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Conan : die Original-Erzählungen aus den Jahren 1932 und 1933
Complete Conan of Cimmeria
Mit einem Vorw. von Wolfgang Hohlbein und Ill. von Mark Schultz.
Mit einem Vorw. von Wolfgang Hohlbein und Ill. von Mark Schultz.
768 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
4 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Robert E. Howard
3,026 books2,677 followersRobert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 27, 2008
I was in 8th grade and I really hated reading and just couldn't get the point or what the pleasure of it could be. My babysitter new I was upset about many personal things in my life and she bought me a copy of Conan. It was just the escapism that I needed and threw me off into Conan's world where I could imagine myself in following in Conan's footsteps. It was the perfect read for me at that point in my life. Before the summer was out I had read probably the first eight books of the series and went on to read many books from many different authors and genres. But I will alway's have a special place in my heart for Conan my savior and hook into the many worlds and distant lands that reading can take me.
If you know a kid that can read but doesn't enjoy it give him a copy of this and you may just turn them into a reader for life.
If you know a kid that can read but doesn't enjoy it give him a copy of this and you may just turn them into a reader for life.
March 24, 2008
Honestly, the writing in these books is not great. I lost track of how many times the same modifier was used within a couple sentences. Conan's muscles are never muscles, they are *always* thews. His speed is always panther-like. His eyes are possibly the only blue eyes that have ever existed that are "volcanic" blue rather than ice blue. The women, of whatever race, are always supple, slender, lithe. There are a lot of she-panthers.
However, this is actually a good thing. You can reread these novels every couple years because they're forgettable.
So, why do I like Conan so much? I'm not sure. Even though these stories are formulaic pulp fiction of the mid-20th century at its finest, I am drawn to Conan. Without realizing it, I seem to have a collection of more than 15 yellowed ancient Conan paperbacks.
I think it had to do with his elemental nature. His animalistic survival skills. My favorite X-Man is Logan/Wolverine. I loved Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) from Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick. Looking at them, they are all essentially the same character. They are hard men, strong men, survivors. They are lucky and resourceful and vital and powerful. They are leaders of men who choose not to lead. Maybe it's biological. If women are allegedly biologically programmed to seek a man who would keep them safe, well, no one's going to try harder and have a better possible chance of success than one of these three.
I wish they'd dyed Arnold's hair black and square-cut it.
However, this is actually a good thing. You can reread these novels every couple years because they're forgettable.
So, why do I like Conan so much? I'm not sure. Even though these stories are formulaic pulp fiction of the mid-20th century at its finest, I am drawn to Conan. Without realizing it, I seem to have a collection of more than 15 yellowed ancient Conan paperbacks.
I think it had to do with his elemental nature. His animalistic survival skills. My favorite X-Man is Logan/Wolverine. I loved Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) from Pitch Black and the Chronicles of Riddick. Looking at them, they are all essentially the same character. They are hard men, strong men, survivors. They are lucky and resourceful and vital and powerful. They are leaders of men who choose not to lead. Maybe it's biological. If women are allegedly biologically programmed to seek a man who would keep them safe, well, no one's going to try harder and have a better possible chance of success than one of these three.
I wish they'd dyed Arnold's hair black and square-cut it.
August 19, 2008
Read this series in high school. I had a welding class with a friend who owned most of the books. He'd lend them to me and we'd discuss them while working on our projects together. It was the first fantasy I liked after reading The Lord of the Rings about 3 years before. Edited by L. Sprague De Camp at the request of "The Heirs of the Robert E. Howard Estate." It's doubtful that those who decry De Camp's efforts would have ever heard of Conan otherwise, unless they were alive when the original stories were first published. The first Conan story Howard wrote was a rewrite of a Kull story rejected because it was too cerebral. So, the dumbed-down, sexier, more violent Conan stories started to get into print. Once the Conan stories started to be rejected, Howard rewrote some of those to try to get them published. None of the "Howard only" series have had the success of the De Camp edited Ace series. In this book, De Camp chose to start with the earliest stories, chronologically, and show the reader Conan's early years. Yeah, De Camp took previously unpublished Howard stories, polished them slightly, and published them in this series, but it's nothing that Howard himself didn't do.
April 24, 2008
I met Conan in the mid 1960's. The series was being republished and I had never heard of Robert Howard or this dark, brooding giant.
