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Harold Lamb

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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Fri February 5th, 2010, 2:15 pm

I finally picked up Lamb's biography of Charlemagne. This is written more in the tradition of narrative biographies that read like a story rather than a dry assimilation of facts and deeds, often speculating what characters might have thought or felt. I think he does a good job of capturing the feel and mindset of Charlemagne's time, and am enjoying it so far.

I wouldn't mind finding other narrative biographies by him. Looks like he's tackled such figures as Hannibal, Ghenghis Khan, and Tamerlane.

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Post by annis » Fri February 5th, 2010, 7:15 pm

I've got a copy of his book about Hannibal, and thought it rather good in the way that you describe his book about Charlemagne. It woulld have been great if he'd written a novel about Charlemagne, though. Given that he was such a larger-than-life character, it seems surprising that there's been so little HF written featuring him.

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Ludmilla
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Post by Ludmilla » Mon February 8th, 2010, 2:17 pm

Charlemagne's life and times does seem to be an underutilized period in HF. I can think of quite a few episodes from his life that would make good stories, such as his determination to subdue the Saxon menace and convert them to Christianity (something focused around Widukind, e.g.). Most of the HF I can think of about Saxons takes place in Britain and not in Western Europe at all (though I'm sure there are some). His conflict with Tassilo of Bavaria would also make a good subject for HF, too. Irene of Byzantium is another interesting historical contemporary who led an interesting albeit very dysfunctional life.

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Lamb's Theodora

Post by Chris Little » Fri February 26th, 2010, 11:02 pm

While waiting for his Cossacks to arrive, I borrowed Harold Lamb’s "Theodora and the Emperor" from the regional community college library. Quite informative and enjoyable fiction, it’s a pleasant companion to Gillian Bradshaw’s "Bearkeeper’s Daughter." Here’s a scene:

“Very quickly all those who wore the propoloma—the tower-like hairdress with floating veil of the court ladies—realized that in the new Augusta they had a protectress. More, they could bring their friends to her, to complain of a husband, to appeal for a divorce, or demand acknowledgment of a child. In these women who served her Theodora found her first following, and a most loyal one. The girls of the new Augusta spied for her, warned her of hidden enmity, confided in her, and never, in all that followed, betrayed her.

Before long the outer city heard about ‘Theodora and her women.’ A fantastic story went the rounds. It made some of the hearers laugh, but most of them grew red with indignation. It was about the patrician Timothaeus, who appealed to the new Augusta to aid him in collecting debts from some of her people.

Timothaeus, at that time, did not know the risk he was running. In his own opinion he had a just claim, and he fancied himself a much put-upon, well-meaning man. But he had the reputation of squeezing even obols out of those who dealt with him, and Theodora’s following had taken pains to acquaint their mistress with their view of the case.

So Timothaeus, entering confidently to the private audience hall, prepared to play his part of a defrauded benefactor. He did not know that he entered upon a stage prepared for him—with eunuchs and the girls of the propoloma ranged in attentive lines, and ladies of honor gathered about the throne. It surprised him when the Chamberlain made him advance on his knees to the step before the throne and kiss the slender foot of the empress instead of merely inclining before her. But Theodora made a lovely picture, smiling as if enjoying his salutation. And Timothaeus fancied he could beg effectively on his knees, although the position was painful.

’Most Clement August,’ he began, ‘hear the plea of a devoted servant, who is, as Your Omniscience knows, also a patrician.’ He paused, but Theodora said neither yea or nay. ‘It is hard, in these trying times, to be a patrician, and poor—

‘Close to him the girls sighed in concert, murmuring, ‘Poor Patrician Timothaeus!’

This chorused assent surprised the nobleman but rather encouraged him. ‘May it please the Most Magnificent to remember that a patrician must spend money to maintain his station in life. Moreover, I have had certain dealings—‘

'What a big hernia you have,’ intoned the eunuchs, as if making response in church.” …

The patrician continues, receiving another chorus from propoloma and eunuchs before backing out to laughter. The page with this scene ends with the following sentences: “The revolt came without warning. It came from the streets of the city and it attacked the Sacred Palace.”

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Library Catalogers Decisions

Post by Chris Little » Mon March 1st, 2010, 1:56 am

From the Author's webbed site, one learns that "Theodora and the Emperor"
is a biography; however, Worldcat labels it fiction, as does the lending library. It's a wonderful hybrid; a conservative librarian would likely label it fiction. (Annis the email Shipway I sent to Howard was returned as one of those undelieverable daemons...)

The borrowed library's copy of Lamb's "Alexander" is NF, but Worldcat still claims fiction. The Charlemagne, Hannibal, Ghengis, y'all mentioned do get the NF call from Worldcat.
Last edited by Chris Little on Mon March 1st, 2010, 2:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Adding info

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Post by annis » Mon March 1st, 2010, 2:49 am

I've seen quite a bit of cataloguing confusion surrounding older narrative biographies like Lamb's.

