Vale of the Lost Women
Feb 15, 2018 11:09:33 GMT -5
Post by bunty0barbarian on Feb 15, 2018 11:09:33 GMT -5
I am currently in a reading rut and figured this was to best time revisit one of my favorite works of literature, Conan the Cimmerian short stories by Robert.E Howard, but I wanted to do something different, instead of re-reading my favorite yarns and gushing about it, I wanted to tackle the stories that I was ambivalent about, which brings us to the infamous, Vale of The Lost Women.
Honestly, I didn't bounce of it when I read it, but re-reading it, I actually liked it. If one stomachs the "offensive" elements, it has all the making of a classic Conan tale. As for the racial elements, I am actually intrigued by it. R.E.H has progressive elements in many of his yarns but what made him stoop so low in this? Maybe some the Conan experts here can throw some light on this for me.
As for the rest of the tale, it is fantastic.R.E.H's prose is crisp and evocative as always and the Livia, the P.O.V of this yarn is such an authentic character. A young noble-woman who is captured and enslaved by a bloodthirsty tribal king. A quivering damsel in distress at first, she makes a deal with Conan to rescue her but she reneges on the deal and makes her own escape. The clinching point for me is when she finally escapes and contemplates her situation, alone in a valley of white blossoms and this emotional mix of joy due to freedom,but also alone,afraid,and aimless is wonderfully portrayed.
The titular Vale of The Lost Women is great piece of fantasy lore. The valley where women, who were of victims of civilization fled to this place and found serenity and beauty,but are enslaved, put under a spell by a Lovecraftian God. As for the imagery picture this; A vale of beautiful white blossoms, ethereal women with mystical eyes carrying Livia for sacrifice towards a quivering,pulsating altar made of black stone,and finally the cosmic horror, with gigantic bat wings and a monstrous fanged-cocoon like body,descends to claim the sacrifice. Seriously, this is freaking awesome and is fantastical imagination at its very best and I personally think there is a biblical overtone here as R.E.H describes the monster as "The serpent rearing its head in Paradise".
Finally,we have Conan,a veteran adventurer at this point and at his cynical best, selling his services as a mercenary-captain to the various tribal kingdoms.This actually one of the one of the few yarns I can think of where Conan is completely immoral,basically massacring an entire village just for a piece of ass.I find this interesting and it shows Conan's sometimes unpredictable personality.
Overall,I enjoyed this yarn for what it is, despite the "unpleasant" elements.Only a die-hard R.E.H. can possibly enjoy buy yeah, a newcomer getting into R.E.H's Conan should definitely avoid this.
.
Honestly, I didn't bounce of it when I read it, but re-reading it, I actually liked it. If one stomachs the "offensive" elements, it has all the making of a classic Conan tale. As for the racial elements, I am actually intrigued by it. R.E.H has progressive elements in many of his yarns but what made him stoop so low in this? Maybe some the Conan experts here can throw some light on this for me.
As for the rest of the tale, it is fantastic.R.E.H's prose is crisp and evocative as always and the Livia, the P.O.V of this yarn is such an authentic character. A young noble-woman who is captured and enslaved by a bloodthirsty tribal king. A quivering damsel in distress at first, she makes a deal with Conan to rescue her but she reneges on the deal and makes her own escape. The clinching point for me is when she finally escapes and contemplates her situation, alone in a valley of white blossoms and this emotional mix of joy due to freedom,but also alone,afraid,and aimless is wonderfully portrayed.
The titular Vale of The Lost Women is great piece of fantasy lore. The valley where women, who were of victims of civilization fled to this place and found serenity and beauty,but are enslaved, put under a spell by a Lovecraftian God. As for the imagery picture this; A vale of beautiful white blossoms, ethereal women with mystical eyes carrying Livia for sacrifice towards a quivering,pulsating altar made of black stone,and finally the cosmic horror, with gigantic bat wings and a monstrous fanged-cocoon like body,descends to claim the sacrifice. Seriously, this is freaking awesome and is fantastical imagination at its very best and I personally think there is a biblical overtone here as R.E.H describes the monster as "The serpent rearing its head in Paradise".
Finally,we have Conan,a veteran adventurer at this point and at his cynical best, selling his services as a mercenary-captain to the various tribal kingdoms.This actually one of the one of the few yarns I can think of where Conan is completely immoral,basically massacring an entire village just for a piece of ass.I find this interesting and it shows Conan's sometimes unpredictable personality.
Overall,I enjoyed this yarn for what it is, despite the "unpleasant" elements.Only a die-hard R.E.H. can possibly enjoy buy yeah, a newcomer getting into R.E.H's Conan should definitely avoid this.
.
