Sword Slinging Thoughtfulness

A guy named Clyde from the library (I work at the public library) kept going on and on about some writer named Robert E. Howard, he kept saying that he loved all the work by this writer and said that no one could touch him. The stuff that he was describing in Howard’s stories sounded interesting, nothing like anything that I’m used to reading, but he said that a new book was released this year and that I should check it out. The book is called “Kull: Exile of Atlantis” and it’s actually a collection of short stories that had been written in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I looked the book up and found out that we had two copies, one was out but I was able to get my hands on the other one. If it had been a complete book I don’t know that I would have read much of it but I find that it’s easier to get through a three hundred page book if its all short stories, like little bites and you don’t have to mess with a book mark. By reading the introduction to the book I learned that these Kull stories were the precursor to the later Conan stories that Howard wrote, and that one story in particular, “By This Axe I Rule!” was actually turned into the first Conan story. After reading this I wasn’t sure if this was the Conan the Barbarian from the movies I had seen as a kid, so I got online and looked it up and it turns out that the movies are based on the same character as the stories. I also came across www.conan.com and the forum there was really helpful when I searched for Kull.

The stories themselves are interesting and amusing enough. The one that seemed to be the best so far is “By This Axe I Rule”. That may be why it was used to give Conan a jump start. Kull is a more complex character than I had originally thought. When you think of half naked warriors duking it out your first thought isn’t to draw a direct line to contemplations of reality and form versus nothingness. But Kull does in fact go deeper than just sword slinging action. Most of the stories don’t deal with too much action but rather Kull attempting to come to terms with who he is and what it means to be an individual. His feelings of non belonging are only compounded by the fact that he is the king of a foreign kingdom named Valusia, Kull is from Atlantis. Kull also has to deal with being a barbarian in a civilized world; he is unable to make sense of civilized laws and comes to feel like he is helpless.

One story that was very interesting to me was “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune”. The story completely centered on Kull becoming very interested in a mirror that is owned by a sorcerer named Tuzun Thune, he stairs into the mirror and sees himself, and contemplates reality. Most writers wouldn’t be able to pull of such an inactive plot but Howard does write very well; he almost paints with words in broad colorful strokes. He does tend to use the same sorts of lines and words again and again in his stories (like a tiger, like a leopard, lithe, corded muscle). Howard also uses color to emphasize and set a very strong mood to a piece, he uses reds, purples, and blacks a lot.

I think that the writing is good but the driving force does rely heavily on very masculine themes, battle, killing, raw strength, and rage. I can appreciate the well crafted writing but Howard also tends to have different pacing, sometimes quick, and other times very subtle and drawn out plots. The strongest thing that I can say about Howard is that I’ve not yet read anything like him, and no one even comes close when talking about racing action and violence in such an eloquent way. I know that there is a big online community for Howard so I hope that I have done him some justice in my mild critique of his works.