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Post by Jason Aiken on Sept 21, 2018 17:09:56 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Sept 27, 2018 11:01:49 GMT -5
Looking forward to this! I know Smith has been working on it for awhile.  |
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Post by deuce on Jan 22, 2019 13:27:14 GMT -5
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Post by terryallenuk on Jan 22, 2019 13:46:49 GMT -5
Next on my reading pile
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2019 12:55:16 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2019 11:51:48 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2020 17:34:03 GMT -5
 A review of David C. Smith's Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography by our Deuce:
Well, Crom willing, I’m here to celebrate Robert E. Howard’s birthday, despite the slings and arrows and technical glitches of outrageous fortune. I thought it would be fitting to review David C. Smith’s Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography which came out just over a year ago. I’ve had several people ask me online about it and where it rates alongside the other two big REH bios. Let’s take a look.
The first major, book-size biography of Robert E. Howard was L. Sprague de Camp’s Dark Valley Destiny. It was long on posthumous armchair psychoanalysis and short on some other things. Like any mention whatsoever of Howard’s classic yarn, “Worms of the Earth”, in its entire four hundred pages. There are a few interesting tidbits and factoids scattered throughout the book which can’t be found in the other two bios. However, almost all of them can be found in REH’s Collected Letters, which every serious Howard fan owes it to himself to read. Bottom line: unless you’re a hardcore deCampista, there are better books on Howard.
Mark Finn’s Blood and Thunder—published by MonkeyBrain Books of Austin, TX—came out in late 2006, the centennial of REH’s nativity. There are pics floating around out there catching me in the act of handing Finn a fistful of cash for B&T the day after it was released. Blood and Thunder is a worthy bio of Howard. Its focus is “REH the Texan” and it sticks to its mission statement. It’s accurate, well-written and a fast read.*
Smith’s Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography takes a different tack than the other two bios. As he stated right here on the DMR Blog, his theme was “Robert E. Howard as a Writer of Consequence”. Smith, an author with a decades-long career, looks at REH as a writer foremost. Of course, every writer’s life impinges upon his work, so DCS interweaves Howard’s lived experiences in with his burgeoning career as a pulp writer. However, the stories and REH’s growth as a writer really are the centerpiece of the book.
David C. Smith looks at all the major and/or significant tales from Howard’s Underwood. Starting with “Spear and Fang” and on up through Bob’s last yarns written in 1936. While every Howard fan has his own list of favorites and his own interpretations thereof, Smith does a solid job of identifying and explicating the standout stories from REH’s career.
Some reviewers of this bio have said that it’s a little too in-depth for somebody just getting into Howard while containing a lot of material that veteran Howardheads know backwards and forwards. I would say there’s some truth to that. Smith had to walk a tightrope and I don’t envy him or Bob McClain at Pulp Hero Press in trying to pull off such a challenge. Personally, I would say that novice Howard fans who really love REH, not just Conan—which is how I was—would get a lot out of this bio. For the seasoned REH fanatics, it’s more a case of DCS making his argument that Howard was a fine writer on a technical level and, more importantly, an author who had something to say. Something timeless.
*I have heard that Mark Finn’s revised edition of Blood and Thunder—published by the REH Foundation—is even better. Sadly, I have yet to read it. Link: dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2020/1/22/robert-e-howard-a-literary-biography-by-david-c-smith?fbclid=IwAR1tv9_M-_iGtb9KqM8ri4q4sHuyiK37F68Wjmw0ypg0THMtf7k2BodlEAo |
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Jan 23, 2020 19:31:50 GMT -5
I can't encourage you enough to read the revised edition of Blood and Thunder by Mark Finn. This isn't a college textbook revision where a couple of sentences are altered and a new picture is slapped on the cover., qualifying it as a "new edition." It was a substantial revision and it is fantastic! I've read in twice now. While I like Smith's biography for his perspective of Howard as a worthy literary figure, the best traditional biography on Howard is, hands down, the REH Foundation revised version of Blood and Thunder.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Feb 5, 2020 8:31:44 GMT -5
Smith was the guest of honor and the main speaker at Howard Days 2019, and he gave a fantastic speech based on his literary biography. He does an excellent job, in a short speech, of conveying the literary importance of Robert E. Howard. It is worth either viewing or reading, or both. You may read it in the latest issue of The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies (10.2), available on Amazon here: THE DARK MAN 10.2Or Watch the video below: |
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 11:16:06 GMT -5
About halfway through this.
Great Stuff!
