REH in HPL's Letters to F. Lee Baldwin et al.

[bobbyderie]

The latest volume of Lovecraft's letters is to F. Lee Baldwin, Duane W. Rimel, and Nils Frome, all early science fiction/fantasy/weird pulp fans involved with the fandom and fanzines like The Fantasy Fan. There are several mentions of REH throughout, though no real revelations; it does briefly discuss F. Lee Baldwin's attempt at a series of biographical sketches of favorite pulp writers, including HPL and REH, to be accompanied by linoleum-cut silhouettes by Rimel, but the REH article never came about.

30: HPL thinks REH has a chance of breaking into "real literature"

32: Brief biographical sketch of REH:

Robert E. Howard’s occupation is fiction-writing, though he helps his father (a physician) attend to a small farm on the outskirts of Cross Plains, Texas. He is 27 years old, & has led a somewhat roving & adventurous life. Is an amateur athlete & boxer. Fond of fighting, & believes barbarism to be preferable to civilisation. Is a profound historic student, & an authority on the folklore & traditions of the Southwest.

42: HPL having never met REH.

48: On letters from REH

56: An interesting note on REH's boxing fiction:

If you’re interested in boxing, you ought to correspond with Robert E. Howard—who is not only a pugilistic fan, but a skilled performer in the ring as well. Have you seen his spirited prize fight stories? Some appeared under the pseudonym “Patrick Ervin.”

81: "Shadows in the Moonlight" is "far above average"

88: Clark Ashton Smith, like REH, had never met another WT author until E. Hoffmann Price

90: A note on REH and the west still being wild.

91: HPL dislikes "The Haunter of the Ring."

93: On REH's visit to Carlsbad Caverns

108: A bit of fun at REH's bloody fiction:

I suppose Robert E. Howard would think such a thing only a mild preliminary to a real fight. When the blood begins to be ankle-deep, & severed ears & hands are floating in it, he considers a combat well started—& perhaps likely to get really rough later on!

110: On correspondence with REH, praise for REH's writing, and a note on "A Witch Shall Be Born."

114: "A Witch Shall be Born" is "good, though the weird element is very slight."

127-128: An extensive biography; this was earlier published in the Selected Letters, but this one correct a few mistakes.

131: Brief mention of E. Hoffmann Price's visit with REH.

152: Another note on REH's personality.

166: A note on Price's hope to visit REH, and a note on REH as a writer:

Bob Howard, though, may cut a commercial swath. There is more to his pulp stuff—more real zest & vividness—than to Price’s or Quinn’s or Hamilton’s. He really enters into what he writes as they don’t.

173: EHP the first fellow weirdist that REH or CAS have ever met.

201: Suggestion that Rimel name his new kitten "Crom."

205: On REH's visit to Carlsbad Caverns

206: Brief praise for "The Devil in Iron"

214: "Most of the W.T. serials are impossible junk, though anything by Bob Howard must be good."

265: On Lee and Rimel's biographical sketch and silhouette of REH; praise for "Jewels of Gwahlur."

271: Brief praise for "Beyond the Black River"

276: HPL receives the linoleum cut of REH

287-288: REH among those who never had any instruction on writing short fiction; their parts in "The Challenge from Beyond."

290:A note on nomenclature:

There is no such name as Stygia … the adjective Stygian being derived from the name Styx—the River of the Dead. Two-Gun Bob misuses the word-root when he speaks of a country called “Stygia”. Indeed, he takes frequent & unwarranted liberties with classical names ( or variants of names) in devising a nomenclature for his prehistoric world. Price & I have laboured with him in vain on that point.

295: REH as a better writer than Edmond Hamilton (re: "The Challenge from Beyond")

300: "Hope he was able to work in a all on Two-Gun." (re: E. Hoffmann Price)

306: On REH's section of "The Challenge from Beyond"

308: Brief mention of REH in reference to the Dec 1935 WT.

313: REH next on the circulation list for "The Haunter of the Dark"

322: REH's mother's health declining

326: Praise for "Black Canaan"

327: HPL receives a report of the death of REH

330-331: HPL's memorial for REH

Two-Gun Bob’s ad end is surely a major tragedy for the gang. The motive, however, is no longer a mystery. He shot himself in an excess of filial devotion when told that his mother (gravely ill for over a year) could not live more than 48 hours more. 30 hours later Mrs. Howard died without knowing of her son’s rash act. Evidently REH was far more sensitive & neurotic than we ever realised, for most persons accept a parental bereavement philosophically—knowing that in the normal course of nature the elder generation must go first. The blow to old Dr. Howard must be frightful—with wife & only child gone at one stroke—but he is bearing up like a true Texas pioneer. He has presented Two-Gun’s library to the latter’s alma mater—Howard Payne College in Brownwood—as the nucleus of a Robert E. Howard collection of books & MSS. Further contributions (to be sent to Dr. I. M. Howard, Box 313, Cross Plains, Texas) are solicited from REH’s friends—in the form of books or MSS. in any way connected with him & his dominant interests. I’m going to send a copy of “The Shunned House” which Barlow has bound for the purpose. Poor old Two-Gun He will be long remembered, & his place will never be filled. No other pulp writer had half his zest & sincerity & convincingness—& he was really far greater than his published work would imply. His scholarship was really profound in certain historical lines, & his epistolary comments on Texas history sometimes approach the province of epic & lyric literature. His account of his imaginary prehistoric world—”The Hyborean Age”—comes into print with tragic opportuneness. Another sadly timely item is P. Schuyler Miller’s chronological outline of Conan’s career—in which the appearance & growth of that hero are treated in chronological order—a list of the stories in their time-sequence being given, together with a stream of running comment on Conan & his progress. This was shewn to Two-Gun Bob last March, & he gave considerable help to Miller in correcting it. It is not yet published, though I hope it will be, either in W T or a fan magazine. Miller sent it to Wright & Wright lent it to me without saying what he was going to do with it. I urged him to publish it when I returned it.
Petaja’s sonnet to Two-Gun—which I am tremendously glad REH saw & appreciated—surely has a significant ending in the light of recent events. There will be plenty of elegies & obituaries—a fine sonnet of Barlow’s having been accepted by WT. This marks Ar-E’ch-Bei’s first professional acceptance—& it is surely melancholy that his debut should have so tragic a background. Sultan Malik—the only one of us who ever met Two-Gun in person—may write a set of reminiscences for one of the fan magazines. I’ve prepared a sort of obituary which Schwartz will probably use in Fantasy Magazine.

333: HPL still mourning REH

334: "Red Nails" is "not up to the best REH standard, but surely average."

338: Comment on “Black Hound of Death” & “The Fire of Asshurbanipal”

[deuce]

Thanks, Bobby!  


An interesting thing to note is that HPL had a generally favorable view of all the Conan yarns he read. Sometimes it's bruited about that Lovecraft really didn't care for them. It would be more accurate to say that HPL liked other tales by REH better.

[bobbyderie]

Well, HPL definitely recognized many of them as just adventure tales with a bit of weird tossed in so they'd sell at Weird Tales, and HPL preferred the weird to all else, fiction-wise. But he liked most of Howard's fiction that he read; the number of stories he didn't like of REH's was fairly small.