Robert E. Howard Readers discussion
El Borak: Francis Xavier Gordon
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The Daughter of Erlik Khan: Group Read 09 April 2011:
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I read this today on my ereader. I got the story from Gutenberg. The last 2 paragraphs puzzled me. They seemed as if they were part of another story & they were. They're the first 2 paragraphs of "The Lost Valley of Iskander" which follows "The Daughter of Erlik Khan" in my paperback, The Lost Valley of Iskander. This story wasn't on Gutenberg.au last time I checked, but it is available here:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Los...
if those first 2 paragraphs whetted your appetite.
I guess this was the third time I've read this story - once years ago in college, again last year when the Del Rey El Borak collection came out, and now once again. I think it's one of the better El Borak yarns. I love how he manages to get the bandits to follow him. One note of interest - Yasmeena's name likely comes from Talbot Mundy's character Princess Yasmini. Howard used several variations of the name in a few stories - Yasmeena, Yasmina, Yasmela, etc. He was a fan of Mundy and wrote the following in a letter to his friend Clyde Tevis Smith in 1923:
"Clyde sahib greeting:
I found your first letter waiting for me when I got back, also the Talbot Mundy Books. I got them Monday. I've read, King of the Kyber Rifles, The Ivory Trail, The Winds of the World and have started on The Eye of Zeitoon.
"How do you like Yasmini? She's some character, isn't she? Yet, somehow, it seems to me, she's too perfect or something."
I have read this only once when The Del Rey El Borak collection came out last year.It was one of my first El Borak stories i wonder how it stands to compete with the latter Borak stories when i read it second time.
The Daughter of Erlik Khan is the first El Borak story I've read, and it was very good: all the action and driving plot to be expected from REH. That said, I've not sure that this couldn't have been turned into perfectly good Conan story by simply changing a few names, replacing guns with bows and making Yogok a wizard, or adding some other supernatural element.(view spoiler)
Still, there's a comfort in familiarity and I give this story 4/5 stars. I'm looking forward to reading the other stories in this book. Hopefully, El Borak will develop a more distinctive personality and the plots will more specifically relate to the time and place in which they are set: the political intrigue of the Great Game between the British and Russian Empires.
Michael wrote: "The Daughter of Erlik Khan is the first El Borak story I've read, and it was very good: all the action and driving plot to be expected from REH. That said, I've not sure that this couldn't have bee..."Well, de Camp no doubt would have agreed with you as he did change a couple of El Borak and Kirby O'Donnell stories into Conan tales. You could probably take most John Carter stories, change the setting to Africa, swap out names, make a few tweaks and viola! you have a Tarzan story, but why would you want to do that? :)
REH did not write this story as a Conan yarn and did not intend it as such. If anything it's the other way around. As I pointed out above, REH was a big fan of Mundy and his Great Game stories since he was a teenager. Francis Gordon was created around that time and is one of REH's first characters. When you read a Conan story like People of the Black of Circle, what you are really reading is an El Borak story with supernatural elements added in order to sell it to Weird Tales.
REH obviously enjoyed writing weird fiction and was successful at it - it paid the bills for the most part. But what he really wanted, especially by the mid-30's, was to break into the big name mags like Argosy and Adventure by writing westerns and "straight" adventure stories like the El Borak yarns. He made it into Argosy, but never Adventure sadly.
If you keep reading the El Borak series, you'll find more of the Great Game political intrigue you are looking for in other stories, but truthfully I'm not really sure that's REH's strong suit. Tales with beautiful women, exotic locales, lost cities, fast-paced action, and two-fisted heroes are one of his strong suits though - with or without the supernatural element - and when he found a winning formula he certainly used it more than once, as you point out.
I guess you're right, Jeffrey: it's pretty easy to swap out any specific details in an action story and re-write it with a different lead character and setting.What I was hoping for in El Borak was somebody who would react differently to Conan in a given situation, but he didn't. (I compare to Conan as he's the character I associate most with REH and my purpose in joining the Group was to discover other facets to Howard's writing.)
