At 04:57 PM 1/20/01, you wrote:
>The Hyborian Age essay was most certainly NOT an afterthought.
>
>Check out this link:
>
>http://www.rehupa.com/lit_article_conan_typescripts.htm
Thanks. It's been some time since I've visited REHUPA and didn't remember
that list. I've also read Patrice's followup here so I'm aware he is not
in total agreement with you. :)
I, however, see that I was wrong. Even if the world evolved, and diverged
into a British version as opposed to a Weird Tales/American version, Howard
clearly did engage in some world creation.
I suppose it's a statement about the emergence of the world literary market
that today authors think in terms of creating a single version of their
worlds, rather than one for each of separate markets. Tolkien did actually
write with the American audience in mind when he was working on The Lord of
the Rings, although he set his story firmly in the language and imagination
of the English people. He proposed revisions for The Hobbit to make it
more consistent with The Lord of the Rings.
I wonder if Howard, had he not taken his life, might one one day have
revisited his Conan stories and revised them for greater cohesion? But it
doesn't appear his life was a very happy one, and I guess things were
pretty hectic around the house in the last year or so. If his mother had
lived a few years more, would it have made much difference as far as the
Hyborian stories go?
\\ // Science Fiction and Fantasy [EMAIL PROTECTED]
\\//
//\\ http://www.xenite.org/
// \\ENITE.org.....................................................
