Garth Schwer

Recent Writing

Robert E. Howard

3 min read

Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) was an American author and poet, widely recognized as the father of the Sword and Sorcery subgenre. Writing primarily for the pulp magazines of the Great Depression era, most notably Weird Tales, Howard introduced a gritty, visceral style of fantasy that contrasted sharply with the high romance or fairy-tale traditions preceding him.

The Father of Sword and Sorcery

Howard’s work shifted the focus of fantasy literature from world-ending stakes and distinct moral binaries to personal survival, physical prowess, and existential fatalism. While his contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien was constructing the linguistic and mythological foundations of High Fantasy, Howard grounded his narratives in a pseudo-historical realism.

His stories often utilize the “noble savage” motif, suggesting that civilization is inherently corrupt and fragile, while the barbarian—unfettered by social laws—remains pure and vital. This cyclical view of history, where empires inevitably rot and fall to barbarism, permeates his fictional timeline, the Hyborian Age.

Key Literary Creations

Howard was a prolific world-builder who created several distinct interconnected universes and protagonists:

  • Conan the Cimmerian: His most enduring creation, a barbarian wanderer who eventually becomes a king by his own hand.
  • Solomon Kane: A somber 16th-century Puritan who wanders the world vanquishing evil, driven by a fanatic compulsion.
  • Kull of Atlantis: A philosophical precursor to Conan, dealing more heavily with the metaphysical weight of rulership.
  • Bran Mak Morn: The tragic last king of the Picts, fighting a losing war against the Roman Empire.

The Lovecraft Circle

Howard maintained a vigorous correspondence with other titans of weird fiction, including H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. While Lovecraft focused on cosmic indifference and horror, Howard focused on the human struggle against those forces. Despite their stylistic differences, they frequently referenced each other’s lore, incorporating Howard’s “Unnamed Cults” (Von Junzt) into the broader Cthulhu Mythos.

I wonder…

  • How did the landscape of rural Texas influence the geography of Cimmeria and the stark, rugged descriptions in Howard’s prose?
  • What are the primary philosophical differences regarding “fate” between Solomon Kane (divine providence) and Conan (self-determination)?
  • How would the genre of Sword and Sorcery have evolved if Howard hadn’t died by suicide at age 30?
  • We should explore the connection between Howard’s “racial memory” theories and his ancestral fascination with the Celts and Picts in a note on Ancestral Memory in Fiction.

References

Graph View

Backlinks