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Post by linefacedscrivener on May 31, 2020 19:53:46 GMT -5
About halfway through this. Great Stuff! Yep, I have to agree. When I saw him present it, I thought it was pretty darn good. However, when I read it in the last issue of The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies, I thought it fantastic. I learn better from reading, seeing the speech in print, rather than hearing it. It gives me more time to ruminate on what is being said. He really did a nice job on the not only the speech, but the biography as well. I just hope I can do half as well. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2020 15:43:39 GMT -5
About halfway through this. Great Stuff! Yep, I have to agree. When I saw him present it, I thought it was pretty darn good. However, when I read it in the last issue of The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies, I thought it fantastic. I learn better from reading, seeing the speech in print, rather than hearing it. It gives me more time to ruminate on what is being said. He really did a nice job on the not only the speech, but the biography as well. I just hope I can do half as well. Yeah, great speech by David C. Smith last year at Howard Days. Just finished reading Smith's Literary biography today, it's a great book. Still gotta read the revised edition of Finn's Blood and Thunder - I'll probably pick that up soon. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2020 4:37:39 GMT -5
What I really love about this biography is that Smith somehow manages to demonstrate the evolution of REH's writing through the actual prose and how it goes hand-in-hand with his development as an individual. I really like his emphasis on REH's poetry and how REH managed to incorporate the poetic elements into his yarns and how important those elements remained in his work. Each chapter that I read in this biography seemed to create further interest in certain aspects and moments in the yarns that I'd not noticed before. I gotta admit, this is a great biography by David C. Smith, sure you're not not gonna get all the details about Howard's life in this book. That's not the way this biography works, but, thanks to Smith's discerning eye for clues found in the literary works of REH, I think, we get very close to understanding the genius of REH.
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Jun 2, 2020 12:44:00 GMT -5
What I really love about this biography is that Smith somehow manages to demonstrate the evolution of REH's writing through the actual prose and how it goes hand-in-hand with his development as an individual. I really like his emphasis on REH's poetry and how REH managed to incorporate the poetic elements into his yarns and how important those elements remained in his work. Each chapter that I read in this biography seemed to create further interest in certain aspects and moments in the yarns that I'd not noticed before. I gotta admit, this is a great biography by David C. Smith, sure you're not not gonna get all the details about Howard's life in this book. That's not the way this biography works, but, thanks to Smith's discerning eye for clues found in the literary works of REH, I think, we get very close to understanding the genius of REH. Nice summation. It is definitely a literary biography, analyzing the impressive body of work Howard produced in his short lifetime. It does give one a great appreciation for all that Howard did with his writing, creating a new genre of literature, blending genres together, etc. It also does a nice job of showing how Howard developed in both his prose and poetry. There are some spots where I think it over-quotes Howard, and under quotes Howard's writing, but those are only minor quibbles. Much of the former, I realize, is to try to make the connections between Howard's life and his writing, while the latter are for the expense of length. Because it is a literary biography, I am thinking if anyone was not familiar with Howard's life, they should read Mark Finn's Blood & Thunder, revised edition, first. It will be interesting to see how Todd Vick handles his biography of Howard, Renegades and Rogues
: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard. It is due out at the end of the year. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2020 15:01:04 GMT -5
What I really love about this biography is that Smith somehow manages to demonstrate the evolution of REH's writing through the actual prose and how it goes hand-in-hand with his development as an individual. I really like his emphasis on REH's poetry and how REH managed to incorporate the poetic elements into his yarns and how important those elements remained in his work. Each chapter that I read in this biography seemed to create further interest in certain aspects and moments in the yarns that I'd not noticed before. I gotta admit, this is a great biography by David C. Smith, sure you're not not gonna get all the details about Howard's life in this book. That's not the way this biography works, but, thanks to Smith's discerning eye for clues found in the literary works of REH, I think, we get very close to understanding the genius of REH. Nice summation. It is definitely a literary biography, analyzing the impressive body of work Howard produced in his short lifetime. It does give one a great appreciation for all that Howard did with his writing, creating a new genre of literature, blending genres together, etc. It also does a nice job of showing how Howard developed in both his prose and poetry. There are some spots where I think it over-quotes Howard, and under quotes Howard's writing, but those are only minor quibbles. Much of the former, I realize, is to try to make the connections between Howard's life and his writing, while the latter are for the expense of length. Because it is a literary biography, I am thinking if anyone was not familiar with Howard's life, they should read Mark Finn's Blood & Thunder, revised edition, first. It will be interesting to see how Todd Vick handles his biography of Howard, Renegades and Rogues
: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard. It is due out at the end of the year. Nice. Great time to be an REH fan  |
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