REH Bookshelf - G

compiled by Rusty Burke

Garvin, Viola

"The House of Cæsar"

This poem seems the likely source for the couplet Howard typed out before committing suicide: "All fled, all done, so lift me on the pyre; | The feast is over and the lamps expire."

Sprague de Camp, in 1966, suggested that the second line was a paraphrase from Ernest Dowson's (q.v.) "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae" (or "Cynara"), the last stanza of which contains the phrase, "But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire," and this came to be the accepted derivation. However, Garvin's poem seems much likelier, and since it is little known, it is printed in entirety here:

THE HOUSE OF CÆSAR

Yea — we have thought of royal robes and red.

Had purple dreams of words we utterèd;

Have lived once more the moment in the brain

That stirred the multitude to shout again.

All done, all fled, and now we faint and tire —

The Feast is over and the lamps expire!

Yea — we have launched a ship on sapphire seas,

And felt the steed between the gripping knees;

Have breathed the evening when the huntsman brought

The stiffening trophy of the fevered sport —

Have crouched by rivers in the grassy meads

To watch for fish that dart amongst the weeds.

All well, all good — so hale from sun and mire —

The Feast is over and the lamps expire!

Yet — we have thought of Love as men may think,

Who drain a cup because they needs must drink;

Have brought a jewel from beyond the seas

To star a crown of blue anemones.

All fled, all done — a Cæsar's brief desire —

The Feast is over and the lamps expire!

Yea — and what is there that we have not done,

The Gods provided us 'twixt sun and sun?

Have we not watched an hundred legions thinned,

And crushed and conquered, succorèd and sinned?

Lo — we who moved the lofty gods to ire —

The Feast is over and the lamps expire!

Yea — and what voice shall reach us and shall give

Our earthly self a moment more to live?

What arm shall fold us and shall come between

Our failing body and the grasses green?

And the last heart that beats beneath this head —

Shall it be heard or unrememberèd?

All dim, all pale — so lift me on the pyre —

The Feast is over and the lamps expire!

                                                — Viola Garvin

The poem is included in Frothingham, Songs of Adventure (q.v.).

My research has identified two different Viola Garvins: Viola Gerard Garvin (1898-      ), an editor at the London Observer and author of Dedication (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1928); and Viola (Taylor) Garvin, author of As You See It (London: Methuen & Co., 1922). "The House of Cæsar" is not included in any collection by either, and is not listed among the copyright acknowledgements in Songs of Adventure. I am inclined toward the former by stylistic similarities between this poem and those in Dedication.

Gautier, Théophile

(1811-1872)

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. November 1932 [SL 2 #65]: "Gautier bores me immeasurably."

Gibbon, Edward

(1737-1794)

REH to Harold Preece, ca. February 1930 [SL 1 #30]: "Gibbon, than whom no more despisable pseudo-chronicler ever lived, pulled the same stuff. That the Irish came from Scotland. Why, that swine didn't even have guts enough to marry the woman he wanted, because it would mean losing his inheritance."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, 9 August 1930 [SL 1 #39]: "Gibbon sought to refute the so-called legend that Ireland was the original home of the Scots, maintaining that the Gaels spread into the smaller island from Scotland, but the converse has since been proven."

Gilbert, Sir William S[chwenck]

(1836-1911)

The Best Known Works of W.S. Gilbert

New York: Illustrated Editions, 1932. 30684; PQ3; GL; TDB.

[The "Gilbert" of "Gilbert and Sullivan."]

Gildas

(ca. 540)

REH to H.P. Lovecraft , ca. 9 August 1930 [SL 1 #39]: "I think such Latin authors as mention the above matters agree with this account, in that the Britons precede the Picts and the Picts, the Scots or Gaels. The legends of the various races coincide with it, as do, I think, the narratives of the British historians, Gildas and Nennius."

[See Williams, The Historians' History of the World.]

Gill, Ottie

Harold Preece to Lenore Preece, 16 January 1965 (in The Howard Collector [New York: Ace Books, 1979]): "Ottie Gill, of the Brownwood group, was somebody whom I'd first met in McKinney as a Lone Scout. ¶ Ottie should also be asked by Glenn to write about Bob. He, I, Truett and Clyde were at the home of the Gills, several times."

