I need to get back in the corner related to literature. My son, Mark, and his wife, Mary Kathryn came Thurseday and stayed till Saturday morning and reminded me that Mark had started reading Mark Finn's BLOOD AND THUNDER when we were waiting for Lou's last surgery and I promised that I would finish it so that he could read it. While waiting in the doctor's office for Lou last week I made some progress in the book. It is a great read. It is an excellent history of Cross Plains documenting its history to establish the milieu that Robert E. Howard grew up in. One of Howard's best friends (and I am working on a transcript of a oral history that repeated the allegation that Howard's will leaving everything to this friend, Lindsay Tyson, was destroyed by his father when he found it in Howard's desk) was the treasurer of the Methodist church when we moved to Cross Plains so I got to know him. I wish that I had read this book so I could have quizzed him on Howard. At the time I knew nothing about REH. Takes me a while to come up to speed on any subject.
Finn quotes extensively from Boatright to establish Howard's skill in folklore and tall tales. From his early childhood Howard was a writer that uses tall tales to embellish his writing. His father, Dr. Howard, was an inveterate storyteller and Howard spent many hours listening to him and his friends. He also grew up in the oil boom days of the 1920s where wells were drilled all over town and the town was filled with 10,000 persons who were mostly looking for the fast buck. His first job was with one of the tailor shops where he delivered clothes, sold them and also washed clothes in the shop. He was fascinated by the fancy silks and lace dresses worn by the harlots who always came to him soiled by everything from vomit to gutter mud. He worked for oil companies as a stenographer after completing the first few courses in business college in Brownwood. He got to know all of the characters in the oil field. He held a job as a reporter for the newspaper to report on oil activities. He was a great student of history and visited libraries when he could. He first discovered the Picts in a history book in a New Orleans library when he traveled with his mother. Finn documents the close relationship of Howard with his sick tubercular mother and strained relationship of his mother and father. I am only half way through the book, but believe it is a real contribution to literature. Well written and documented.
Our friend Dr. Chaffin is still in the hospital but expects to be released soon. He had to let his sermon be read by a friend this Sunday and is looking forward to watching the video of his sermon coming from someone else.
Finn quotes extensively from Boatright to establish Howard's skill in folklore and tall tales. From his early childhood Howard was a writer that uses tall tales to embellish his writing. His father, Dr. Howard, was an inveterate storyteller and Howard spent many hours listening to him and his friends. He also grew up in the oil boom days of the 1920s where wells were drilled all over town and the town was filled with 10,000 persons who were mostly looking for the fast buck. His first job was with one of the tailor shops where he delivered clothes, sold them and also washed clothes in the shop. He was fascinated by the fancy silks and lace dresses worn by the harlots who always came to him soiled by everything from vomit to gutter mud. He worked for oil companies as a stenographer after completing the first few courses in business college in Brownwood. He got to know all of the characters in the oil field. He held a job as a reporter for the newspaper to report on oil activities. He was a great student of history and visited libraries when he could. He first discovered the Picts in a history book in a New Orleans library when he traveled with his mother. Finn documents the close relationship of Howard with his sick tubercular mother and strained relationship of his mother and father. I am only half way through the book, but believe it is a real contribution to literature. Well written and documented.
Our friend Dr. Chaffin is still in the hospital but expects to be released soon. He had to let his sermon be read by a friend this Sunday and is looking forward to watching the video of his sermon coming from someone else.
posted by Dr. Rodenberger at 9:14 PM
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