The Black Stranger and Other American Tales (The Works of Robert E. Howard)

377 Pages·2005·1.46 MB·English

by  Robert E. Howard

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3 The Black Stranger
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and Other
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8 American Tales
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StevenTompkins
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BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pageiii//TheBlackStrangerandOtherAmericanTales/RobertE.Howard
1 ©2005byREHProperties,Inc.
2 Introduction©2005bytheBoardofRegents
3 oftheUniversityofNebraska
4 Allrightsreserved.ManufacturedintheUnited
StatesofAmerica
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SetinFredSmeijers’QuadraatbyBobReitz.
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DesignedbyRichardEckersley.
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PrintedandboundbyEdwardsBrothers,Inc.
8 (cid:1)(cid:1)
9 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
10 Howard,RobertErvin,1906–1936.
11 TheblackstrangerandotherAmericantales/
12 RobertE.Howard;editedandwithanintro-
13 ductionbyStevenTompkins.
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isbn0-8032-2421-4(hardcover:alk.paper)–
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isbn0-8032-7353-3(pbk.:alk.paper)
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1.Horrortales,American. 2.Fantasyfiction, Lines:48to96
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American. I.Tompkins,Steven. II.Title.
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BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pageiv//TheBlackStrangerandOtherAmericanTales/RobertE.Howard
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contents
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6 Introduction vii
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TheBlackStranger 1
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MarchersofValhalla 77
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10 TheGodsofBal-Sagoth 110
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NekhtSemerkeht 146
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BlackVulmea’sVengeance 161
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14 TheStrangeCaseof
15 JosiahWilbarger 203
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TheValleyoftheLost 207 Lines:96to180
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PigeonsfromHell 264
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OldGarfield’sHeart 293
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23 TheHorrorfromtheMound 303
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TheThunder-Rider 320 [-5],(5)
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“TheClassicTaleof
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theSouthwest” 341
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28 TheGrimLand 349
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SourceAcknowledgments 351
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BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pagevi//TheBlackStrangerandOtherAmericanTales/RobertE.Howard
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2 steven tompkins
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Introduction
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8 America...hasapowerfuldisintegrativeeffectonthewhitepsyche.Itis
9 fullofgrinning,unappeasedaboriginaldemons,too,ghosts,anditperse-
10 cutesthewhitemen,likesomeEumenides,untilthewhitemengiveuptheir
11 absolutewhiteness.Americaistensewithlatentviolenceandresistance.
12 —D.H.Lawrence,StudiesinClassicAmericanLiterature [FirstPage]
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[-7],(1)
14 WelcometotheNewWorld:theprehistoryandhistoryofNorthAmericaas
15 dreamedbyRobertE.Howard(1906–36),whosecharactersbrawledand
16 broodedtheirwaythroughthepagesofWeirdTalesandavarietyofother
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17 1920sand1930spulpmagazines.Howard’sgiftsenabledhimtolengthen
18 perspectiveevenasheheightenedintensity,andthiscollectionfeatures ———
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19 storiesthatarelinkednotbyaprotagonistoragenrebutbyNewWorld
20 settings. The identification or idealization of America as Eden persists ———
21 fromEmerson’s“HereismanintheGardenofEden”throughFitzgerald’s NormalPage
22 “fresh,greenbreastofthenewworld”inTheGreatGatsby,butforHoward PgEnds:TEX
23 suchdreamsdeepenanddarkenintonightmarescommensuratewitha
24 continentas“lonelyandgiganticanddesolateasEden,aftermanwascast
[-7],(1)
25 forth.”TheEdenofthesestoriesistrampledbyinvasionafterinvasion;its
26 AdamisalsoCain,anditsserpentstemptwithcrimsonfruitfromwhich
27 onlytheknowledgeofevilandworseevilcanbehad.Allthatinterrupts
28 man’sinhumanitytomanisinhumanity’sinhumanitytoman.
29 LeslieFiedlerhasnotedthat“theCelts,theIrishinparticular,...from
30 theirhomeontheveryvergeoftheWest,havedreamedmostvariouslyand
31 convincinglyofthatotherplace,”atraditionthatHoward,famouslyde-
32 scribedasthe“LastCelt,”didhisparttocontinue.AsaTexan,hewaspre-
