The truth of Conan, an unknown hero who conquered the world

Just as quite a few

discovered

through the

movies , many of their older

brothers found a certain Conan incarnated as

.

And a good number of both did not go beyond that -unfortunately for them-.

There is little need to expose to defend the excellence of the literary work of

, authentic bible of the fantastic genre.

But less popular, perhaps, is the original background of the hero born in Cimmeria and in the imagination of

;

well known, yes, by devotees of comics, role-playing games and other cultural redoubts where the sword and sorcery expand their domain without complexes.

"The Conan of the comics and of the movies is, to some extent, a caricature of the literary one. Anyone interested in the Cimmerian should go to the source from which everything else derives: the original stories written by Howard in the first half of the 1930s", exposes

, expert translator in fantastic literature and responsible for the texts of the new edition with which the publisher

recovers in Spain the original stories of the hero of the Hyborian Era .

"They will find something that may surprise them, but that will not disappoint them at all," he guarantees EL MUNDO.

The first translations of Howard's work in our country arrived at the end of the 1960s and especially in the 1970s, through magazines or

.

,

or

are some publishers that published his stories, although these editions have been out of print for a long time and are practically impossible to obtain.

Already at the beginning of this century, the

label published in Spain the international compilation in three volumes of Howard's complete works on Conan illustrated by the American

, a format that now recovers Minotauro with a new translation and added unpublished material such as the cover drawn by

with color by

.

Mark Schultz(Conan Sales Co. LLC) / Ed. Minotaur (Planet)

"We had been receiving requests from readers for a long time to reissue Conan; this was a project that we had wanted to start for a long time,"

, editorial director of Minotauro, explains to this newspaper.

"We believe that the success of epic fantasy sagas such as

(

) can help attract readers who are not yet familiar with Robert E. Howard's literary universe," says the publisher, who points out that the compilation work also includes the author's own notes, drafts and synopses of stories that were never finished.

Conan is part of the history of literature.

A place has been carved out in the Olympus of the great figures of popular culture

Fantastic literature is often ignored in certain cultural spheres that consider it a

genre , but there are authors and works that reach the level of

.

Could the hero of Robert E. Howard be placed in that select group?

"Conan has carved out a place for himself in the Olympus of the great characters of popular culture of our time. By his own merits, he is part of the history of literature," Mata replies.

"Neither the relevance of the work is debatable, nor its ability to survive beyond its time and to project itself into the future in a lasting manner," he argues.

The origin of the myth

The first story starring Conan,

-included in the first volume of the new edition-, was published in

magazine

.

In fact, the character of the work is inseparable from the medium in which it appeared, that of

, adventure, science fiction and mystery publications in the US in the first half of the 20th century.

"Conan is the son of this context, from which derives a type of hero, or anti-hero, that has ended up becoming classic: that of the solitary, indomitable and virtually invincible warrior who faces the world for reasons that, sometimes, are not even known. he himself understands, and wins thanks to his own resources", points out Mata, who adds: "It is the same archetype that

,

,

or

."

But the translator encourages us to go deeper, to the true essence of the protagonist: "It is not a brainless mountain of muscles that hacks its way to the treasure and the girl, but rather has much more interesting nuances."

Mata cites in his response

, one of the great scholars of the character: "The original Conan was a symbol of certain values ​​from the beginning of the century such as the rejection of galloping machinery, the evocation of traditional values, the trust between men , the honor...".

Mark Schultz(Conan Sales Co. LLC) / Ed. Minotaur (Planet)

From 1932 until his suicide in 1936 Robert E. Howard - also father of other heroes such as the barbarian

or the adventurer

- wrote about twenty stories starring Conan.

In all the stories there is no common thread other than the presence of the protagonist.

The adventures are independent and jump through time without any established order.

In the original material there is no chronology, although some authors have tried to define later a certain sequential line in the life of Conan.

Howard's writing is fast furious and somber [...], with a style that eschews colorism, gallantry and nobility

What does evolve is the identity of the character, which develops in a gradual process parallel to the publication of their stories.

As illustrator Mark Schultz points out in the book's preface, "the insecure teenager from

is not the same stubborn braggart from

, nor the same veteran mercenary from

or the King of Aquilonia that protects the arts in

."

literary keys

The Conan stories are characterized by unbridled action, esotericism, violence, sexuality... Unlike other sagas of the fantastic genre, here instead of magic we find witchcraft and there is more brutality than heroism.

"Howard's writing is fast, furious, and somber [...], with a style that eschews color, gallantry, and nobility," in Schultz's words.

But, as Mata warns, the work has other nuances that give it greater literary height: "The philosophy of life that it frequently expresses, its fatalism, its rejection of the values ​​of civilization, the references to a gigantic cosmos and unforgiving (which Howard shares with his friend

), as well as the setting in which it takes place, the

(a prehistoric imitation of our world), are elements that define the nature of Conan".

From his appearance, Conan quickly became one of the most successful characters in the

niche of his day.

But his transformation into a popular culture icon came many years after Howard's death.

As Mata recalls, "starting in the 50s, authors such as

,

or

recovered it for the literary world and began to publish anthologies or revamped versions of the materials that Howard left unfinished, sometimes without respect to the original or as pastiches of dubious quality".

Subsequently, comics and movies helped propagate the legend.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s,

promoted the character around the world with collections such as

,

or

.

As for the screens, after Schwarzenegger's 1982 version and its 1984 sequel, the most expendable starring

(

) arrived in 2011.

Now, waiting for the eternally announced return of the actor of Austrian origin to the role,

has acquired the audiovisual rights of the character.

At the moment there is no news of who will be the interpreter who will wield

, the mythical sword of an unforgettable character, but not entirely well known.

Mark Schultz(Conan Sales Co. LLC) / Ed. Minotaur (Planet)

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