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/lit/ - Literature

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21437084 No.21437084 [Reply] [Original]

What exactly made the Conan books so great? I want to write some books that emulate them, but I want to make sure I understand the fundamentals.

One thing that stands out is that the Conan is rarely involved in anything important on a global scale, usually he's simply trying to make money or simply survive.

Another distinct feature is that the supernatural elements are extremely hostile and alien: Conan rarely has a casual or friendly interaction with anything supernatural.

>> No.21437103

who gives a shit?

>> No.21437110

It's literally well done pulp schlock

Don't overthink it

>> No.21437126

>>21437084
>What exactly made the Conan books so great?
Howard's prose.

>Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars – Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.

>> No.21437188

>>21437084
>One thing that stands out is that the Conan is rarely involved in anything important on a global scale, usually he's simply trying to make money or simply survive.

You're on the right track here. This is the core essence of the Sword and Sorcery genre. What separates it from high fantasy is a focus on the hero's personal struggles instead of struggles against world changing/ending threats. Arguably the threat on the largest scale that Conan faces is Tsotha-Lanti's army in "The Scarlet Citadel", and that's only on the scale of the kingdom of Aquilonia. The stakes in that story only matter to Conan because of years of adventuring that led him to being the King of Aquilonia, unlike high fantasy stories where the hero's responsibility is thrust upon them from above their station with little to know experience (think typical Hero's Journey, which S&S eschews)

>> No.21437275
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21437275

>>21437084
Something i always found fun about Conan is how infrequently he finds a clever solution to a situation. If the problem can't be solved with a sword it isn't a Conan problem.

>> No.21437459

>>21437084
Straining thews

>> No.21437490

>>21437126
>>21437084
One of the reasons Howard's prose is so notable is because of the influence of poetry: Howard read (and wrote) an absolute shit-ton of poetry, mostly ancient poetry. Dude was an idiot savant with an incredible memory and could memorize a poem completely within minutes of having first read it. One of the things you notice most with prominent prose stylists (specifically in English: I am thinking of Nabokov, Joyce, Melville, and Faulkner, off the top of my head) is that all of them either spoke multiple languages, or were very technically competent poets, or both (in some cases, even though they were technically competent, their poetry wasn't that good; looking at Nabokov and Joyce here, but both of them were still incredible prose stylists). Same with Clark Ashton Smith. Reading poetry helps your prose. Lydia Davis also notices that this is the case, and recommends that all writers read and write a ton of poetry.

Another thing I would point out is that Howard's real love and goal was to write historical adventure stories, and the landscape and setting of the Conan tales draws extensively from, and is very much rooted in, real historical eras and cultures, even though they're mashed together.

>> No.21437654

>>21437084
>What exactly made the Conan books so great?
their racism

>> No.21437730

bump

>> No.21438587

>>21437490
Good post and patrician taste. Your observation is also true for Joseph Conrad, who was a polyglot and only learned English in his twenties. As for Howard, his prose indeed stands out for its poetic qualities and brilliant use of adjectives to paint a vivid image in the reader's mind.

>> No.21438873

>>21438587
>>21437490
Howard was most likely monolingual though

>> No.21438903

>>21437126
This makes me want to read Conan The Barbarian.

>> No.21439192

>>21437490
Man, I need to read more poetry.

>> No.21439589

>>21439192
One of my favorite Robert E Howard poems is called I think Forbidden Magic

>> No.21439703

>>21437084
>What exactly made the Conan books so great?

What is now called 'Toxic Masculinity'.

>> No.21440276

>>21437084
>What exactly made the Conan books so great?
Are they great? I read all of them in an omnibus edition once and Conan was as generic, boring and lifeless as a character at the end as he had been at the beginning. Five minutes, literally any five minutes, of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie give you a better idea of Conan than all the books.

>> No.21440368

>>21437084
But they aren’t great?

>> No.21440386

>>21440276
>>21440368
Filtered

>> No.21440647
File: 625 KB, 704x512, white_haired_arnold_schwarzenegger_with_a_beard_as_conan_the_barbarian_wearing_a_gold_crown_1_9_8_5_intricate_elegant_highly_de_-W_704_-C_15.0_-n_9_-i_-s_150_-S_2274410324_ts-1660267024_idx-2.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
21440647

>>21437490
Insightful post.

>> No.21440682

>>21437103
>>21437110
Stop torturing yourselves and just stay on /v/ and play mobile games or whatever it is you do to fill the petty hours of your meaningless days.

>> No.21441038

>>21437490
"Slowly, jerkily, the cadaver rose from its great stone chair and glared at him from its black pits, whence now living eyes seemed to blaze forth with a coldly malignant stare. Somehow - by what primeval necromancy the boy Conan could not guess - life still animated the withered mummy of the long-dead chief. Grinning jaws moved open and shut in a fearful pantomime of speech. But the only sound was the creaking that Conan had heard, as if the shrivelled remains of muscles and tendons rubbed dryly together. To Conan, this silent imitation of speech was more terrible than the fact that the dead man lived and moved."