Patrice Louinet wrote:
> While I certainly agree with the fact that, as a whole, REH
> created a coherent universe, I don't think it is accurate to say that
> REH created the whole of his "Hyborian Age" in March 1932. For
> example, as REH himself wrote to Schuyler-Miller in March 1936, he had
> no very precise idea of the southern kingdoms. Howard's maps do not
> include the countries south of Stygia.
> REH added stuff and consistence to his universe as he was writing
> the stories; this is true for the "Hyborian Age", but also for Conan's
> "biography".
This is an important correction to my comment that Howard had a
"detailed" conception of the Hyborian world from very early on. I
should have stipulated only the "European/North African/Middle-Eastern"
part of that world. Sub-Saharan Africa, Vendhya, Khitai, etc., were not
part of the earliest conception, except possibly in the most vague,
general way. My use of the word "detailed" probably implies more than I
intended. I don't think Howard knew the entire history and geography of
each country he mapped -- he knew where they were and basically what
sort of people lived there and what their culture was like. In other
words, he knew that the Shemites were Semites, that the Stygians were
Egyptians, the Turanians were Turks, etc. But I wholly agree with
Patrice that the bulk of the "details" were filled in as he wrote the
stories. Yes, he wanted "consistency," but he did not hamstring himself
with *too much* detail.
Rusty
