Conan the Barbarian- A broad review

Intro

Robert E Howard was an author that I had to admit wasn’t expecting to have an impact on literature. Conan the Barbarian was a series that I assumed was trashy but fun stories revolving around the titular Barbarian and his adventures with a collection of hot women. I didn’t expect Conan to be the origin for the Sword and Sorcery sub-genre of fantasy, let alone have such an influence on modern fantasy overall. I thought the grim fairy tales had more impact; I guess I was wrong there. Let’s see how good these stories are in the board strokes.

Writing

Howard’s prose is eloquent and pleasant to read, even though some adverbs are outdated or strange. Such examples would be lusty to describe something fundamentally non-sexual, like thirst. Or how characters ejaculate words, which never ceases to make me think, “Howard, please no.” I understand that these words had different connotations and use back then. Maybe it’s just me and my dirty mind, but I cringed every time Conan ejaculated a woman’s name or ate lustfully; please don’t ask me how that works, as I have no idea.

Even though most of the Conan stories blur together, typically with Conan getting into some problem, not of his own accord, teams up with a hot spunky, but ultimately useless woman where the issue gets resolved either by the murder of the villain or acquiring the McGuffey of the day. They are compellingly written, and I never once felt that I could be reading something more interesting, even if the stories are very similar. I don’t think this is an issue with Howard as opposed to Weird Fiction’s pressures to produce similar content for their readers.

And now for the race thing.

Here is my statement regarding problematic elements of our favorite writers; authors are people. They are products of their environment, resulting from their life experiences and personal flaws. Older generations often have their prejudices spill onto the page; Lovecraft was notorious for this problem regarding race, same with Howard, same with Orwell regarding homosexuality, and JK Rowling with Trans people. We can enjoy and celebrate the works of flawed or prejudiced people as long the prejudice doesn’t hurt the work. That is the most mature and best way to handle the ugly side of our favorite creators.

Okay, now that we have gotten that out of the way, Howard’s fascination with race and generics was present from the very first page. The long detailed accounts of how different races have certain unique traits and behaviors are very in keeping with the Eugenics movement in America, to which Howard was undoubtedly exposed. However, it was just that. This is a background characteristic that fantasy stories have grabbed since and before Tolkien. However, it does come ahead in a couple of stories; the most overt one involves a city under the tyranny of a horde of savage black people who are cannibals who kidnap innocent white women to eat and do worse with.

This was the only time when the racism was too much and got in the way of my enjoyment. There is only so much I can accept before my eyes glaze over.

Characters

One of the biggest problems with Conan the Barbarian is its characters, namely how they tend to remain static and often blur together. The worst is his women characters, who more than not blur into a mishmash of spunky but useless pieces of sexy meat that need to be rescued even though they are supposed to be capable of taking care of themselves. This was at its worst during the Great Depression era, which was not surprising as he was pumping out exactly what Weird Tales was asking for hot slices of meat that were spunky but always in need of rescue. Sometimes Howard does offer some interesting characteristics, like a princess who was also a politician or a badass pirate queen. This help provides something to Howard’s female characters, but they are few and far between. I am not saying that Howard was sexist; he was trying to make money during a harsh economic climate.

Conan doesn’t change much, although he is still an interesting character. I like how Howard used Conan’s supposed savagery to juxtapose his rather polite and even gentle nature. Despite his harsh surroundings and manner, he is often the most pleasant person in the story. Conan stands out in a sea of two-dimensional characters as contradictory and complex in how he treats those, how often his reputation of being a barbarian is just a story and when it is disturbingly accurate. Conan might not change much (if at all), but Howard was able to create a strong character regardless, whose presence within the story is never understated.

Conclusion

Conan the Barbarian might be a little dated regarding racial depictions (in differing degrees of yikes ), and his characters are often very static and repetitive, his worst being his women characters. However, all of this being said, the stories are highly readable and sometimes even memorable, with Conan’s strong, commanding presence being the strongest. This prose is on the verbose side (much like Lovecraft) but still beautiful to read and soak in.

Acknowledgments

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