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Post by deuce on Jun 5, 2018 8:35:18 GMT -5
"Enormous letter from Two-Gun which I haven’t even had time to read!"
-- H. P. Lovecraft to R. H. Barlow, 21 July, 1934
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Post by deuce on Jun 26, 2018 11:51:26 GMT -5
"Robert E. Howard’s suicide surely is a tragic event—& the loss to weird fiction is irreparable. A Conan book would surely be a most desirable item—as would a brochure of “The Hyborian Age.” REH’s father is establishing a Robert E. Howard Memorial Collection in Brownwood, Texas, & wants [E. Hoffman] Price to come to Cross Plains to look over his MSS. & act as literary executor. (EHP isn’t sure he can—though he would like to.) You’ll learn more of REH when you read some of the coming obituaries. Somewhat to my surprise, [Julius] Schwartz says he is going to use a rather longish one of mine in an early issue of Fantasy Magazine."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Wilson Shepherd, 11 August, 1936
Lovecraft's obituary was published as "In Memoriam: Robert E. Howard"
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Post by deuce on Jun 29, 2018 7:40:05 GMT -5
This definitely helped set off the "civilization vs. barbarism" debate (though it wasn't the only such comment): "I, myself, was intended by Nature to be an athlete. If events had flowed smoothly and evenly from the time I first entered school, I would at this instant be engaged in some sort of professional athletics, rather than struggling with a profession for which I am not fitted. The chain of circumstances which altered the course of my life is too lengthy and involved to impose upon you. But I will say that I extremely regret those circumstances, and had rather have been a successful athlete than the very minor writer I have become — in honesty I will go further and say that I had rather have been a successful professional athlete than to be a great writer. This is not to be taken as a slur on the writing profession."
-- Robert E. Howard to HP Lovecraft, 2 November, 1932
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Post by deuce on Jun 29, 2018 12:07:44 GMT -5
"I believe that many dreams are the result of ancestral memories, handed down through the ages. I have lived in the Southwest all my life yet most of my dreams are laid in cold, giant lands of icy wastes and gloomy skies, and of wild, wind swept fens and wildernesses over which sweep great sea-winds, and which are inhabited by shock headed savages with light fierce eyes. With the exception of that one dream I described to you, I am never, in these dreams of ancient times, a civilized man. Always I am the barbarian, the skin-clad, tousle-haired, light eyed wild man, armed with a rude axe or sword, fighting the elements and wild beasts, or grappling with armored hosts marching with the tread of civilized discipline, from fallow fruitful lands and walled cities. This is reflected in my writings, too, for when I begin a tale of old times, I always find myself instinctively arrayed on the side of the barbarian, against the powers of organized civilization."
— Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft January 1931
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Post by deuce on Aug 3, 2018 7:50:36 GMT -5
"I’m glad nothing I’ve said has proved offensive. Force of habit often makes me sound more aggressive and dogmatic in argument than I intend. This comes from having spent considerable time in rough-and-ready environments, where arguments are likely to be riddled with biting personalities, loud and arrogant assertions, and profanity. In such arguments it is impossible to win one’s point by logic alone; in self-defense one is forced to adopt an aggressive attitude. This attitude is likely to become a habit, introducing into discussions where it is out of place. I’ve seen arguments decided, not on their actual merits, but simply because one contestant could yell louder than the others. Such disputes, also, are pretty liable to turn into fights. I’m sorry to say that it isn’t among working men alone that I’ve encountered an irritating attitude in debate; I’ve discovered this attitude in several so-called intellectuals, who seemed more anxious to show up their opponents as fools, than to reach any logical conclusion. My method, in the teeth of such circumstances, has always been to avoid debate as much as possible, and when unavoidable, to be as tough as my opponents. This has brought about the unconscious mannerisms I deplored at the beginning of this paragraph. So if at times I seemed unduly aggressive and vindictive, please believe that it is unconscious and due to the causes noted above."
-- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft December, 1932
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Post by deuce on Aug 8, 2018 11:46:55 GMT -5
"Long narrative dreams are fairly common with me, and sometimes my dream personality is in no way connected with my actual personality. I have been a 16th Century Englishman, a prehistoric man, a blue-coated United States cavalryman campaigning against the Sioux in the years following the Civil War, a yellow-haired Italian of the Renaissance, a Norman nobleman of the 11th Century, a weird-eyed flowing-bearded Gothic fighting-man, a bare-footed Irish kern of the 17th Century, an Indian, a Serb in baggy trousers fighting Turks with a curved saber, a prize-fighter, and I’ve wandered all up and down the 19th Century as a trapper, a westward-bound emigrant, a bar-tender, a hunter, an Indianfighter, a trail-driver, cowboy — once I was John Wesley Hardin!"
-- Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft 11 February, 1936
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sath
Wanderer
Posts: 32
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Post by sath on Dec 30, 2018 18:59:57 GMT -5
"I was extremely interested in your comments on the Pennsylvania Dutch.
What comments are he talking about?
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Post by deuce on Dec 30, 2018 21:23:37 GMT -5
"I was extremely interested in your comments on the Pennsylvania Dutch.
What comments are he talking about? I'd have to go back and check, but I think that's one of the HPL letters that was lost after REH's death. HPL's estate was very careful with his letters. Not so much with REH's executors. REH didn't have an Auguest Derleth searching out his letters immediately after his death, as was the case with HPL. BTW, good to see you back, Sath!
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Post by bobbyderie on Dec 31, 2018 18:15:17 GMT -5
The comments are in Lovecraft's letter of 16 Jan 1932, *A Means to Freedom* 1.261-262 - it's a fairly long section; HPL had friends who were of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, including August Derleth, Harry Brobst, and Carl Strauss.
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sath
Wanderer
Posts: 32
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Post by sath on Jan 3, 2019 18:44:56 GMT -5
What comments are he talking about? I'd have to go back and check, but I think that's one of the HPL letters that was lost after REH's death. HPL's estate was very careful with his letters. Not so much with REH's executors. REH didn't have an Auguest Derleth searching out his letters immediately after his death, as was the case with HPL. BTW, good to see you back, Sath! THX. I was wondering for a long time whether Lovecraft and Howard's fantasies had any basis in local folklore?
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Post by bobbyderie on Jan 4, 2019 5:24:33 GMT -5
Sortof. They both swapped bits of folklore from their respective regions, although little of that made it directly into their fiction. Lovecraft used an incident in the Magnalia Christ Americana as the basis for "The Unnameable," for example; "Black Canaan" was based on a story Howard had heard of Kelly the Conjure-Man, which Lovecraft had encouraged Howard to expand into a story.
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Post by deepermagic on Jan 4, 2019 11:02:49 GMT -5
Sortof. They both swapped bits of folklore from their respective regions, although little of that made it directly into their fiction. Lovecraft used an incident in the Magnalia Christ Americana as the basis for "The Unnameable," for example; "Black Canaan" was based on a story Howard had heard of Kelly the Conjure-Man, which Lovecraft had encouraged Howard to expand into a story. Pigeons from Hell is another story based on a legend Howard had heard
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