Gill had poems published in poetry magazines in 1925-1926.

Giraldus Cambrensis

[Giraldus de Barri] (ca. 1146-ca. 1220)

In "Spears of Clontarf," REH used a quotation from Giraldus as a footnote. His likeliest source for the quotation is P.W. Joyce's A Short History of Gaelic Ireland (q.v.), p. 115.

Gladewater Journal

[Newspaper, Gladewater, Texas.]

H.P. Lovecraft to REH, 22 September 1932: "Many thanks for the interesting issue of the always-vigorous Gladewater Journal! The editor is surely up to his usual form."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, late September 1932 [SL 2 #64]: "Glad you found the Gladewater paper interesting. Its one of the few organs of the people against the crushing tread of the big interests. The editor packs plenty of power, too; immediately after he accused the state government of sending Rangers to the East Texas fields to co-erce the voting, the order was countermanded. It had been announced that thirty-five Rangers were to be sent there to clean out 'certain gangsters from the North.' The editor of the Journal point-blank accused certain high officials of sending these Rangers to East Texas to bulldoze the voters in the coming election, and he added a warning which might easily have been read as a threat. Anyway, the thirty-five Rangers who were already on their way to the fields, were recalled..."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. May/June 1933 [SL 2 #67]: "Since the Ferguson election...the whole Ranger company which worked in the East Texas fields was dropped from the force – the work of the Gladewater Journal, or I miss my guess."

Glyn, Elinor

[pseudonym of Nellie Sutherland (1864-1943)]

“The Dominant Male” (unpublished): “Mike yawned without reply. Eve pushed him toward the end of the divan, sat down, propped her feet in front of her and reached for a book. | 'The confessions of a chorus girl,' murmured Mike. | 'It’s not. It’s a book by Elinor Glynn.'”

[Pioneer of erotic fiction for women, Three Weeks (1907) for example; best known for creating Hollywood’s first “It Girl,” played by Clara Bow.]

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

(1749-1832)

"The Thessalians" (The Yellow Jacket [Howard Payne College], 13 January 1927): "…we played Shakespeare, Marlow, Goethe, and some of the moderns."

Gold, Grace

[pseudonym of Maria Frink]

How To Be Happy

A collection of beautiful lessons intended to inspire noble thoughts and actions, and enable one to become useful, lovable, happy and wise. Valparaiso, IN: F&M Frink, 1893. 30677; PQ3; GL; TDB.

A later edition published as How To Be Happy; The Life Book. A casket of jewels containing gems of thought from the world's greatest writers. Chicago: Laird & Lee, 1908.

Gold, Mike

[pseudonym of Irving Granich (1894-1967)]

REH to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. September 1931 [SL 2 #56]: "Lizzen my children and you shall be told | Of the midnight ride of Mikey de Gold! | In feathers and tar he rode away | On a ten-foot rail at the break of day. | And Hebrews cheer when the tale is told | Of the thrilling ride of Mikey de Gold. ¶ "Wotta life, wotta life! Here is de low-down on Mikey de Gold: 'As a Jew I know that anti-Jewish prejudice exists. I will fight it to the death. I will stand up for my race, as I will for a Negro or Italian in like circumstances. And I refuse to run away, even if there were an escape in Palestine or Africa, as there certainly is not. America is our country, as much as anyone's. We will plant ourselves here, not retreat to some mythical fatherland in the deserts of Palestine or Africa.'"

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. December 1932 includes Gold among a group of writers of whom Howard says, "...three ringing razzberries for the whole mob....they're all wet smacks."

Goldsmith, Oliver

(1731-1774)

The Vicar of Wakefield

(1766)

REH wrote a class report on this book in high school, which still survives. Glenn Lord contributed a photocopy of this report to the 118th mailing of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association (REHupa). In the section for "Opinions" Howard wrote:

