Defending L. Sprague de Camp

[thegreyelf]

wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/11/age-of-conan-informal-defense-of-l.html

A little blog I did that defends de Camp, Nyberg and Carter for their edits, pastiches, posthumous collaborations, and rewrites.

Enjoy.

[EDIT]And here is the other side of the coin:

wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/11/l-sprague-de-camp-other-side-of-coin.html

And here is all of the Howardiana writing I've done, for gaming and scholarship:

wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/p/age-of-conan.html

[Finarvyn]

An interesting perspective. I know that my first introduction to Conan was through the Ace paperbacks of the 1970's and for the longest time thought that they were true Conan. It wasn't until much later when I got to read the originals that I grew to appreciate the genius that REH represented.

I don't hate the DeCamp/Carter books. I still have the set of 12 on my bookshelf. I just enjoy the originals better. Actually, I've been toying with the notion of re-reading the Ace paperbacks as I haven't looked at them in 15 years. My memory may be faulty as to their quality and I hate to jump to a conclusion entirely based on the opinions of others.

Having said that, Howard is one of my all-time favorite authors and I have a hard time imagining that the DeCamp/Carter additions can be as good as REH's own words. Howard had a knack of making his stories so vibrant and alive in a way that I've never found in any other author.

Anyway, your article is insightful and well written, Jason. I'm not sure that Conan should have a 23 strength, although that's probably the subject of another post.

[kent]

We should always praise those who championed great fantasy writers who always seem to lurk on the fringes of obscurity. The fantasy writers I prefer even to Howard and Leiber are incredibly obscure. Fantasy is a tiny backwater in fiction and devotees have to shout very loud to attract discerning readers. I only read ca Smith seriously for the first time two years ago and was pretty disappointed that it took so long to hear about him. Howard, I (and many others have) judged on the impression Conan makes in popular culture - a human baboon - but when howard is given respect as in the del rey editions I find his power grows with reading.

So these cheerleaders who keep the old names alive even if it is with ham-fisted imitation are performing a useful service after the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

[Finarvyn]

It's a tough situation to argue, since I'm not really sure how famous REH's work was in the 1960's-1970's era. Certainly the DeCamp books helped make Conan famous, but we won't ever know if he would have become even more popular if the original Howard stories had been made availiable to the common reader.

At least, I know that I hadn't heard of the original tales when I first discovered and enjoyed Conan.

[thegreyelf]

That's a valid point, Marv. I believe--though I could be mistaken--that Conan had fallen largely into obscurity in the 60's when the Gnome Press works came out, which were the precursors to the eventual Ace series.

As I mention in my blog, there was a hunger for swords-and-sorcery fiction during the 60's and 70's, and de Camp, Carter, and Nyberg (more the former two than the latter--I include Nyberg because of The Return of Conan) are really the ones who made Conan famous again. It's because of them that he became the eventual literary archetype that he became.

Kent--the idea of Conan as a hulking baboon always irritated me. It's one reason I am not a bigger fan of the Ah-nold Conan films, which I have since decided are great Hyborian Age movies that just happen to be about a different Cimmerian named Conan.

[Falconer]

I really like the de Camp and Pratt “Harold Shea” stories.

[Finarvyn]

Nov 11, 2011 16:16:33 GMT -6 Falconer said:

I really like the de Camp and Pratt “Harold Shea” stories.

I like them in concept, but somehow when I try to read them I get bored and move onto something else.

I've got a copy of the stories sitting on my shelf, hoping someday to be read cover to cover. It's been there for years.

[Falconer]

Honestly, I wonder if I would like it so much if I hadn’t read it at a very young age. Even then the humor fell a little flat, but the concept and adventures really captured my imagination in a huge way.

[doublejig2]

Don't forget the Frazetta covers on the Ace books. They establish Conan, too, Howard, and the editor. They're better than other efforts or Bêlit wasn't Conan's best girl (until she died, and much later, Zenobia offered a sturdy stabbing dirk, apt at a dire moment).

[retrorob]

In my country we had a series of Conan stories based on Lancer paperbacks (so 1. Conan, 2. Conan of Cimmeria, 3. Conan the Freebooter etc.). To begin with 12 books were planned, but eventually circa 70 volumes were published in the 90s., including Jordan, Carpenter, Roberts etc.

Of course Howard stories are much better than any of the pastiches, though it's quite likely that if it weren't for De Camp, REH would have been forgotten. That's his main merit. Moreover, De Camp & Carter had some nice memorable ideas, for example "The Thing in the Crypt", "The Lair of the Ice Worm" or "The Curse of the Monolith". I've never read "Conan the Avenger".

What I don't appreciate is tinkering with the original stories. Editing was unnecessary, though it was probably lost in translation anyway. As much as I understand finishing fragments & completing drafts, rewriting "The Black Stranger" is unacceptable

[thegreyelf]

THREAD NECROMANCY!!! Thanks for bringing this one back to life, retrorob. What country are you from?

I've edited the OP to add the other side of the argument (why de Camp is justifiably villified) and to add a link to all my Howardiana writings.

[retrorob]

I hail from Poland (Central Europe). It wasn't until the 1980s that we got access to sword & sorcery literature because of the communist censorship. So when it was finally published - in underground zines at first, then in cheap paperbacks after 1989, and finally in hardcover - we had kind of Conan-mania for some time, enhanced by the movie with Arnold. Then Howard has fallen into obscurity.

I guess people just got fed up with the pastiches. Most of them are boring and ridicilous, contributing to the vision of Conan as "a guy that only kills and f*cks". An important factor could be a devestating opinion of Andrzej Sapkowski (author of "The Witcher" series), who openly despises Howard, deeming him poor writer. Well, I'm not a native English-speaker, but I find Howard's prose good.

Few years ago three-volumes set containing original, unedited stories has been released (The Conquering Sword of Conan etc.). That's good, but in the meantime I've learned English. Now I'm re-reading the whole series from "Weird Tales" and I enjoy it a lot. The high quality scans can be found here: reh.world/howardworks/