Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

Apparently there are 2 versions of this story. HowardWorks.com just says one was changed for editorial requirement. You can see them both listed here:
http://www.howardworks.com/storyb.htm...

Does anyone know what the editorial requirements were? The versions that I have read in The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales & Black Canaan (I think, my copy seems to be missing) are the same, I believe. I have two electronic versions, as well & they look the same.

There is extensive use of the word 'nigger' in both. Was this edited out of some? If not, does anyone know what the changes were?

I want to read the pre-editorial version of that story myself to see the differences. It is already close to the bone for modern sensibilities.
Hoping it appears in a Foundation book or somewhere else at some point.

Which is the pre-editorial version? Considering the language in the version I have, I would doubt this is edited. Is there a way to tell?

REH's view is interesting. In a lot of his stories, he refers to the blacks as having a hidden culture so different from the whites as being incomprehensible & he often uses that. While he's not always nice about it, 'poor white trash' seems to garner more contempt. Indians & other races can go either way, depending on the story.

Howard leverages any unknown into a deep, dark horror-fest. I think part of his wording is to create a schism, make the object - in this case 'swamp niggers' more distant, reviled & scary. Revulsion often has its roots in fear. He certainly sets the stage for it here with voodoo, snakes & trackless swamps.

Like Twain, the wording is a product of the times. The words 'nigger', 'black' & 'darkie' seem to be used fairly interchangeably in his stories. Back when I was little, the polite term was 'colored', but a decade later I think that went out of fashion & now the term is African-American. Anyway, these things change & shouldn't be held too seriously against the story, IMO. The author was writing for the times & audience. Of course, I'm not black, so it obviously bothers me less.

The N word is used different than its infamously used. I took as realism since people who hated the blacks in the story would not use nice words. Not like the author was putting forward his own hate for blacks or something.


The story i enjoyed very much because REH made the voodo,swamp black people very interesting.

The same as the story in The Dead Remember his fascination for voodo,other supernatural of black culture makes him root for them over the "white trash" who are often the villains.

Jim wrote: "BLACK CANAAN ..."

Loved People of the Black Coast. Good gawd. Talk about gutting it out and (view spoiler)[going after some kick-ass pay back. Just recalling it makes my heart swell. (hide spoiler)]

http://samael1103.deviantart.com/art/...

I have recently read Black Canaan and I have been looking for the first version, before it was published. I see it was published in The Howard Collector #19 back in 2011. Anyone read it and can tell us how different it is? In a letter, Howard seems to say it lost a lot of it’s punch because of the changes he had to make. But he may have exagerrated to downsize the expectations of the published story. Anyhow, I really liked the story, even though it was disturbing because of the racial elements.

The first version is currently in Pictures in the Fire.

I finally read the first version in the french edition. There aren’t that many differences after all. In the end, I prefer the published one, though it might only be because I read it first.

It remains a very powerful tale. One of my farovite from Howard. Although someone who cannot set aside his modern sensibility to racism would probably hate it.

The differences are not as much as REH might make one think, reading his comments about the editorial changes in his letters.

I can't imagine reading the story in French! That must be an interesting experience. Are there French words for the racist terms used by the characters and, if so, do they carry as much weight as they do here? (I don't need to know the words, a yes or no suffices to answer).

There is indeed a « n » word which has the same weight as in English. Funny thing, I don’t remember if they used it or the word « noir » (black). But I guess they kept the N word. The French don’t have the same relationship with racism as Americans do. Louinet, in his text about Canaan, at the end of the book, just brushes away any suspicion of racism from Howard by saying that it’s a story with a bunch of racist people. If one can separate the author from his creation, then it should be possible to appreciate the strenght of the story, even though it’s content is repulsive.

But it’s weird to read REH in French. I only did it because I couldn’t get this version any other way at the time. Changing language makes the writing less dynamic and poetic, even though I found the tranlation to be excellent.