Response to Queen of the Black Coast

I just read Robert E. Howard's Queen of the Black Coast as it appears in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian and wanted to put down some thoughts. First off, I think Howard had a serious grudge against the civilization and the effects it has on mankind. In QotBC this is demonstrated in the weakness of the civilized sailors in the face of the more barbaric pirates. Of course, Conan, the most barbaric of all, commences slaying and does not cease until Belit, leader of the pirates, throws herself at Conan's feet, having decided that such a speciman must be her life mate. It is also demonstrated in the endless success of the pirates attacks on countless ships, villages, and possibly towns. Then of course the final showdown between Conan and the fallen being, an evolution a persons Howard says are as far above man as man was above ape, persons that built wonders beyond man's reach or comprehension; and yet, when the time comes the wild barbarian slays the creature and all it's servants, establishing that civilization will always fall to the natural and wild man.

My second item of note has to do with Howard's less talk, more action approach. As I read the story I felt that the relationship was one sided, with Belit deeply infatuated with Conan, while he simply was along for the ride. At one point she tells him how not even death could keep her away from him if he were in need, a foreshadowing of the help she provides him in the final battle after her death. For Conan, once his enemies are slain he takes Belit's body back down the river and once it reaches the ocean he turns the ship into a pyre and sets it out to sea. Howard then reveals something about the barbarian: the sea is now empty and dead to him. To him, the sea was Belit, and without her he had no more desire to ride it's waves in search of adventure. And so in the end Conan stands and watches his love burn until the glow of the flames dissappears. I think it is a great example of the old adage "show, don't tell".

R.