Book review: The Ultimate Triumph - The limited signed edition

"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind", the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. "Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph"
                    Beyond the Black River, 1935

  Empires rise, and empires fall. Throughout history, the earthly thrones of human regimes bud, and fade like leaves in the winter chills. Time and again, these empires and civilizations crumple and quake beneath the invasions from "barbarians". We have all heard of the phrase "barbarians at the gate". The somber reflection of history, seems to indicate a cyclic pattern: The demise of civilization in the waking inferno of red-handed barbarians.

 This is the enduring worldview of Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), the greatest pulp writer of all time; Corruptions and degeneracy manifest themselves as a civilization makes progress. Ultimately, when a civilization is rotten to its core, the "barbarians at the gate", a more primitive group, from outside the gateway, with hardiness and disciplines shaped by their struggle to survive the tough environs, rise up and overtake a civilization and rule in its stead. This seems to be a self repeating pattern, when one glimpses into the flowing river of history.

In Robert E. Howard's short career as an author between the 1920s to 1930s. He wrote more than 600 short stories and 700 poems, and he created some of the most enduring and iconic literary characters of all time, such as Solomon Kane, Conan the Cimmerian, Bran Mak Morn, Cormac Mac Art, Turlough O'brien, Francis Xavier Gordon... these tales impacted the world of fantasy fiction very deeply, and Robert E. Howard is widely regarded as the father of sword and sorcery sub-genre.

 Readers of Robert E. Howard's stories, are inevitably aware of Howard's disillusion with the notion of civilization. What could drive a man to despise civilization so much? Howard's did not arrive at his worldview by observing the history alone. To understand the elements that shaped Howard's worldview and writings. We need to understand something of Robert E. Howard's life. Howard grew up in a Texan town called "Cross Plain" in the 1920s. When his family first arrived at Cross Plain, it was a little town, peaceful and God-fearing. Sooner than later, the oil boom swept the town off its feet, and in the pace of a few years. The town was transformed from the inside out. The riches brought by the oil boom, also brought corruptions, violence and all sorts of negativity that impacted the community. As the Howard scholar Mark Finn correctly observed about Howard's experience growing up at a boom town:

"He saw the hypocrisies of the boom clearly, an ironic state of affairs that allowed for "progress" and "civilization" to come with their own predators and brigands. He watched as the quiet, God-fearing town suddenly became a wild and lawless place. He watched as the backdrop of his early childhood descended on an area of the country he had come to know, and he saw the effect it had on people his family knew very well".
                             Mark Finn, Blood and Thunder: The Art & Life of Robert E. Howard

No wonder so many of Howard's protagonists are barbarians. These characters are neither savages, nor are they men pampered by the spoils of civilization. While Howard despised civilization, nor does he revere the idea of "noble savage", Howard did not think human beings would be better off if we were in a status of complete savageness. Howard's barbarians are not just muscle-bound, fighting simpletons. Howard's barbarians are often portrayed as heroes contemplating with life, with naked honesty, stolid ferocity and iron determinations to uphold their principles, no matter what trials they face. Under Howard's pen, his barbarians contrast the hypocrisies of decadent men wearing the serpentine mask of civilized mannerism. It can be said that by creating these characters, Howard was stating his disillusion with the civilization, and the negative aspects that accompanies it".

Since Howard's death in 1936. Most of Howard's literary creations have been greatly diluted with  B-grade pastiches, comic books and Hollywood movies. Sadly, while the popular media has made many of Howard's creations famous, but they have also created stereotypes that Howard's literary inventions are cheap, cheesy, and second grade literature thriving on violence and sex appeal. Needless to say, none of these stereotypes are true. Recently, there has been a resurgence and increased demand for publishing Howard's original writings, unadulterated and unabridged. In 1999, the book publisher Wandering Star released a book called "The Ultimate Triumph". This is the second volume in their series of "Robert E. Howard Library of classics". The name is taken from Howard's famous quote from the story "Beyond the Black River" (the quote at the beginning of this review).

This book collects 7 of Howard's iconic stories on barbarism vs. civilization. The genre of the stories in this volume, range from sword and sorcery to historical fiction. The book is also illustrated by Frank Frazetta (1928-2005), the legendary fantasy artist who provided over 120 black and white drawings, and 4 color plates to illuminate the text. The limited edition of this book was restricted to 1500 copies, signed by Frank Frazetta, in hardcover format and encased with a beautiful slip case.

 The stories collected in this volume are:

Beyond the Black River - Arguably one of the best stories Howard ever wrote, an unique Conan story with the background of the frontier setting.

The House of Arabu - A horror/fantasy story featuring Pyrrhas the Argive, the Greek Barbarian

Spears of Clontarf - This is a historical fiction story based on the event of Battle of Clontarf in 1014, an epic battle between the Vikings and the Celts. This is a story containing all the classic Howardian elements.

The Night of the Wolf - The Irish reaver Cormac Mac Art is entangled in a conflict between the Vikings and the Picts.

