Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd

Well this is the second collection of Conan stories that I have read though I must admit that the version that I am reading is actually three books in one, however I wanted to look at each of the books individually since they were originally published separately (and while it may appear that I am inflating the number of books that I have read, remember considering the number of books that I have read I don't need to inflate anything, and secondly, this is three books in one so it would be logical to look at each of the books individually). Like the previous Conan book that I read this book contains four stories (not short stories, more like novellas, especially the last one which runs for about 80 pages). Two of them have been written entirely by Howard while two were based on Howard's notes and written by de Camp and Carter. It is noticeable the differences between the two and I must admit that the last was one of the better de Camp stories that I have read though there are some significant differences in style and attitude between the two authors (which probably has as much to do with when they were written as well as who wrote them). Three of the stories are set in the southern deserts of Hyperboria (which relates closely to the Sahara) and the forth story, The Flame Knife, is set in the east, in what could be considered the foothills of the Himalayas. I believe I have mentioned it previously, but Hyperboria is a pre-historic age 'before the rise of the sons of Arias, and after the waters swallowed Atlantis (or the cataclysm as it mentioned in the stories), so while the map looks different, the landscape corresponds roughly to our own. Oh, the third story is set in the south, but Conan has moved slightly to the north-east to the shores of the sea of Vilayet, which corresponds roughly with central Turkey. De Camp is trying to set out a chronology in his stories, but as I have discovered that is very difficult to do and many other authors have also had their hand in attempting a chronology, though the problem is that there are too many conflicts, and the way the books are ordered (at least in the omnibus that I am reading) Conan does seem to jump around a bit. However, as far as I am concerned the only people who probably can do a chronology are Lin Carter and Sprague de Camp simply because they continued on from where Howard left off (and also worked from a lot of his notes). From these stories it appears that Conan is a very capable leader, though it is suggested that the way he becomes a leader is to bring the people behind him, and once he has done that, he slays the leader and takes his place. I guess that is natural for such a lawless age. However along with his fighting prowess and his leadership abilities he also has flaws. He has a weakness for women, which gets him into trouble, and he also has an addiction to gambling and alcohol, which tends to leave him quite poor. In at least three of the stories he begins the adventure penniless. In 'Black Tears' Conan is leading a band of desert warriors after an enemy that has escaped, but his determination has worried his companions who poison him and leave (simply because crossing the desert is a dangerous adventure in itself), though they do leave him with some water. Like a number of the Howard stories, this story (it was written by de Camp) has him chasing an enemy, stumbling onto a desert fort, and discovering that there is a nastier and more dangerous enemy that he has to confront. Oh, there is also a woman that he rescues from the clutches of this hideous evil. Oh, and he end up catching the guy that he was chasing on top. 'Shadows in Zamboula' is interesting but rather dubious. After finding treasure in the last adventure, Conan travels to Zamboula and proceeds to lose it all in the gambling pits. While there he checks into an inn and discovers that the innkeeper is robbing his clientele and throwing into the streets of the city at night to be devoured by cannibals. The lords of the city are in hiding attempting to uncover this mystery, however Conan, being quite perceptive, has already recognised them. The dubious nature of this story is in regards to the treatment of Negroes, and it is not really all that nice. In a couple of Howard originals I noticed that the barbaric bad guys happen to be Negroes. In this one that are cannibals that live in an oasis near the city and travel at night to pick off unwary travellers. While Conan does not defeat them, the innkeeper is given his comeuppance. In a way it is not surprising that Negroes are portrayed as barbaric brutes in these stories because Howard was writing in 1930 and he was a Texan (putting him amongst the Southern States). Howard, mind you, is not the only one to treat Negroes badly in his writings, since Herge did the same in his early Tintin albums. In fact, one of them was substantially edited (Tintin in America) and another was not published in English until after his death (Tintin in the Congo). In a way things have changed over the last 80 years, but in other ways they have not. Since Howard we had the civil rights movement in the 60s where the people of America began to rally behind the Negroes. This lead to the Blaxploitation era in the 70s where movies were made with predominantly Negroid heroes (and the occasional white villain) and it appears these days that Negroes have a little more dignity (hey, we have a black president, and a damn good one at that), however they are still an underclass (interesting that unknown criminals are always black). In a way nothing has changed because the attitude may not be as hostile, but Negroes still seem to jump between being comical (a lot of black comedians are actually really good, but they always seem to play the stereotypical fast-talking sidekick who is only interested in cracking jokes and having sex, though they also tend to be dogooders) to being violent gang members lurking in the slums of the United States. 'The Devil in Iron' has Conan travel to the southern shores of the Sea of Vilayet where he joins and becomes the leader of a band of deserters and outlaws who have fled the more civilised lands to the west (if such a thing as civilisation exists in Hyperboria). However his enemies decide to trap him and do so by luring him to a rocky island with a woman. He goes onto the island, accidentally frees an ancient evil, defeats them, rescues the woman, and returns to kill his enemies. The rather dubious part of this Howard original is that right at the end Conan effectively rapes the woman. She basically tells him that she was never interested in him and the only reason she smiled at him and made him think that she liked him was because his enemy was forcing him to. However Conan forces her to kiss him and she relents and falls in love with him. Look, this is pathetic and seriously degrading to woman. While woman may like proactive men who will take the lead, there is a line that you do not cross, and grabbing them and forcing yourself onto them in hope that that action will endear you to them is just not going to happen. While it may not be rape in the strict legal sense, it is still sexual assault (the legal term). 'The Flame Knife' is a de Camp special and is actually quite good. Conan has visited a king of Iranistan (Arabia) and goes to return to his tribe of outlaws, and one of the kings whores wants to go with him. However when he leaves an assassin attempts to kill the king (and ends up succeeding) so he sends a band of raiders after Conan. Discovering this leads him to the foothills of the Himalayas where he finds a fortress inhabited by some cult and after his girl is kidnapped, he sneaks into the fortress to rescue her and put an end to the cult. Basically this story has everything and if there is one story that should have been turned into a movie it should have been this one. There is sorcery, demonic forces, a monstrous ape that prisoners get thrown too, and lots of fighting and bloodshed. This story was a true adventure story in every sense of the word, and was a very enjoyable one at that. However I noticed a little difference in the character of Conan in that we are told that he respects women and treats them with dignity. This is a far cry from the Conan in 'The Devil in Iron' that grabs a woman who is not interested in him and sexually assaults her. It is a little surprising since it was written in 1955, though we must remember that while women where still technically second class citizens, they were still considered human (unlike the Negro).