33 disposedtothinkintermsofempires;asaCelt,hecouldalsodiscern,as
34 doesTurloghDubhO’Brienin“TheGodsofBal-Sagoth,”thatallempires
35 wereultimately“dreamsandghostsandsmoke.”Thedreamsandghosts
36 and smoke waft from the pages Howard devoted to Conan’s Hyborian
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Introduction
1 Age,Kull’sValusia,SolomonKane’sAfrica,andBranMakMorn’sRome-
2 resistingCaledonia.HeresemblesinthisrespectotherAmericanwriters
3 whomadeaplaceforthemselvesinfantasybymakingupplaces:Poe’s
4 Ulalume,Baum’sOz,Burroughs’sBarsoom,Cabell’sPoictesme,Leiber’s
5 Nehwon, Anderson’s Alfheim, LeGuin’s Earthsea, and the Elder Earth
6 throughwhoseruinsKarlEdwardWagner’sKanestalks.ButHowardalso
7 graduallywrotehiswaybacktohisowndoorstep;byAprilof1932we
8 findhiminformingH.P.Lovecraftthathewas“tryingtoinvestmynative
9 regionswithspectralatmosphere,”andbeingmuchtoohardononeof
10 thestoriesinthiscollection,“TheHorrorfromtheMound,”as“afeeble
11 effortofthesort.”
12 AmericahadloomedastheUttermostWestofHoward’sfantasyfrom
13 thestart.God’sangryswordsman,SolomonKane,learns“somewhatof
[-8],(2)
14 stealth and woodcraft and strategy” from “the red Indians of the new
15 lands.”AfarsightedwizardintheBranMakMornstory“MenoftheShad-
16 ows”espies“red-skinnedsavages”who“roamthewesternlands,wander-
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17 ingo’erthevalleyoftheWesternRiver,befoulingtheentempledramparts
18 whichthemenofLemuriarearedinworshipoftheGodoftheSea.”Andif ———
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19 weremindourselvesthatAmericahasbeenconflatedwithAtlantisalmost
20 asoftenaswithEdenintheWesternimagination,theAtlanteanKullbe- ———
21 ginstoseemlikeaNewWorldnaïfconstrictedbythecoilsoftheoldestof NormalPage
22 OldWorlds. PgEnds:TEX
23 ButwhataboutConan?Howard’sbest-knownandoftenleast-under-
24 stoodcharacterisdescribedbytheheroicfantasywriterDavidC.Smithas
[-8],(2)
25 “thearchetypalAmerican,fullofgumption,restless,wandering,ascynical
26 andknowledgeable,aspredatoryanddeadlyasanIndianfighterorgun-
27 slinger.”SuchacharacterlogicallydeservedanAmericanbackdrop,and
28 inthespringof1936,whenHowardwasbringingitallbackhomewiththe
29 unfinished but unforgettable American heroic fantasies “The Thunder-
30 Rider”and“NekhtSemerkeht,”Conanwasnoexceptiontothewestering
31 impulse.ReplyingtoafannishoverturefromP.SchuylerMilleronMarch
32 10,1936,HowardconfidedthattheCimmerianhad“evenvisitedaname-
33 lesscontinentinthewesternhemisphere,androamedamongtheislands
34 adjacenttoit.”
35 Unfortunately,thatadventurewasnevercommittedtopaper,butwedo
36 have“TheBlackStranger,”thelastandlongestofthePictishWilderness
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Introduction
1 storiesintheConanseries.Asthetitleofthiscollectionimplies,wehold
2 theAmerican-nessof“TheBlackStranger”tobeself-evident;thewestern
3 edgeofPictlandscarcelycamouflagestheeasternshoreofNorthAmerica.
4 As we venture inland from Count Valenso’s beachhead, we meet D. H.
5 Lawrence’sdemonsattheirmostgrinning,unappeased,andaboriginal
6 inagrandfatherofalltheold-growthforeststhatweighedandpreyedon
7 themindsoftheEuropeancolonistsinthosefirstfootholdsofPlymouth,
8 Jamestown,andSt.Augustine.
9 ThecriticAlfredKazinoncedescribedthePuritanenterpriseasAmer-
10 ica’sMiddleAges,and,indeed,thePuritansweretheonlyAmericansever
11 todwellinasword-and-sorceryuniverse.LaterfrontiersmencalledIndi-
12 anssavages,primitives,orevenvermin,butonlythePuritanscouldemploy
13 anapocalypticterminology–devils,demons,fiends–andbelieveevery
[-9],(3)
14 word. “The Black Stranger” (and its more acclaimed and anthologized
15 predecessor“BeyondtheBlackRiver”)arekeytextsinmodernAmerican
16 fantasybecausetheyrecreatetheliterallybe-wilderedcolonists’mindset
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17 describedbyRichardSlotkininRegenerationThroughViolence:“Theeternal
18 presenceofthenativepeopleofthewoods,darkofskinandseemingly ———
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19 dark of mind, mysterious, bloody, cruel, ‘devil-worshipping:’ to these
20 mustbeaddedthesenseofexile–thepsychologicalanxietiesattendant ———
21 uponthetearingupofhomerootsforwidewanderingoutwardinspace NormalPage
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23 ForBelesa,theheroineof“TheBlackStranger,”“theworldofcities
24 andcourtsandgaiety[seem]notonlythousandsofmilesbutlongages
[-9],(3)
25 away,”andsheiscertainthattheforestsare“thelogicalhidingplacefor
26 any evil thing, man or devil.” The story’s “black man” is on loan from
27 classicAmericanliterature:“Artthouliketheblackmanthathauntsthe
28 forestroundaboutus?”HesterPrynneasksRogerChillingworthinThe
29 ScarletLetter.Howard’sstoryisfullofhintsthathehadrecentlyencoun-
30 teredHawthorne’snovel,whosecrowdscenesarepopulatedby“painted
31 barbarians”and“rough-lookingdesperadosfromtheSpanishMain.”In
32 manyways“TheBlackStranger”isTheScarletLetterafterasexchange,a
33 bloodtransfusion,andsomecutlasslessons.Howard’sfeygirlchildis
34 allbutclonedfromHawthorne’s:Tinaappears“withthelightpatterof
35 smallbarefeetacrossthesand,”whilePearlplaysafter“makingbareher
36 smallwhitefeet,patteringalongthemoistmarginofthesea.”Howard’s
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