By the way, I was in college when I began reading the Conan stories. If you remember your history, college in the mid '60's was all about hippies , marches against the Vietnam War, getting high, "make love, not war", sticking it to the MAN. Power to the people!
My friends really didn't understand. They still don't 40 years later.
By the way, I was in college when I began reading the Conan stories. If you remember your history, college in the mid '60's was all about hippies , marches against the Vietnam War, getting high, "make love, not war", sticking it to the MAN. Power to the people!
My friends really didn't understand. They still don't 40 years later.
May 6, 2009
This was the first fantasy book I ever actually finished (I was probably in 5th or 6th grade). It is a collection of short stories that details the early life of Conan following his enslavement through his days as a young thief and then into his days as a mercenary. This book changed my life and opened my eyes to how much fun a book could actually be. If you like fantasy you will love this book!
August 12, 2025
Wir haben erneut ein Projekt beendet, das an gewissen Stellen etwas Ausdauer von uns verlangte.
Conan, den halbnackten Kämpfer, kennt vielleicht noch der eine oder andere. Damals gab es (meine ich jedenfalls) eine Fernsehserie und die Handlung war ziemlich, wie formuliere ich es, stringent. Kämpfen, kämpfen und vielleicht eine Dame dabei erobern. Und viel nackte Haut. Daran konnte sich wiederum mein Freund erinnern. 😈
Diese Sammlungen haben einen Vorteil und gleichzeitig auch einen Nachteil: Es sind viele Geschichten sofort verfügbar und mein Fazit nach zwei durchgelesenen Sammelbänden ist, dass es für mich der Lesespaß deutlich mehr steigern würde, wenn ich einiges an Pausen zwischen den (Kurz-)Geschichten machen würden. Haben wir aber nicht, uns packte irgendwann der „Jetzt-ziehen-wir-es-durch“-Gedanke. Damals, vor fast hundert Jahren, erschienen die Geschichten in einem Pulp Magazin und dafür eignen sie sich in meinen Augen auch hervorragend.
Darüber hinaus waren die Werke von Howard auch gar nicht als zusammenhängender Roman mit einer chronologischen Reihenfolge gedacht. Es gibt/gab zwar gewisse Elemente, die immer wieder auftauchen, jedoch keine wirkliche Chronologie. Daher ist es fast egal, in welcher Reihenfolge man liest, wobei es durchaus Themen gibt, die man „clustern“ kann (zum Beispiel Conan als Pirat).
Es sind ganz typische Abenteuerromane, mal kürzer, mal länger. Conan ist sich seiner Herkunft bewusst bzw. sieht man in ihm den „Wilden“, und so legt er sich regelmäßig mit der Obrigkeit an oder ergreift „Berufe“ wie Rebell oder Pirat. Außerdem trifft der Leser regelmäßig auf wilde Tiere. Sehr gerne Schlangen, oder auch andere Wildtiere, die als Monster, Dämon oder Gottheit fungieren. Also noch sehr klassisch, während heutzutage die Wesen oftmals deutlich weiter entfernt sind von einer uns bekannten Rasse. Selbst Science Fiction Elemente und regelmäßig Fantasyelemente sind Teil der Geschichten.
Ich würde tatsächlich direkt die Graphic Novels empfehlen oder aber dazu raten, den Sammelband nicht in einem Rutsch zu lesen. So waren damals die Geschichten nicht gedacht und können sogar etwas langweilig wirken, da sie doch recht ähnlich konstruiert sind. Dennoch lohnte sich die Lektüre.
Conan, den halbnackten Kämpfer, kennt vielleicht noch der eine oder andere. Damals gab es (meine ich jedenfalls) eine Fernsehserie und die Handlung war ziemlich, wie formuliere ich es, stringent. Kämpfen, kämpfen und vielleicht eine Dame dabei erobern. Und viel nackte Haut. Daran konnte sich wiederum mein Freund erinnern. 😈
Diese Sammlungen haben einen Vorteil und gleichzeitig auch einen Nachteil: Es sind viele Geschichten sofort verfügbar und mein Fazit nach zwei durchgelesenen Sammelbänden ist, dass es für mich der Lesespaß deutlich mehr steigern würde, wenn ich einiges an Pausen zwischen den (Kurz-)Geschichten machen würden. Haben wir aber nicht, uns packte irgendwann der „Jetzt-ziehen-wir-es-durch“-Gedanke. Damals, vor fast hundert Jahren, erschienen die Geschichten in einem Pulp Magazin und dafür eignen sie sich in meinen Augen auch hervorragend.