"'The Vicar of Wakefield' is, doubtless a true picture of English country life but in my opinion it is a very unsatisfactory book. It begins as an insipid comedy and passes to the other extreme, then returns to the light comedy with a happy ending. The happy ending is much to be said in the favor of the book. The characters irritate the reader, some by their simpleness, others by their depravity and others by their humbleness. The Vicar for instance, who did not consider the wrongs to his two girls, sufficient cause to seek vengeance on their betrayer and abductor. Burchell is the only real man in the book. The Vicar is a fanatical fool, his wife is an ignorant fool, his oldest son is an honorable fool and most of the other characters are more or less foolish in proportion to their importance in the book. This summing up may be unjust but it is my candid opinion. The happy ending is good enough but there is on thing that is incomplete. That the just retribution that should have overtaken Thornhill. Of course, he was forced to marry, but marriage though bad enough, is not enough repayment for the wrongs he had done. Thornhill should have died by cord or steel to complete the happy ending. As I suppose I must say something in favour of the book I will say that it is well written with flashes of humor throughout. A characteristic of Goldsmith who was Irish."

[Howard received an "A" for this book report.]

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. November 1932 [SL 2 #65]: "...The Vicar of Wakefield, one of the most abominable books ever penned. I've never had any respect for Goldsmith since reading it. The old cuss in the book had one daughter seduced, if I'm not mistaken, and the other abducted by the same egg. So he stood around mouthing pious platitudes – the old jackass. And when his son wanted to fight the abductor a duel, a squall of disapproval was raised to the shamed skies. I read this abomination as a part of my high school work, and in writing my report, I let myself go the only time I ever did in school, and gave my own honest opinion in my own honest words, allowing myself the freedom of frothing at the mouth. I expected to flunk the course, so many teachers being slaves of the established, but that particular teacher was a black-headed Irish woman who evidently entertained similar ideas on the subject to mine, and she gave me a good grade instead of the tongue-lashing I expected. Somewhere I read an essay on that book, and the writer spoke of the Vicar as the highest type of human imaginable, praising his meekness and humility and long-suffering and Christian spirit. Bah! A whole flock of bahs. In some cases humility is out of place. To my mind he was a lousy old worm, ten times lower down than the libertine that misused his daughters."

One Who Walked Alone, pp. 215-216, Novalyne and Bob discuss The Vicar of Wakefield. Howard is quoted as saying, "I think it's the sorriest damn book I ever read...," and "I'll tell you what I think... I think the Vicar was a lousy old bastard. The villain seduced and raped his daughters, and the damned old fool took it piously."

Gordon, Robert W[inslow]

(1888-1961)

Gordon edited the "Old Songs That Men Have Sung" department for Adventure, 1923-1927. From 1925 to 1927, Howard corresponded with him and sent him versions of a number of songs, two of which appeared in the department. See under "Folk Songs."

[Robert W. Gordon to REH, 12 March 1928: "The New York TIMES began running a series for me in the Sunday editions, Magazine Section. So far fifteen articles have appeared in this first series and three more are to come.... ¶ Here is one of my TIMES articles that may be of passing interest to you since it deals with a few of the negro chanties and work songs of this particular district."

(Gordon was in Darien, Georgia.)]

REH to Robert W. Gordon, 14 May 1928: "Your article was great -- that's all that can be said about it -- it was superb. I'm glad your publishing your findings and look forward to your book."

Gorki, Maksim

[Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov]

(1868-1936)

Mentioned in an untitled scenario by Howard, included in REH to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. week of 20 February 1928, in which a character says, "What is London, what is Gorky, what is Tolstoy to the average man - even the man who reads them? The great writers die and fade into the dust of their works. Their books become their bones and their volumes range the shelves of fools, like withered mummies."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. November 1932 [SL 2 #65]: "Gorky seems to ramble interminably, without doing anything."

Gorman

[probably Herbert S[herman] Gorman (1893-1954)]

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. December 1930 [SL 1 #49]: "I have not read the books by Gorman you mention, but the titles sound intriguing. The witch-cult offers great possibilities in itself, and a writer need not tie himself down to the actual limits of the thing...."

[Herbert S. Gorman's The Place Called Dagon (New York: George H. Doran, 1927) concerns a young doctor in an isolated New England town who learns of a secret witch-cult. The novel was mentioned favorably in Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (q.v.). It is not known what other books may have been referred to.]

Green, Paul Eliot

(1894-1981)

REH to Harold Preece, ca. December 1928 [SL 1 #20]: "I've never read anything by Green. I seldom read drama."

[Green's In Abraham's Bosom won a Pulitzer Prize for Best American Play of 1927.]

