25 replies to this topic

[Taranaich]

There's also that strange civilization in "The Valley of the Lost" to consider.

[deuce]

I was wondering if there is any mention of what is going on in the Americas during the Hyborian Age.

Hey RS! Howard gave a good idea in several tales. As noted, "Marchers" is the most informative. A thread, with annotations, can be found here:

http://www.conan.com...h=1

In addition, The Thing On the Roof gives hints as to the "Egyptian" population that preceded actual "Native Americans" in the Western Hemisphere:


http://www.conan.com...h=1

[deuce]

I was wondering if there is any mention of what is going on in the Americas during the Hyborian Age. I just imagine wayward ships or pirates sailing for months only to discover another mysterious continent, perhaps with isolated groups of people.

Why would it take "months"? It only took the Wastrel "weeks".

Of course they would be nothing like the decadent civilizations of the Thurian continent

Which countries are you referring to as "decadent"?

archaeology shows us that men have been wandering around in the Americas by at least 15,000 BC. There are artifacts dating to that age and earlier scattered around both North and South America.

REH seems to have thought that "men" were "wandering around the Americas" (not that such constituted two continents as we know them now) before 100,000 BC. Of course, those "men" weren't Native Americans, but were instead, Picts. An entirely different ethnos.

[deuce]

I was wondering if there is any mention of what is going on in the Americas during the Hyborian Age. I just imagine wayward ships or pirates sailing for months only to discover another mysterious continent, perhaps with isolated groups of people. Of course they would be nothing like the decadent civilizations of the Thurian continent but archaeology shows us that men have been wandering around in the Americas by at least 15,000 BC. There are artifacts dating to that age and earlier scattered around both North and South America. This is around the same time that the Hyborian Kingdoms would have been around.

Really? What evidence do you have for that?

I know in Conan of the Isles he travels to the Antilles and what not, I know the people there use glass swords and all kinds of DeCampish nonsense, which I believe is entirely un-Howard or at best ridiculous. I also always imagined that the Isle of the Black Ones is somewhere off the Coast of the Americas, however that may just be me.

It might be best to read the Howard yarns that relate to the prehistoric Americas and not waste time on pastiches. However, that may just be me.

[deuce]

And now I have a Conan question I'm hoping someone here could answer.

did he ever set anything in the Americas?

I haven't read all of the Conan stories but I think I've read most of them, and I'm not aware of any set in the Americas (or the Hyborian equivalents).

The Black Stranger
Beyond the Black River
Wolves Beyond the Border
(did I miss any?)

While set in the Hyborian Age, very little about these stories would have to be changed to make them American. The theme is definetly there.
As qouted from the intro to Bison's recent The Black Stranger and other American Tales
" 'The Black Stranger' and 'beyond the Black River' are key text in modern American fantasy because they recreate the literally bewildered colonists mindset.."
"Against a backdrop of a demonically hostile landscape, Howard recreates the worst nightmares of the earliest European invader of North America."

Waitaminnit! ALL of those tales are "thematically" about "the fall of the Roman Empire". Somebody said so!

[deuce]

However, REH did write in a letter to a fan that he imagined that Conan finally travelled to new lands in his old age that included the prehistoric Americas (if I recall correctly) from which he may or may not have ever returned.

This was novelized by another author (L. Sprague de Camp I think) as Conan of the Isles.

Actually, it appears that Lin Carter was the primary perpetrator of that novel. Here's probably the best review of that work:

http://www.thecimmer...n-civilization/

Carter/de Camp/Whichever ignored just about everything REH ever wrote concerning the Western Hemisphere. Clark Ashton Smith was given a nod with "Antillia". Lovecraft was ignored as well. It matters not. You could publish a "novel" about "Caribbean pygmies in tutus" that Conan interacted with on lulu.com. It would have the same moral weight.

This thread is concerned with what Robert E. Howard wrote about the Western Hemisphere during the Hyborian Age.