Darüber hinaus waren die Werke von Howard auch gar nicht als zusammenhängender Roman mit einer chronologischen Reihenfolge gedacht. Es gibt/gab zwar gewisse Elemente, die immer wieder auftauchen, jedoch keine wirkliche Chronologie. Daher ist es fast egal, in welcher Reihenfolge man liest, wobei es durchaus Themen gibt, die man „clustern“ kann (zum Beispiel Conan als Pirat).
Es sind ganz typische Abenteuerromane, mal kürzer, mal länger. Conan ist sich seiner Herkunft bewusst bzw. sieht man in ihm den „Wilden“, und so legt er sich regelmäßig mit der Obrigkeit an oder ergreift „Berufe“ wie Rebell oder Pirat. Außerdem trifft der Leser regelmäßig auf wilde Tiere. Sehr gerne Schlangen, oder auch andere Wildtiere, die als Monster, Dämon oder Gottheit fungieren. Also noch sehr klassisch, während heutzutage die Wesen oftmals deutlich weiter entfernt sind von einer uns bekannten Rasse. Selbst Science Fiction Elemente und regelmäßig Fantasyelemente sind Teil der Geschichten.
Ich würde tatsächlich direkt die Graphic Novels empfehlen oder aber dazu raten, den Sammelband nicht in einem Rutsch zu lesen. So waren damals die Geschichten nicht gedacht und können sogar etwas langweilig wirken, da sie doch recht ähnlich konstruiert sind. Dennoch lohnte sich die Lektüre.
April 8, 2010
Yeeeahhhhh, I know what you're thinking... Ahnold wrote a book?
I was up really late watching channel 88, or 87, or 78 and Ahnold was hacking'n'slashing a bunch of guys in rubber armor and I was thinking to myself, "wonder where this story was lifted from, 'Lord of the Rings?'"
Actually, my first thought was, "I wish the bad guys wore NY Yankees little league uniforms, flourescent pink batting-cage helmets, and wiffle bats." Could you imagine an army of little leaguers from the Bronx battlin' Ahnold the Destroyer? That would be totally sweet, like combining ninjas and green berets and dinosaurs.
But anyway, I was expecting the story to be fairly recent to the movie but it was actually written from '32-36 or so and by a chronic depressive who killed himself pretty early in life. The guy was interested in all the old mythology and especially Picts.
I got interested and so I acquired the novels (more like novelettes, they were written for pulp magazines) and I ended up finishing them all in short order.
Pretty entertaining writer, excellent style and prose, great short (condensed) stories and no filler. It's pretty raw stuff; the guy was a tough-guy so the struggling and violence seems pretty vivid and realistic. I recommend reading Robert E. Howard's bio before reading these novels (about 20 or so). Definitely not for little kids, or girls, it's violent, offensive, and sexist.
One last thought, did you ever think to yourself, "why do all the good guys in 'Lord of the Rings' have to be keep singing songs?" I did, when I had to trudge through 250 pages of guys singing or dancing hymns in a 500 page book.
But in the Conan novels, magic isn't some kind of "wonderous, wonderful lost art" with faeries and angels handing out ice cream. It's creepy, disgusting, and straight from the bowels of hell. It's the heroic savage that beats the life out of the creepy old dudes with a rock.
(Hey, that was pretty advanced for the '30's.)
I was up really late watching channel 88, or 87, or 78 and Ahnold was hacking'n'slashing a bunch of guys in rubber armor and I was thinking to myself, "wonder where this story was lifted from, 'Lord of the Rings?'"
Actually, my first thought was, "I wish the bad guys wore NY Yankees little league uniforms, flourescent pink batting-cage helmets, and wiffle bats." Could you imagine an army of little leaguers from the Bronx battlin' Ahnold the Destroyer? That would be totally sweet, like combining ninjas and green berets and dinosaurs.
But anyway, I was expecting the story to be fairly recent to the movie but it was actually written from '32-36 or so and by a chronic depressive who killed himself pretty early in life. The guy was interested in all the old mythology and especially Picts.
