Born on January 22, 1906 in Texax, Robert Ervin Howard became famous in the world of fantasy and literature as the the creator of Conan the Barbarian and the Sword & Sorcery fantasy genre.
Howard grew up in a booming oil town in Texas where he also spent most of his life. He was very interested in becoming a writer since he was young and starting writing when he was in his teens. Although he had a difficult start, Howard became a popular author and was able to live from his writing. Howard wrote stories and novels, mostly surrounding fantasy and western themes with his Conan stories as his pinnacle. He became friends with H.P. Lovecraft, another fantasy and science fiction author, best known for his novel The Call of Cthulhu.
After hearing that his mother had slipped into a coma and was about to die, Robert E. Howard committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He was aged only 30.
Conan and other works
In his short life Howard has written quite a few stories and short novels. Most of these were horror and fantasy related but later on in his life he also started writing western stories.
By far the most famous character Howard created was Conan the Barbarian. After the stories of Kull were not received well, Howard changed the character into Conan and changed the stories to become more dark and brutal. They show the downsides of civilication like corruption and oppression. Conan, on the contrary, is honest, straightforward, speaks his mind and does what is right.
Over the years Howard wrote serveral Conan stories, with his main outlet for his writing being the magazine Weird tales. Howard also published several novels containing one or more Conan stories.
Conan was always depicted as the barbaric warrior who, depending on the story, saved a damsel in distress or fought an evil oppressor. Howard’s worlds are full of violence in which magic is used by Conan’s enemies.
This type of hero and storyline inspired many other authors and were the basis for what we now know as Sword & Sorcery. Throughout the twentieth century Howard’s work was more and more seen as important and influential literature, making him one to be considered as one of the best fantasy authors of all time. His influence and fame grew even more by the movies that were made based on his stories and characters, especially the cult movies Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja, all starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
By creating the character of Conan the Barbarian and Sword & Sorcery, Howard has had enormous effect on the fantasy genre, influencing many authors even to this day.
