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The character, personality and social views of Texan author Robert E. Howard are important in gaining an understanding of the writer as a person and of his body of work. Information about his attitudes comes from the memories of those who knew him, his surviving correspondence and analyses of his works. Howard had strong views about race, evident in both his works and letters. He would be considered racist by modern standards, although they may have been mainstream in the era and location in which he lived. In contrast, Howard had feminist views despite his era and location which he espoused in both personal and professional life. In a different sense, Howard was afraid of ageing and made many references to the subject, including a stated preference to die young. Howard was emotionally sensitive and, especially as a child, considered "bookish" and a "sissy," which prompted him into bodybuilding. He was intelligent but resented authority and so resented school life. As Howard moved through characters and literary series as he grew and matured from a teenager into an adult, the development of his views may be found through an analysis of contemporary works. ==Racism== In his attitude towards race and racism, Howard has been described as "a product of his time." However, the extent of his racist beliefs are debated.〔Romeo〕 During Howard's life the concepts of eugenics and an ideal Aryan race were mainstream across, if beginning to be discredited. Howard touched on this in two stories, "Skull-Face" and "The Moon of Skulls," in which he describes a version of ancient Atlantis in which the advanced Atlanteans were brown-skinned and the inferior race were white-skinned. Howard used race as shorthand for physical characteristics and motivation. He would also make up some racial traits, possibly for the sake of brevity, such as Sailor Steve Costigan's statement that a "Chinee can't take a punch." This is not and was not an existing stereotype of Chinese people. Further, in his other works, Howard described 'orientals' as being of a culture that was 'old when Babylon was young,' as well as attributing to 'Khitans,' the Hyborian race whose descendants formed the Chinese culture, great mystical powers and an ancient knowledge beyond the reckoning of the 'west.' "Black Canaan" is one of the most significant of Howard's works when discussing his attitude towards race.〔 It tells the story of an uprising of "swamp niggers" led by a voodoo 'conjer man,' named Saul Stark, which is defeated by the white Kirby Buckner thanks to the sacrifice of his heroic friend, Jim Baxton. Saul Stark's back story is tied to Africa, emphasizing the racial conflict. Howard does attribute to Stark knowledge and powers unknown to white characters and describes him in a way that places him above the "slaves" and shows his disdain for the weak mindset of the "dogs." Another character, The Bride of Damballah, is described in stereotypical manner as a black woman.〔 Yet she is described in the same terminology as Howard's white heroines and villains, giving rise to a half-black female character as powerful and as beautiful as other female villains in Howard's works, be they black, white, or the queen of the Akkas. "Black Canaan" follows the aforementioned use of Atlantis by describing a dance that was "ancient when the ocean drowned the black kings of Atlantis." Howard also wrote "The Last White Man," set in the year 2000, when the black population has overthrown the complacent white race. The hero is a white man, a Viking-like throwback in contrast to the rest of the weak white men of the era, who unsuccessfully opposes the black race. This story, however, has less to do with race and more to do with Howard's common subject of the rise and fall of civilized empires in the face of rising barbarism. Howard wrote mostly about the clash of cultures rather than racial groups. He was also of the belief that, no matter who won the subsequent conflicts, it would only ever be a temporary victory. Although Howard's mother hated Native Americans, their appearances in Howard's works are varied. A similar race, the Picts, appear in several Conan stories, most notably "Beyond the Black River," as antagonists. While the Picts of the Conan stories exhibit similar social and tribal characteristics to the Native Americans of Howard's western stories, Howard viewed them as the antecedents of the Pictish race of ancient Europe. In another, unfinished, story called "The Thunder-Rider" the protagonist experiences his past life as a Comanche fighting an Aztec sorcerer; he states a preference for the Comanche way of life over modern civilization. Mexicans are conspicuously absent in the majority of Howard's stories; the few times they do appear are in stereotypical "lecherous bandit" or "lazy peasant" roles and referred to as "greaser" or "Mex." The only exception is the sympathetic portrayal of a Mexican sharecropper in "The Horror From the Mound." Howard became less racist as he grew older, due to several influences: admiration of the boxer Jack Johnson, listening to black story-tellers, sympathy with the underdog in any situation, and greater travel throughout Texas. Later works include more sympathetic black characters, as well as other minority groups such as Jews. Howard's viewpoint was also affected and softened by his correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft — whose own beliefs about race were a lot stronger — and his relationship with Novalyne Price — who was more liberal and challenged him on his racial beliefs. Despite any racial animosity he may have felt at any time during his life, it has been noted that, while there are several non-white characters in his works, the majority of Howard's villains are white Europeans.〔 Howard was proud of his Irish ancestry at a time when the Irish were considered an undesirable minority group themselves.〔 He was consciously defining himself as part of a minority group and most of his characters are also of Irish origin in some way (including the prehistoric Kull and Conan, who both belong to racial groups that later become the Celts).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Character of Robert E. Howard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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