Sand Roughs
No. 3 – A
Member Journal of Robert E. Howard: Electronic Amateur Press Association
by Gary Romeo © 2001 –
Gary Romeo can be contacted at: gromeo8750@yahoo.com
Science Friction
A look at two end of the world
stories by
L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E.
Howard
Stories and Main Characters:
Judgment Day by L. Sprague de Camp
Wade Ormont – A scientist
The Supreme Moment by Robert E. Howard
Zan Uller – A scientist
Most
everyone, including L. Sprague de Camp, believes that he was an ill-suited
choice to complete Robert E. Howard’s unfinished Conan tales. LSdC answers his critics and suggests his
reason for being ill-suited in the following quote from his auto-biography:
“Poor Robert
suffered from a devilish mass of fears, hatreds, and obsession, from which I
have been free. Howard’s complexes,
however, gave his work a peculiar emotional intensity, which shines through his
writing and together with his magnificent storytelling gift, accounts for the
grip that even his pulpiest fiction has on most readers.”
This
is, of course, a self-serving statement tempered by a compliment. Perhaps more on the mark is this quote from
REH scholar, Don J. Herron: “One of the major points of difference between Conan and
Conantics is that REH's creation reacts to dangerous situations instinctively,
whereas the de Camp-Carter imitation reacts logically.”
In any event, LSdC’s involvement with REH’s
Conan will continue to be discussed for a while. LSdC, before being a Conan pasticher, was a respected
science-fiction writer. Contemporary SF
writers remember him as one of the members of the influential golden age. (He was recently cited so by Mike Resnick in
the Summer 2001 issue of “The Bulletin
of SF and Fantasy Writers of America.”)
Robert E. Howard wrote precious little science
fiction. REH once stated in a December
1933 letter to August Dereleth: “Yes, Astounding went
pseudo-scientific. The editor returned
my weird yarn, requesting me to submit some scientific fiction, but whether
I’ll be able to make the market or not is doubtful. […] there is so little of
the scientist about my nature that I feel no confidence in my ability to write
convincingly on the subject.”
REH’s forays into scientific fiction are
primarily adventure stories similar to the science fiction work of Jack London
and Edgar Rice Burroughs. One
particular REH science fiction story “The Supreme Moment” bears a remarkable
similarity to LSdC’s story, “Judgement Day.”
Comparing the two stories could tell us something about their respective
authors.
*
* *
“The Supreme Moment” was unpublished during
Howard’s lifetime. It was eventually
published in 1984 in “Crypt of Cthulhu #25” and reprinted in Joe Marek’s “The
New Howard Reader #1.” The story isn’t
one of Howard’s best and its political content would most likely have kept it
from being published during the post-war science-fiction boom of the 40’s and
50’s had Howard been alive to market it.
The story begins with five powerful and wealthy
men trying to convince a small and deformed man to save the human race. A strange fungus is spreading across the
earth. It destroys native vegetation,
leaving barren fields in its wake. The
fungus is literally unstoppable.
The small and deformed man is a scientific
expert on parasitic plants. He had
developed a fungicide but refused to sell it to the capitalist interests that
wanted it. Now that the world was under
attack from this fungus, these other capitalists were insistent on buying the
formula.
The deformed scientist, Zan Uller, is unmoved by
the world’s plight. He tells his life
story. He was born into poverty, a
tenement in London. His mother was
thrown into prison for stealing milk.
At the age of 10, Zan was forced to work at a looming mill. His health was severely damaged. The employer’s beatings left him a
cripple. Zan became a newsboy, having
to fight off other newsboys. Despite
all this adversity, Zan maintained an interest in science and excelled.
Once a scientist, Zan still encountered
adversity. A rival scientist caused a
laboratory explosion that impaired his vision.
Zan’s book on evolution caused religious zealots to attack him. Eventually Zan’s scientific success allowed
him to live an undisturbed life. He had
discovered the fungi’s harmful effects years earlier but was mocked for his
efforts.
He began work on his fungicide. Even though he could have checked the growth
of the world destroying fungi he chose not too. Even now, his formula could save mankind. But Zan refuses to sell the assembled men
his formula.
The five rich and powerful men threaten to
torture Zan’s formula from him. Zan
delivers a speech:
“If I should refuse to give you the formula, you will torture me?”
Five voices answered assent.
“But what if I do not refuse?
Is it not godlike to forgive?
Who am I to leave the world to destruction?
“Gentlemen, this is my vengeance, this the supreme moment!”
Zan grabs a gun and shoots himself in the
head. The echoes rebounded through the room like
mocking, devilish laughter. And so ends Howard’s
story.
*
* *
De Camp’s story, “Judgement Day” was published
in the August 1955 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and later reprinted by
Ballantine Books in The Best of L. Sprague de Camp. It is a good story worthy of republication.
A physicist, Wade Ormont, narrates the
story. He has developed a formula for a
nuclear reaction using iron. If Wade
simply follows the normal course of his job, writing a report on his discovery,
he realizes that someone will eventually use his discovery to destroy the
world. Wade doubts the U. S. government
would do that but secrets cannot be kept forever. Wade considers the “commies”
but decides any “crackpot” world leader is capable of the deed.