Gregg, Josiah

(1806-1850)

A Reprint Edition of Commerce of the Prairies, The Journal of a Santa Fe Trader

by Josiah Gregg. First published 1844. Dallas: The Southwest Press, 1933. 30620; PQ1; GL; TDB. Still in HPU holdings.

REH to H.P. Lovecraft 13 May 1936, quotes four paragraphs from Chapter XXIV, pp. 319-320 of this edition.

Gregory, Jackson

(1882-1943)

Six Feet Four

New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1918. 30715; PQ3; GL; TDB.

[Western novel.]

Grenard, Fernand

(1866- )

Baber

First of the Moguls. New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., 1930. Translated and adapted by Homer White and Richard Glaenzer. 30869; PQ3; GL; TDB.

Grey, Zane

(1872-1939)

REH to Tevis Clyde Smith, 7 July 1923, in a listing of parodic book titles are "'Gliders of the Purple Stage,' by Zane Grey" [Riders of the Purple Sage, 1912], "'The Dessert of Cream-of-Wheat,' by Zane Grey" [The Desert of Wheat, 1919], and "'The Short Pause,' by Zane Grey" [The Short-stop, 1909].

Post Oaks and Sand Roughs, p. 36: "His [Lars Jansen = Fowler Gafford] fiction was limited to O. Henry, Zane Grey, and Jack London...."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. December 1932: Grey is listed among those Howard refers to as "my favorite writers." The same source also has, apparently as a negative judgment on H.L. Mencken (q.v.): "I'd rather read Zane Grey the rest of my life."

REH to H.P. Lovecraft , 6 March 1933: "If I like it, then as far as I'm concerned it's good, whether the author is Zane Grey or Voltaire..."

The Border Legion

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1916. 30719; PQ3; GL; TDB.

REH to H.P. Lovecraft , late September 1932 [SL 2 #64]: "...the Harps, who to my mind were the most terrible outlaws that ever cursed this Continent, not even excluding Boone Helm, from whom Zane Grey apparently drew his hellish 'Gulden' of The Border Legion."

To the Last Man

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1922. 30751; PQ3; GL; TDB.

Gross, Milt

(1895-1953)

Dun't Esk!!

New York: George H. Doran Co., 1927. 30801; PQ3; GL; TDB.

[Yiddish humor, in dialect.]

Grosse, Karl (or Carl) Friedrich August

(1768-1847)

Horrid Mysteries

A Story. London: Printed for William Lane, at the Minerva Press, 1796.

"Children of the Night": "—look, there's a rare feast – Horrid Mysteries, by the Marquis of Grosse – the real Eighteenth Century edition."

Guerber, H[élène] A[deline]

(1859-1929)

Myths of Greece and Rome

New York: American Book Co., 1893. 30822; PQ3; GL; TDB.

Guest, Edgar A[lbert]

(1881-1959)

In an untitled scenario, included in REH to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. week of 20 February 1928, "Mike" (the protagonist, apparently Howard's viewpoint character) is in a drug store and is approached by the manager, who says, "You know, I been readin' Eddie Guest since I heard you cussin' him and I like his style." To which Mike replies: "You would… Yes, he's the high prophet of all you damned Rotarians and Kiwanians…. he's the trumpet of a system I hate and despise. Because he's the court fool of a system that forces me to write platitudinous rot in order to make a living. Such as he are dragging down great sums of money while real poets - did you ever hear of George Sylvester Viereck?…. A man like him starves in the attics of the cities while Eddie Guest and his crowd are wined and dined by the swine they laud and uphold…. I have nothing against his dear little optimism outside the fact that no thinking man can be an optimist. But he knows nothing of rime, rhythm, meter or the first real principles of poetry…. Here, here's a poem by an author I never heard of, but it's good. Read it and forget such fools as Eddie Guest."

Guest is also mentioned in Howard's poem, "A Fable for Critics."

"Musings of a Moron" (The Junto, September 1929): "'Listen,' said Harold, 'and take this to mind, 'A Heap o' Livin' - He recited seven Eddie Guest poems."

REHupa Home Page

REH Bookshelf - G

The Best Known Works of W.S. Gilbert

A Reprint Edition of Commerce of the Prairies, The Journal of a Santa Fe Trader

Horrid Mysteries