I got interested and so I acquired the novels (more like novelettes, they were written for pulp magazines) and I ended up finishing them all in short order.
Pretty entertaining writer, excellent style and prose, great short (condensed) stories and no filler. It's pretty raw stuff; the guy was a tough-guy so the struggling and violence seems pretty vivid and realistic. I recommend reading Robert E. Howard's bio before reading these novels (about 20 or so). Definitely not for little kids, or girls, it's violent, offensive, and sexist.
One last thought, did you ever think to yourself, "why do all the good guys in 'Lord of the Rings' have to be keep singing songs?" I did, when I had to trudge through 250 pages of guys singing or dancing hymns in a 500 page book.
But in the Conan novels, magic isn't some kind of "wonderous, wonderful lost art" with faeries and angels handing out ice cream. It's creepy, disgusting, and straight from the bowels of hell. It's the heroic savage that beats the life out of the creepy old dudes with a rock.
(Hey, that was pretty advanced for the '30's.)
August 31, 2015
Ein schüchterner Texaner schreibt in den USA der 30er Jahre Pulp-Geschichten über einen naiven, muskelbepackten Barbaren.
Verglichen mit den heutigen Größen der Fantasy war mir Conan einfach gestrickt - geradezu platt. In eine Welt gesetzt, die ihm immer fremd ist und die er nie begreift, begegnet er allen Problemen auf genau eine Art: mit dem Kopf durch die Wand. Ein Barbar halt.
Von der Einfachheit der Figur und der Erzählfäden sollte man sich aber nicht in die Irre leiten lassen.
Conan hat mich gebannt und verzaubert, mich in seine Welt hinein gezogen. Ich konnte diese Welt durch seine Augen sehen und das Unverstehbare, das Unbegreifbare einer Welt voller Gewalt, Intrigen und alter Mächte erfahren. Mit Conan habe ich eine zeitlose Welt bereist, ein verschwundenes Zeitalter.
Ja, Conan ist xenophob, sexistisch und noch so vieles mehr. Und er ist eine erträumte Figur. Ein starker, wilder Fremder, dessen vermeintliche Schwächen - unzivilisiert, barbarisch, einfach gestrickt - ihn zum einzigen Handlungs- und Überlebensfähigen machen.
Denn Conan und seine Geschichten sind Zivilisationskritik. Kritik an der "Verweichlichung" und "Überzivilisiertheit" von Howards Welt. Kritik am Männerbild, an der US-Gesellschaft und an der Politik der 30er Jahre. Eine verzweifelte Kritik - wohlgemerkt, die als einzigen Ausweg, eine Figur zeigt, die außerhalb der Welt, in die sie geworfen wurde, zu existieren scheint.
Die Muster der Figur und der Erzählungen wiederholen sich. Nach einer gewissen Zeit hatte ich genug vom Gleichen gelesen. Denn auch das ist einer von Howards (Alp-)Träumen: Weder die Figur, noch die Welt, noch die Erzählstränge entwickeln sich. Alles bleibt beim Alten. Die Welt ist unrettbar verloren.
Verglichen mit den heutigen Größen der Fantasy war mir Conan einfach gestrickt - geradezu platt. In eine Welt gesetzt, die ihm immer fremd ist und die er nie begreift, begegnet er allen Problemen auf genau eine Art: mit dem Kopf durch die Wand. Ein Barbar halt.
Von der Einfachheit der Figur und der Erzählfäden sollte man sich aber nicht in die Irre leiten lassen.
Conan hat mich gebannt und verzaubert, mich in seine Welt hinein gezogen. Ich konnte diese Welt durch seine Augen sehen und das Unverstehbare, das Unbegreifbare einer Welt voller Gewalt, Intrigen und alter Mächte erfahren. Mit Conan habe ich eine zeitlose Welt bereist, ein verschwundenes Zeitalter.
Ja, Conan ist xenophob, sexistisch und noch so vieles mehr. Und er ist eine erträumte Figur. Ein starker, wilder Fremder, dessen vermeintliche Schwächen - unzivilisiert, barbarisch, einfach gestrickt - ihn zum einzigen Handlungs- und Überlebensfähigen machen.