Spear and Fang - The clash in a prehistorical age. A Cro Magnon man vs. a Neanderthal man, it doesn't get more barbaric than this.

The Valley of the worm - A Beowulf like pseudo-mythological tale from the dimming memory of mankind.

Lord of Samarcand - This is probably the darkest heroic fantasy story from Howard. A historical fiction based on the history of Timur (Tamerlane), who dreamed of restoring Genghis Khan's Mongolian empire. In the story, the protagonist is a Celtic outlaw called Donald MacDeesa who, through a twist of fate, served under Tamerlane's army of conquest.

In addition to the stories, this collection also contains five of Howard's poems.

The Ultimate triumph, showcased some of the most iconic barbarian stories written by Robert E. Howard. The theme of barbarism vs. civilization dominated recurs throughout all of them. Howard wrote these stories with poetic lyricism, together with his signature style of "blood and thunder". The stories are fast paced, furiously energetic and flamboyantly entertaining. Howard wrote with the intensity of a hunting wolf, at times, the text seems to be bursting into a raging fire from the sheer energy emanating from Howard's prose writings. The readers are transported to worlds and ages crafted by Howard's vivid imaginations; back to the field of Clontarf fighting alongside Turlough O'Brien, to the dark forest beyond the Thunder River and joining Conan in his struggle against the Picts, or as a witness to the death throne of Tamerlane, the last great conqueror of the world.

My take on Barbarism vs. civilization -  Part 1: The Ultimate Triumph

The theme predominating the selection of stories in this entire book, as its name suggests, is the ultimate triumph of barbarism over the decadent civilization. Does Howard's view have any credibility? Personally, I think his view is a very honest take on this known tension that has echoed throughout ages.

In our 21st century world, we often boast about our own achievements. We boast in our technological advancements, we boast in our culture that revere human rights, and we boast in our improved quality of life style in the western world, such as fine food, fine drinks, and top notch entertainment. But I often wonder, are our accumulative efforts really making the world a better place? New atheism movement wants us to believe that our collective efforts can drive our society to evolve to be a better place for all. The question is this, while the quality of life has improved in the first world countries, but if our 21th century civilization is really that great, than why isn't everyone happy? Can our own collective efforts bring us perfect happiness, or at a deeper level, perfect joy?

On the contrary, it seems that our "progress" and "advancement" came with some heavy prices. A few examples: Our rapidly improving technology has enabled us to make damning weapons that can wipe out an entire city in one blast in a matter of seconds. Our internet technology has allowed people to mass produce, store and view child pornography, and also enabled wholesale global human trafficking and sex slavery trade, all of these were not available before the birth of the internet. Our over reverence of human rights has gone haywire, producing a society where people are becoming more and more individualistic and apathetic. On the other hand, the improved quality of lifestyle has produced a materialistic, consumerism based society, where people's lives are dominated by the pursuit of personal pleasure, a facade jungle, a colorful disguise masking the invitation to unfathomable degeneracy. One only needs to stay sober for a while to ask a question, that despite our "progress", is our 21st century world is really better than the world where our ancestor fought, died, bled and inhibited?  Have we misplaced our faith on our own ability to make things better?

Please understand, that I am not undermining the value of our technology, reverence of human right and improvements over the quality of life. Nor am I against the pursuit of personal pleasure. These things are good. I am just trying to assert an honest statement, that it would be extremely arrogant of us to use our 21st century worldview and our 21st century morality (which are not perfect anyway), to step into history and pronouncing the superiority of our civilization over those who treaded before us. And perhaps, our faith in our own ability to make things better needs to be re-evaluated.


In this regard, we cannot be sure our civilization is "progressing" instead of "regressing". What if our society is, in reality gradually plunging into degeneracy, hidden underneath the illusion of our proud progress? What standard we should use to measure this? If history does repeat itself, that civilizations inevitably become decadent as it becomes drunk in its glory, then one day when our civilization is rotten to the core, what manner of barbarism, or barbarians will flood through the gateway of our civilization, bearing the black doom on their shoulders? Will such a day become a reality?

Perhaps, pondering on the question of barbarism and civilization is only scratching the surface of a deeper problem. Are humankind locked into the inescapable destiny of this seemingly eternal pattern? If barbarism is to ultimately triumph over civilization that grows degenerate, then we can say the cause of both barbarism and corruption of civilization lies within our own hearts. Perhaps, we need an alternative. Maybe, instead of trying to achieve the ultimate triumph with our own efforts, we need to let love triumph? If the central teaching of Christianity speaks the truth, that God loved us first, while we were still sinners. Then we can have faith that, in the face of barbarism and the failures of our civilization, love, will ultimately triumph. Had Howard realized this, I wonder if he could have made even more impact to the world of literature, by not putting a bullet into his head on that fateful day in 1936.

Disclaimer:

 I am including some illustrations entailed in this book (found below), for the purpose of this book review. I do not own the copyright to these artworks, the copyright of these artworks belong to Frank Frazetta Properties LLC.