AT THE COMBINED SW/TX AND NATIONAL
PCA/ACA CONFERENCE, SAN ANTONIO, TX
APRIL 20-23, 2011
Pulp Studies Area
Robert E. Howard is arguably one of the most influential writers to
contribute to the evolution of American fantasy, adventure, western and
horror, but he continues to be one of the least-studied contributors to
early pulp magazines. His contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton
Smith, Fritz Leiber and others have received more critical attention
though Howard almost single-handedly created the sword-and-sorcery genre
that was imitated by C. L. Moore and Fritz Leiber, and continues to
influence contemporary writers. Though a number of biographies have
chronicled the pulpster's brief and tragic life, very little analysis of
his work has appeared. The recent publication of The Collected Letters of
Robert E. Howard by the Robert E. Howard Foundation in three volumes, and
the upcoming A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert
E . Howard, have set the stage for invigorating Howard scholarship.
The proposed session will consist of 20-minute presentations that discuss
Howard's contributions to the development of the genre of
sword-and-sorcery, and may address, but are not limited to, the following
themes:
* The evolution of the genre through specific "series," including
Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Kull, the Gaelic heroes, El Borak, Conan.
* Howard's boxing stories and the concept of manhood.
* The development of themes in particular series: moral justice in
Solomon Kane; racial degradation in Bran Mak Morn; the immorality of
civilization in Kull's Valusia; the barbarism/civilization debate as
manifest in the Conan tales; El Borak as a modern barbarian; Howard's
women.
* The evolution of Howard's idealized barbarian hero across different
series or within a particular character (Kull's evolution from Am-ra to
Kull; Brule and the Picts; Bran Mak Morn and the degenerate Picts;
Conan's manifestations as youth, pirate, and eventually king; El Borak as
evolutionary hero).
* Howard's horror stories: "Pigeons from Hell" and other tales.
Cthulhu mythos in Howard's tales.
* Elements of sword-and-sorcery in Howard's historical tales and horror
tales.
* Howard's theory of race and its contribution to the development of the
barbarian hero.
* Howardian influences in other writers such as Leiber's Lankhmar
series and Moore's Jiril of Jiory.
* Evolutionary themes in Howard's work.
* Howard's epistolary relationships with other writers.
* Howard's influence on later writers such as Robert Jordan.
Please submit 250 word abstracts of proposed papers to:
j.everet@usp.edu
dpettipiece@wcupa.edu
Submission Deadline: November 15, 2010
Justin Everett, Ph.D.
Interim Director of Writing Programs
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
600 S. 43rd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-596-8736
J.Everet@usp.edu>
Hat tip to Beth Foxwell.
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