sum1

PhoenixRising

Hi, sum1! How are you feeling?


Hi, dragonfire! I'm okay, thanks. I'm glad you are too.

dragonfire

Hey Alex. Good, no problem. Thanks.

Hey Sum. I hope everyone is ok.

sum1

I've been thinking about Robert E Howard. On one hand he puts life, feeling and imagination into his work that few writers can match. On the flip side, in the past I've gotten so pissed off with the racism and sexism in his work that I've previously gone so far as to say the Conan comics are better than REH's Conan stories, generally considered an extreme position to take. I do very much wish that he'd taken a more enlightened approach in his work, but he wasn't writing in an enlightened time. He was writing between the two world wars. I find myself very conflicted on REH, loving some of his better work (like The Tower of the Elephant), being disgusted by some of his stories (like Skull-Face) and by aspects of some others. I feel very conflicted on the topic. I guess what it comes down to is that you have to take a writer by their time and the context in which they were writing, but a lot of his work I wouldn't recommend to anyone without attaching a warning. He's a major Irish-American writer, but also a problematic one for sure.

PhoenixRising

Thanks for the input, sum1. I have my own opinions about Howard, but I'll refrain because it's no big deal.


Thanks, dragonfire. I'm okay, and I'm glad you are too.

dragonfire

No problem. Good, and thanks.

Hey Sum. I hope everyone is ok.

PhoenixRising

I'm okay, dragonfire, thanks. I hope you are too.

dragonfire

Good, no problem. Thanks. I hope everyone is ok.

sum1

If you're thinking that the racism and sexism in his work isn't serious, you're not really qualified to judge that unless you've read widely in his work and seen the examples I've seen.

PhoenixRising

Like I've said, I'm mostly familiar with the comics, not his books.


I'm okay, thanks dragonfire. I'm glad you are too.

dragonfire

Good, no problem. Thanks. I hope everyone is ok.

sum1

He didn't write the comics. And when the comics based stories on his writing, they cut and changed much of the racism. Reading the comics doesn't inform you what Robert E Howard's work is like.

PhoenixRising

Hi, dragonfire! I'm okay, thanks. I'm glad you are too.

I know he didn't write the comics, sum1. I could read the writers' names in the comic when I was a kid. I didn't even know who Robert Howard was, but I assumed that the comics were based on and influenced by his work. Naturally, they wouldn't be beat for beat, since they were comics, and I never said that I knew his work. I did like the story that you linked me, though.

dragonfire

Hey Alex. Good, no problem. Thanks. I hope everyone is ok.

sum1

You said you had your own opinions about Robert H Howard and it was said in a way that implied those opinions disagreed with what I said. That's not really a valid position if you don't know Howard's work.