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3.0étoiles sur 5
3 star rating is for this edition, Avril 6 2005
Solomon Kane is one of Robert E. Howard's many enduring characters from his pulp-career, but not one that has caught on as much as Conan has, or even Kull. In a lot of ways Solomon Kane is more interesting as a character, as he is a Puritan adventurer. This gives Kane many interesting inner-conflicts. Right away, as a Puritan, he has experienced religious persecution, or seen/known others of his denomination persecuted, for their version of faith in God, which was counter to the dominant version of faith in God at that time in history. That could almost be enough, but you also have this aspect of his character which strives to reconcile how to put his faith to practice: he is not about lip-service, or hypocrisy. Can an injustice be allowed to continue, or go unanswered for? No. This is why when a rape-victim dies in his arms the man travels part of Europe, and sails as far as Africa intending to avenge her (as seen in "Red Shadows"). If there is no one, to help those who need it, to deal justice to those beyond the law of the land, to put wrongs to right, then "by God" Solomon Kane will! The original stories, as done by Howard are classic and they hold up well today. One should keep in mind when Howard was writing about the past, his narritive voice slipped back in time as well. He approximates how people really thought back then. Also, consider that this was long before political correctness, and there was no such thing as "African-American" as a term. Howard tended to use the expression "black" which was thankfully better than a lot of writers and pulp-writers of that day. There are times when the character of Kane comes off as patriarchal, though well intentioned, but this is not to be seen as a reflection of Howard's own views towards women (which was actually very good, some say even advanced, considering his relative isolation and the era he lived), or other races of people, as much as a fairly accurate portrayal of how a lot of people would have behaved/thought at a given point in history portrayed in a story. Popular arm-chair sycophant literary criticism would have everyone believe that the character is the direct extension of the author, but really all that accompishes is to ruin stories that are fiction -- fiction -- and unfairly characterize writers who may be far from anything like the characters they create. This edition is not bad. But, it could certainly have been better. If you can't find a better edition of Solomon Kane stories this one may do, but there have been better, and there is a hardcover collection being made available very soon.
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5.0étoiles sur 5
Van Helsing IS Solomon Kane..., Mai 6 2004
...or so he certainly _seems_ to be, if you're at all familiar with, arguably, Robert E. Howard's most fascinating and complex of characters. Very hard to find volumes of Howard's work dedicated solely to Solomon Kane but well worth the find, in my opinion.
Several years back, Marvel Comics produced a fine limited series on the character, called The Sword Of Solomon Kane. Still, it will be nice to see Van Helsing, as I've never known of any work as such to feature the pugnacious Puritan. And if Van Helsing _is_ in fact a "steal" on Kane, let's look at it as flattering and be mindful also of the steals concerning Dracula, Frankenstein and the WolfMan. Simply sit back and enjoy the show...if only for the hypnotic Kate Beckinsale, of course.
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5.0étoiles sur 5
The Real Van Helsing, Mars 2 2004
I think the new and upcoming Val Helsing movie is really Solomon Kane indisguise. That's not a bad thing, just read this book then go see the movie and tell me you don't agree. Robert E. Howard is fabulous and created some of the greatest heroic pulp fiction ever.
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