Wade muses about his own sanity but decides he
has ample reason for wishing to kill off mankind. He begins to tell his story.
Wade was a sickly skinny intellectual kid fond of big words. He was picked on. He was bullied. He was
intellectually opposed to exercise so stayed skinny and uncoordinated his
entire life.
Wade becomes quite the unforgiving
misanthrope. Wade is more sympathetic
toward women. Wade married late and had
an unsuccessful marriage but he has no lingering animosity toward women.
Wade recounts his schooling at a military
academy as a particular grueling experience.
His mother’s decision. He
grudgingly admits the school afforded him a better education than a public
school despite the hazing and name-calling.
Wade eventually got admitted to MIT. Wade summarizes:
For thousands of years, priests and philosophers have told us to
love mankind without giving any sound reason for loving the creatures. The mass of them are a lot of cruel,
treacherous, hairless apes. They hate
us intellectuals […].
Wade recounts a hobby he once had of studying
conversations for a statistical analysis of speech. A woman noticed him taking notes. She asked him what he was doing.
He explained his hobby.
“My goodness, Dr. Ormont, you are
a nut!”
She never knew how close she came to having her skull bashed in
with the inkwell.
Wade tells of a visit to a psychiatrist. Wade is told he has a schizoidal
personality. Wade decides against
continuing therapy.
After recounting his life story, Wade ponders
publishing the formula once more. He
guesses the formula would be discovered and used by a madman within a decade or
two. Most likely he would not live to
see the end of the world. He is only 53
but he has a heart condition and little will to live. The only genuine emotion he has is hate. Wade considers his sympathies. He is for civil rights but says Negroes would
probably be persecutors of others if they held power. He remembers some particular cruel neighborhood boys.
There is one way I can be happy during my remaining years, and that
is by the knowledge that all these bastards will get theirs someday. […] I hate everybody. […] I shall write my report.
* * *
There are similarities and differences in these
two stories that need discussing.
Howard, like his writer model, Jack London, is anti-capitalist. It is important that there is class
antagonism as well as personal antagonism in Howard’s story. De Camp’s story is apolitical (except for
the historical “Cold War” context.)
Wade’s hates are all personal.
Howard never mentions whether Zan Uller is
married or not. The reader would assume
not as Zan is physically repulsive.
Wade is normal looking enough to have attracted a wife but his
personality has been stunted and he is incapable of a normal male-female
relationship.
It is of course tempting to examine both of
these stories as autobiographical. Any
reader of REH’s letter would know that he had a lot of animosity for
mankind. In one letter, Howard recounts
a story at his job as a soda jerk. REH
is ready to kill an oil worker roughneck for attempting to steal a
magazine. De Camp, in the afterword to
the Ballantine collection says that “Judgement Day” comes the closest to being
autobiographical: “[…] several incidents are taken straight out of my boyhood. It was, as you can infer, not a very
pleasant one.”
Of
course neither story is strictly autobiographical. Howard’s parents were not victims of capitalist
exploitation. Howard’s life was fairly
devoid of hard labor. Howard was
physical fit and healthy. (He had
overweight periods and a possible heart problem, but these weren’t
debilitating.) De Camp was happily
married and raised a family. He
maintained close friendships with his peers and has been described as quite
charming. Obviously, unlike Wade
Ormont.
Still within these stories, is the core of the
difference between REH and LSdC. REH’s
story is full of passion. LSdC’s story
is full of intellect. Zan Uller knows
the end of the world is imminent. The
fungus is physically destroying the earth.
No one can stop it except Zan.
Zan is the key to the world’s salvation and he destroys himself with
passion and glee. Wade Ormont’s formula
will most likely bring the world to its end.
It is an intellectual certainty.
Wade does not have to sacrifice himself to cause destruction. Wade simply has to do his job, write a
report, to end the world.
These two stories are a perfect metaphor for the difference between Howard’s Conan and de Camp’s Conan. It isn’t a matter of writing style; both are fine writers with finely written stories. It isn’t a matter of theme. Both writers are capable of having meaning in their stories. It is a matter of personality as de Camp said all along. De Camp might not have the “devilish mass of fears, hatreds, and obsession” that he felt Howard had but this story gives Howard fans clues for examining LSdC’s own fears, hatreds, and obsession. De Camp is clearly similar to Wade Ormont. De Camp’s editing of Howard’s work, appropriation of the Conan character, and dealings with Novalyne Price and Glenn Lord must be considered in the light of Wade Ormont. That detached intellect, which has Wade’s (LSdC’s) own motives as the center of his universe. Time, distance, and yes, chance can teach us things.
Addendum:
Trying to understand L. Sprague de Camp is not the same as
condemning him. De Camp, for whatever
motivation, was the primary force behind the multi-million selling Lancer
“Conan” series. Robert E. Howard’s
reputation as a premiere fantasist and the creator of the sub-genre known as
“Sword & Sorcery” was cemented by this popular series. The Conan stories by Howard were clearly
separated from the de Camp/Carter stories and De Camp’s introductions pointed
readers to Howard’s other works as published by Donald M. Grant, Glenn Lord,
and others. De Camp was clearly a Howard
fan and was instrumental in getting Howard’s stories (albeit in sometimes
edited form) before the reading public.