Denn Conan und seine Geschichten sind Zivilisationskritik. Kritik an der "Verweichlichung" und "Überzivilisiertheit" von Howards Welt. Kritik am Männerbild, an der US-Gesellschaft und an der Politik der 30er Jahre. Eine verzweifelte Kritik - wohlgemerkt, die als einzigen Ausweg, eine Figur zeigt, die außerhalb der Welt, in die sie geworfen wurde, zu existieren scheint.
Die Muster der Figur und der Erzählungen wiederholen sich. Nach einer gewissen Zeit hatte ich genug vom Gleichen gelesen. Denn auch das ist einer von Howards (Alp-)Träumen: Weder die Figur, noch die Welt, noch die Erzählstränge entwickeln sich. Alles bleibt beim Alten. Die Welt ist unrettbar verloren.
April 26, 2009
If you're worried about being politically correct, respectful, non-steroetyping, etc., avoid Howard: he'll definitely trouble you, sooner or later. If you want meaningful discourse, the same. Howard was not interested in the later, as far as his fiction went, and unaware of the former.
Howard was a teller of tales, a spinner of yarns, the sort who at one time sat by a fire and held his audience in sway for hours on end, not to educate or enlighten them, but to entertain them with exciting tales of characters and lands tales remote from their own day-to-day existence. Whenever Howard tries to talk about society, to make social commentary (I cannot be sure how much of this is Howard and how much the editor of this series, L. Sprague De Camp was often fond of doing this sort of thing) he falls flat. Primal emotions, fears, and violent action are his forte.
If you want to learn how to tell a good yarn. Howard's a good teacher. But don't expect to learn anything else from him. Do expect to be well entertained.
Howard was a teller of tales, a spinner of yarns, the sort who at one time sat by a fire and held his audience in sway for hours on end, not to educate or enlighten them, but to entertain them with exciting tales of characters and lands tales remote from their own day-to-day existence. Whenever Howard tries to talk about society, to make social commentary (I cannot be sure how much of this is Howard and how much the editor of this series, L. Sprague De Camp was often fond of doing this sort of thing) he falls flat. Primal emotions, fears, and violent action are his forte.
If you want to learn how to tell a good yarn. Howard's a good teacher. But don't expect to learn anything else from him. Do expect to be well entertained.
October 30, 2007
Robert Howard is a magnificent story teller. As a man who makes his living riding a computer terminal, and eats meat that's been butchered on a farm somewhere, at some viceral level I long for an earlier more viceral existence. No one provides this fantasy better than Howard. Conan is everthing I wish I was.
December 11, 2010
CONAN CONAN CONAN! You get what you pay for: if you want stories that start off with action, have lots of swordplay, and don't waste any time on deeper symbolic meanings (or introspective dialog), then this is the one for you. Howard created something special when he wrote these pulp-fiction adventure stories.
June 4, 2007
The master of Sword and Sorcery. Great stories that scare and delight; a hero, who's strength and cunning go unrivaled, and a good dollop of other-world building that make all Conan's novels great reads.
June 17, 2007
I have all the Conan books. I started reading them in High School and they still hold great memories for me. When I first read them, I could not imagine how the books could be made into movies! No special effects like they have now!
October 8, 2007
I liked these stories and conan. He was strong and powerful while I was weak and cowardly. Now I am stronger than Conan and I make him use his sword to cut my raviolis open so the chesse will mix with the sauce.
July 24, 2007
Lovecraft was a fan, as anyone who has read these novelas ought to be.
October 15, 2007
Good ol' Mrs. Furstenthal would have called this "bubble-gum for the brain."
At least it was a fun chew.
At least it was a fun chew.
December 6, 2007
Swords and sorcery, Lovecraft style.
January 11, 2008
First book of the Conan series rocks. After this one, the guy just gets too darn tough\lucky and it's no longer interesting or believable.
July 18, 2008
i read this so long ago, i have read it a million times since the first time. i must have been about 10 when i found this on my dads shelves
February 23, 2010
The first in the series - you can see where pieces of the movie "Conan the Barbarian" were taken from.
October 20, 2008
The inception of sword and sorcery / fantasy genre. Great stuff.
October 2, 2010
I loved the Conan novels. They are the first fantasy novels I read as a teen and they are what made me want to write.
August 28, 2007
Read most of these
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews