Happy Birthday Taiso
- Thread starter Arcademan
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Sounds delightful. I too have made pilgrimages for Joseph Brodsky.
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We watched it again last night. It'd been well over ten years since we'd seen it and I really liked the film. The takeaway I draw from that movie is that Novelyn Price could see that REH didn't fit into society because he didn't want to. He actually resented society, and it's understandable given his life's experiences.
One did not live in Cross Plains, TX. and earn a living by writing. It was a farming community and an oil town. And if you were a young man with his physical gifts (tall, strong, broad shouldered, etc.), you worked in one of those trades. He never found acceptance in Cross Plains which is why he spent a lot of time in nearby Brownwood, about 30 minutes away by today's driving standards (and a lot farther than that by the travel standards of the age.)
Howard's resentment of society manifests in many of his works. The only person that ever fully accepted him was his mother Hester, and by all accounts he had a very close and nurturing relationship with her all through her battle with Tuberculosis ('Consumption', back then). Even Howard's father didn't understand him, and as a physician who traveled and dealt with other concerns, he never really had the time or inclination to get to really know him. Dr. Howard also took some criticism for allowing his son to write rather than waste away doing strong back labor. But since the Howard family was matriarchal in nature (Hester ran the show), and Isaac Howard was an educated and progressive man, he never let the peer pressure get to him much.
According to Novelyn Price in her book One Who Walked Alone, upon which the movie was based, Howard's resentment of social norms was likely the biggest reeason he could never take a relationship with her farther than that. It would have meant adjusting his views, changing his habits, normalizing and giving in to some of her demands. His independence, imagination, passion and intelligence were simultaneously what attracted her to him and the very reason they couldn't get married; she wanted to become a teacher and contribute to society, whereas Howard felt it was all too fragile to last or matter. In some respects, Howard wasn't wrong; the education system is vulnerable to sociopolitical manipulation today (maybe more than ever). How could he marry someone that believed in a system that propped up society, with all its demands, biases and ignorance?
This isn't to say Howard was somehow 'better' than society (although I believe that in a number of respects, his iconoclastic nature was a boon and not a curse). His anger and excitement over certain topics made him difficult to deal with. He probably would have fit in very well here at NG.COM because he couldn't let anything go and he rarely let an argument alter his perception. He was, like a lot of us, a person that needs to come to their epiphanies on their own and in their own time. Novalyn Price was progressive for her day; she owned a gun and knew how to use it, was bold and daring for her time and wanted to succeed as an individual and not because others helped her along. She didn't want to marry to be taken care of, and she needed to be with someone that she could share intellectual ideas with. But she still tried to adhere to society's strictures because she wanted to teach and she believed that there was value in that.
Howard's resentment of her opinions in later days is largely because he desperately wanted her to take his side on matters that he felt strongly about. When she didn't, that spelled the end for their relationship. And I think Hester Howard knew that about him; that there wasn't anybody out there, in Cross Plains, TX or maybe anywhere in the world, that would accept him unconditionally. Which is likely why she lied to so many people about him on the phone when they called for him. She didn't trust them NOT to hurt Robert. Too many people had already done that because they didn't see him with the unconditional love of a mother. When people say that Howard was unnaturally close with his mother, it's because he was also her caregiver, tended to her every need and made sure she was comfortable. And most importantly, she loved him unconditionally. Nobody else could ever hope to have kind of unbound affection for someone as strong willed, opinionated and forceful as REH could be.
I've never been able to find a copy of One Who Walked Alone but they were selling it in the gift shop at the REH Museum (all proceeds go to the house and the efforts to acquire and discover artifacts from the home from the time the Howards lived there) and so I finally have a copy.
It makes me kind of angry that Mark Corrinet claims to own Robert E. Howard's Underwood No. 5 typewriter and won't just give it to the museum. That's where it belongs. Although about 5 years ago, it seemed the Robert E. Howard Foundation (which has done great work towards reclaiming Howard's legacy) was discrediting the notion that Corrinet owned this legendary machine. Corrinet sued the Foundation for libel and defamation but was denied the freedom to search the FBI's records for proof that the typewriter belonged to REH. That artifact is, in my opinion, bigger and means more than to be a 'prized possession' in some collector's vault.
'It belongs in a museum!'
-Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989
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Sounds like Howard was the GregN of Cross Plains, living in a time where his bullies and antagonists would evolve into Merc20xxs
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Originally, I didn't know what to make of the movie. It was interesting to see a description of the guy even though I assumed it might have been a little exaggerated.
Believe it or not, it's my wife that's a big fan of the Conan books. I found a beat up gent from bear creek, which I never finished, but was pretty entertaining. Also, I wasn't originally a fan of the movie John Carter from mars, but I have found some of the original books for later reading. We'll have to visit the museum one day.
Believe it or not, it's my wife that's a big fan of the Conan books. I found a beat up gent from bear creek, which I never finished, but was pretty entertaining. Also, I wasn't originally a fan of the movie John Carter from mars, but I have found some of the original books for later reading. We'll have to visit the museum one day.
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