Gary Romeo wrote: > > There is blatant racism in "The Vale of Lost Women." > Conan clearly says he is protecting Livia simply > because of her race. And in "Shadows in Zamboula" > Howard takes his personal disgust at race-mixing, as > mentioned in a letter to Lovecraft, and included it in > one of his stories.
Well let's look at it closely, and see who, as far as the story goes, is racist (in the modern sense). Livia gets out of the hut and runs into Conan: She says "Theteles and I were dragged into this den of beasts....'" Later she screams (after earlier telling his to speak quietly so as not to be heard), "Are you a beast like these others?....I thought there was honour in men....each has his price..what do you know of honour - or mercy or decency? You are a barbarian like the others - only your skin is white; your soul is black as theirs. You care naught that a man of your race has been foully done to death by these dogs - that I am their slave!" So she starts it all by blasting Conan as he stands there passively. Then she prostitutes herself and asks him to "kill that black dog..." Then Conan tells her the real state of things and her position, sort of seating her on the ground with a thump, the wind knocked out of her sails. "...the realization of her utter helplessness was thrust brutally upon her......She was stunned...nothing hinged upon her at all." Conan responds: "You said I was a barbarian, and that is true, Crom be thanked. I an Conan, a Cimmerian.....I am not such a dog as to leave a woman in the clutches of a savage...Customs differ in various countries......If you were...as the devil's pet vulture, I'd take you away...simply because of your race. I've looked at native sluts until sick...I'll play the game your way, simply because some of your instincts correspond with mine." There seems to be passion and hatred and race is mentioned to distinguish the Ophirean Livia from the local natives. Conan is the only other white person, war chief of his Bamulas. I'm sorry, I just don't see anything racist by any definition here at all. There is this tribal stick together thing because we are of the same race, in a strange land, but reality in Conan's world. This is a device in the story because it is natural in this fantasy world and whether or not you consider it racist in Hyborian terms...well, you'll only confuse the issue as it is meaningless. There is no racism; there is playing the game; there is politics, barbarian style, and that's all. In Shadows, we have: ".....in this accursed city which Stygians built and which Hyrkanians rule - where white, brown and black folk mingle together to produce hybrids of all unholy hues and breeds who can tell who is man, and who a demon in disguise?" This is really the crux of it, nothing more. It is a story about a demon worshipping cannibal group of blacks, a corrupt inn keeper, a princess run afoul of the head priest, and a party whip strangler, Baal-Pteor, who is no match for Conan in the end. The above statement for me simply sets the mood, and is rightly a device to invoke it. By itself, who would read into that a racist manifesto. We know from other areas that Howard had a thing against Mulattos, but at times he often extols the beauty of mixed race women. It seems he may have ahd a dual ethnic standard, one for men, and a different one for women. I don't find this strange, it seems natural. The point is, can anyone honestly say this is racial in any way, to denigrate other groups, or simply a good mood invoking story device. I say the latter. I'll have to review the other two stories later. But these two reviewed, I just find blown out of proportion. Scotty Henderson