Howard Jones has "Theodora and the Emperor" listed amongst Lamb's NF biographies, and he probably knows more about Lamb than just about anyone, but like you, when I first went looking for HL's books I found it listed elsewhere as fiction. (At that stage the Curved Saber website wasn't running)

http://www.haroldlamb.com/history.htm

If the contact on the Curved Saber website isn't working and you still would like to ask Howard Jones how he went about getting HL's work republished, I have reached him at this email address in the past, though it is a while since I used it.

[email protected]

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Post by Ludmilla » Mon March 1st, 2010, 11:31 am

In case you find this helpful, my book on Charlemagne contains a list of other books written by Lamb (as of 1954) and categorizes them this way:

Biographical Narratives:
Charlemagne
Theodora and the Emperor
Suleiman the Magnificent
Genghis Khan
Tamerlane
Nur Mahal
Omar Khayyam
Alexander of Macedon

Novel:
A Garden to the Eastward

Historical Narratives:
The March of the Barbarians: The Mongol Dominion to the Death of Kubilai Khan
The Crusades: Iron Men and Saints
The Crusades: The Flame of Islam
The March of Moscovy: Ivan the Terrible and the Growth of the Russin Empire
The City and the Tsar: Peter the Great and the Move to the West

And for Older Children:
Durandal
White Falcon
Kirdy: The Road Out of the World

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Post by hajones » Tue March 9th, 2010, 2:14 am

Justinian and Theodora, like Lamb's Alexander and to some extent Cyrus the Great, is an odd animal. These books are not quite biographies, not quite novels. When I set up the Lamb site some 12 or 13 years ago I decided that since they weren't really novels in the modern sense I would list them as non-fiction. Perhaps when I redesign the site this year I should reconsider my earlier decision and classify them as they were originally, as "narratives."

The site has disappeared from time to time, once because I got distracted with grad school and forgot to re-up the web site (whoops!), once because CompuServe just up and lost it. No explanation. Now the software I used to create the thing is so old that it only runs on a computer that no longer has internet access. Later this year I hope to have time to redesign the thing with more modern, and less finicky, software. I am not sure how I'll spread the word that Swords from the Sea and Swords from the East are back from the printer without being able to update the web site, but I will try. They should be available for ordering now.

Earlier on someone in the thread talked about Lamb being "dated" in his attitudes, and while that is true to some extent, he was light years ahead of his contemporaries, his predecessors, and many who came after. Certainly you will almost never find "yellow peril" or "white man's burden" outlooks in his fiction. He often features Muslims and Asians as protagonists, and villains can be found on either side of the cultural divide. His women, too, were usually shrewd and intelligent. Sometimes they were damsels to be rescued, but frequently they were smarter than the male characters and, again, a far cry from those untouchable and useless figures of virgin purity and darkly dangerous who came in adventure fiction the generation before.

Right, well, that's what I remember after digging through all these threads. Does anyone have any Lamb questions they want answered?

Warm Regards,
Howard Andrew Jones

annis
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Post by annis » Tue March 9th, 2010, 4:30 am

Thanks for posting, Howard! I only discovered Harold Lamb relatively recently- from a mention on this thread a it happens. It was quite frustrating trying to find out what was which in relation to Lamb's fiction and non-fiction, so I was very pleased to discover your very useful Curved Saber website. As you can tell, I've been suggesting it as a resource to everyone else- hope you don't mind me taking your name in vain :)

The narrative biography is not currently very fashionable, so I suspect cataloguers are not quite sure what to do with them. I recently came across a book from the 1930s about Anglo-Scandinavian resistance to the Normans in eleventh century Cumbria which was described everywhere as a novel, but when I read it, it was clear that it was a narrative biography. Harold Lamb's style is very readable, and he resists the temptation to use deliberately archaic language which can be a bit of a trial to the modern reader.

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Post by Kveto from Prague » Tue March 9th, 2010, 10:52 am

hallo Howard, thanks for stopping by. Im glad i get to thank you directly for your great reissuings of harold lambs great short stories. Im currently reading "swords of the west" and its definately one of the best collections ive ever read.

i discovered lamb through robert e howard and im surprised how little attention lamb gets nowadays. but thats all changing thanks to your collections, which are clearly a labour of love for you (and i hope selling well enough to continue to put his stuff back into public)

I hope to eventually read all of the collections and im looking forward to "swords of the sea" in particular. not that easy for me to get here in central europe so i have to take opportunities as they arrise.

I havent detected any "dated"ness in his attitudes either. he seems extemely progressive towards different races (the only thing that someone might say is that he uses "negroes" to describe black characters, which was the PC term to use at the time. If thats what makes him seem dated, then we can write off any pre-1970s literature). his stuff is so "readable" its hard to believe it was written nearly a hundred years ago.

I know its a bit early but do you have plans for further lamb reprints after "swords of the sea" and "swords from the east"?

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