe that this doughy looking fellow with the intense expression from Cross Plains, Texas, created one of the greatest literary heroic figures of the twentieth century.
How can you not love a writer who can come up with something like this:
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. "
Robert E. Howard(h/t to Rafael Kayanan for the quote)
Many label him as merely a hack, or a racist or a Mamma's boy. None of that is true as others have argued very successfully as far as I'm concerned.
So happy birthday to you, Two-Gun. You gave us wild and vibrant adventures that we still enjoy today. I hope you are enjoying the peace that you were looking for.
I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
www.mdjacksonart.weebly.com
6 comments:
When I was a teenager REH was my favourite author - all those adolescent power fantasies were ideal for me at that age. But, do you know what? At the advanced age of 44 he's STILL one of my favourite authors. Maybe it's because I never grew up, or maybe it's because Two-Gun Bob was far more than just a hack, pulp-fiction author, and was in fact one of the most important fantasy story-tellers of the twentieth century.
I've always been a Howard fan but have only recently come to appreciate the literary qualities of his work. I think most people are now beginning to assess that Howard was more than just a hack pulp writer.
Hack and pulp are not insults when you talk about Howard. It's not an insult when you capture the imagination the way he did. I freely admit I could never get through 'Lord of the Rings' but I have read many a Conan and Solomon Kane stories that I couldn't put down.
Pulp is never an insult in my book, and some of the greatest writers in the world have been described as "hacks".
Did you ever read the Breckinridge Elkins stories by Howard? Those were a hoot!
BobG: I'm chagrined to say that I have not read any of Howard's Breckinridge Elton stories, but now that you have put that particular bee in my ear I have started in on them.
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