Robert E. Howard: The Texan Autodidact Who Invented the Sword and Sorcery Genre

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Raised in the boomtowns of Texas, Robert E. Howard became a prolific pulp writer who defined the sword and sorcery genre. Despite a life marked by financial instability and the Great Depression, he created iconic characters like Conan the Barbarian, leaving a lasting influence on the fantasy field.

Born in 1906, Robert E. Howard spent his youth moving through various Texas towns as his father, a physician, sought work. This upbringing, combined with exposure to the violence of the oil boom and his own interest in boxing, fostered a hardboiled, cynical outlook on the world. Howard was a voracious reader from a young age, influenced by authors like Jack London and Rudyard Kipling, and he developed a reputation for an eidetic memory for poetry.

Howard’s path to professional writing was arduous. He spent years submitting stories to pulp magazines, facing frequent rejections before selling his first tale, 'Spear and Fang', in 1924 for $16. He eventually became a full-time writer by age 23, though his career was constantly threatened by the economic volatility of the Great Depression, which wiped out his savings when two banks failed in 1931. To sustain his income, he became a master of tailoring his style to various markets, writing everything from boxing stories to historical fiction.

His most enduring legacy began in 1932, when he conceived the character of Conan the Barbarian. Howard created the Hyborian Age, a fictional world that allowed him to blend historical themes with fantasy without the constraints of rigorous historical research. By recycling an unpublished Kull story, 'By This Axe I Rule!', into 'The Phoenix on the Sword', he launched the Conan series. This work, alongside his correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft and his contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos, cemented his status as a foundational figure in fantasy literature.

Howard’s philosophy, often debated with Lovecraft, centered on the belief that civilization was inherently corrupt and fragile, while barbarism was the natural, triumphant state of humanity. This tension defined much of his work. Tragically, Howard died by suicide in 1936 at age 30, distraught over his mother's terminal illness. While his stories were never collected during his lifetime, his influence grew significantly after his death, spawning countless imitators and establishing the sword and sorcery subgenre.

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