I'm certainly not saying that this was a bad story - it definitely wasn't - nor even that I was disappointed - the story delivered what you'd expect REH to deliver. I do want to read the other El Borak stories off the back of TDoEK.
Maybe one of the boxing or western stories will show some variation on Howard's formula.
Keep reading the El Borak stories. I think you'll find more of what you're looking for in some of the other stories. If you really want something different from Conan, you're right that the westerns and boxing stories are the best place to go - particularly the humorous ones. Completely different from what you expect from REH if you've never read them before. One of the humorous stories might be a good read after the upcoming Conan story.
Jeffrey wrote: " One of the humorous stories might be a good read after the upcoming Conan story."I was thinking that too ;-). We'll have a vote on it after we've settled on a Conan story.
EL Borak is a million years from Conan in how he reacts to certain things. Keep reading.He is fiercy loyal to his allies,friends that is his best qualities.
I thought the same you after my first El Borak story i thought action wise he was similar to Conan. But then you got know what he stands,who he is. The Great game,his reputation in his world/times is much different.
Mohammed wrote: "EL Borak is a million years from Conan in how he reacts to certain things. Keep reading.He is fiercy loyal to his allies,friends that is his best qualities.
I thought the same you after my firs..."
That sounds very promising, Mohammed - I'll keep reading! But first I'm reading Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan: more political intrigue!!
Read the first two chapters. Of course it's Howard's writing and top notch, but so far it lacks that Speculative element I favor in Howard's works. Just me looking for the added escape from the real world.
John wrote: "Read the first two chapters. Of course it's Howard's writing and top notch, but so far it lacks that Speculative element I favor in Howard's works. Just me looking for the added escape from the rea..."I'd be interested to hear what you think once you've finished it, John. Hope you can join in the Conan Group Read that started today and runs for the next 3 weeks.
Will definitely give Daughter of EK a go, Michael. As for the group reads, I've read those stories a couple times but will likely do so again.
REH shows a deft hand at description and characterization in this story. Even without a supernatural menace, the physical and mental menaces in this story are palpable and clearly dangerous. I loved that REH's El Borak was nearly defeated by exhaustion.The unlikely twist survival of a foe was reminiscent of an old serial, but it lead to a wonderfully told battle. This was a much better story than the first. Action-packed and fraught with danger and mystery.
It has a lot of action, a lost city, tense moments, intrigue, exotic cultures and locales, and interesting characters. Gordon has physical limits and met them. His personality is more strongly developed in this story, too. He is driven by self-assurance and duty. He is almost single-minded in his dogged pursuit of that duty. He is ruthless, promising torture and death to anyone in his way or not helping him.
One thing I like about REH's heroes is that they do not doubt themselves or what they are doing. They just do. They just are.
Yasmeena was interesting. El Borak wasn't there to rescue her. She also wasn't white: she was half Kirghiz, half-Indian. She didn't want to live a peaceful life as someone's wife. She needed rescuing and sent for El Borak, but the white villains had intercepted her call for help, and decided to kidnap her and sell her back to her estranged husband who was going to beat her to death with a slipper. She keeps going from one bad situation to even worse ones. Here, she is worshipped as a goddess and the priest doesn't like how much power she has over the common people. This is a theme we see a lot in Howard; however, having the girl actively seek out this role in the first place seems less common. She wasn't kidnapped, or tricked, or hired for the role. She was out looking for power and adventure, but now feels trapped (and, frankly, just wants different power and adventures now).
Robert E. Howard Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Thirty-Nine Steps (other topics)The Lost Valley of Iskander (other topics)
The Lost Valley of Iskander (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Robert E. Howard (other topics)John Buchan (other topics)
The story can be found in several collections, including this one:
It can also be read online here: The Daughter of Erlik Khan
The story features Francis X. Gordon, a Texan gunfighter who has settled amongst the tribes of Afghanistan, by whom he is known as El Borak, "The Swift," due to his amazing speed and reflexes.
Set during the period of the Great Game, when the British Empire and Russia vied for power in Asia, this is an exciting historical adventure story without any fantasy elements.