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Harold Lamb

Harold Lamb (Harold Lamb, 1892, Alpine, New Jersey — 1962) was an American writer and screenwriter, author of adventure novellas about the Ukrainian Cossack Klyt ("the Wolf") and fictionalized biographies of Eastern figures (Genghis Khan, Omar Khayyam, Alexander the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent). His "Cossack cycle" influenced Robert E. Howard in the creation of Conan the Cimmerian.

Overview

Harold Lamb was born on September 1, 1892 in Alpine (New Jersey), studied at Columbia University, and entered literature in 1917. He is known for fictionalized biographies of prominent figures of the past — Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Omar Khayyam, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent — but he began his writing career with adventure novellas about a Ukrainian Cossack nicknamed "the Wolf."

The cycle of novellas about the Cossack Klyt, whom the Zaporozhians named the Wolf, consists of 19 works written between 1917 and 1926. The hero, Otaman Klyt-Wolf, sets off to the east — and his odyssey begins in Crimea: in the second story the Zaporozhian single-handedly pursues an entire army of raiders across the territory of the Crimean Khanate to free the bride of his adopted son, and in the third he saves Ukraine from a joint invasion of Crimean Tatars and Kalmyks. From there Klyt travels across Asia: he overcomes the empire of the Assassins, searches for the tomb of Genghis Khan, becomes a qaghan — a khan of khans — repels a Kalmyk attack on the castle with the treasures of Prester John, and helps Afghanistan against the Mughals.

Lamb became famous as the "master of surprises" — for his ability to build plots rich in intrigue and unexpected twists, which brought him to Hollywood (screenplays for films about the Crusaders). His fictionalized biography of Genghis Khan was a phenomenal success. A detail key to the Ukrainian theme: it was under the influence of Lamb's "Cossack cycle" that Robert E. Howard created Conan the Cimmerian, and the echo of the cycle is also felt in Howard's novella about Red Sonya (a Ukrainian, the sister of Roxelana).

A special feature of the cycle is the evolution of Klyt's attitude toward the Crimean Tatars: from a bitter hater ("loathsome infidels") he is transformed into a brother-in-arms of the Asian peoples. Lamb, fascinated by the history of Asia, was among the first in "Cossack" prose to remove the vexing question of mutual hatred between the Zaporozhians and the Tatars.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Biography: 1892, Alpine (New Jersey); Columbia University; debut in 1917; American writer and Hollywood screenwriter.
  • "Cossack cycle" about Klyt-Wolf: 19 novellas (1917–1926) about a Ukrainian Zaporozhian Cossack; the beginning of his eastern odyssey is in Crimea (Crimean Khanate, rescue of the bride, repulse of the Tatars and Kalmyks).
  • Fictionalized biographies of the East: Genghis Khan, Omar Khayyam, Alexander the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent; the biography of Genghis Khan was a phenomenal success.
  • Hollywood: screenplays for films about the Crusaders; the nickname "master of surprises" for unexpected plot resolutions.
  • Influence on Robert E. Howard: the cycle about Klyt inspired the creation of Conan the Cimmerian and Red Sonya (a Ukrainian, the sister of Roxelana).
  • Demythologization of the East: Klyt evolves from hatred of the Tatars to brotherhood with the Asian peoples — Lamb was among the first to remove the motif of enmity between the Zaporozhians and the Tatars.
  • Crimea in Works of Foreign Literature: The Trans-Oceanic Sich — an article by Valerii Verkhovskyi and Olek Veremko-Berezhnyi in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2018, No. 21), the main primary source about Lamb and the "Cossack cycle".
  • Jules Verne and Crimea — another article in the "Crimea in Works of Foreign Literature" column about the depiction of Crimea in foreign literature.
  • Mykhailo Doroshenko — Cossack hetman (1625–1628), a real figure of the Cossack-Crimean frontier era who inspired fictional "Cossack cycles".
  • Beryl Bainbridge — an article in the same column about the British writer and the novel "Master Georgie" (Crimean War).
  • Brian Garfield — an article in the same column about the American writer and the novel "Kolchak's Gold" with a Crimean plot.
  • Jasper Fforde — an article in the same column about the Welsh fantasy writer and the novel "The Eyre Affair" (2001).
  • George Fraser — an article in the same column about the Scottish writer and the Flashman cycle (Crimean War, escape from captivity).
  • The Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853–1856 in the Kherson region — a historical period artistically depicted in other works of the same column.
  • Andrii Shchekun — chief editor of the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia", in which the article about Lamb was published.
  • Heinrich Böll — an article in the same column about the German Nobel Prize-winning writer and his Crimean front experience (1943).
  • Khan's Ukraine — the historical context of the Ukrainian-Crimean alliance (a Cossack state under the mace of the Crimean Khanate), reflected in his "Cossack cycle".
  • Colleen McCullough — an article in the same column about the Australian writer and the depiction of Mithridates / the Bosporus / Panticapaeum in "The Masters of Rome".
  • Louis Boussenard — an article in the same column about the French writer of fiction and the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound" about the Crimean War.
  • Mark Twain — an article in the same column about the American writer who visited Crimea in 1867 and described his impressions in the book "The Innocents Abroad" (a 1869 bestseller).