I really enjoyed this essay. I went to Indiana University, which has a rather well-known Central Asian Studies department (used to be called “The Department of Uralic and Altaic Languages”). I never studied any of the languages in the department, but took a few of the history courses and had several friends affiliated with it. My best friend from that time studied Uzbek and Chaggatai (sp?) and now teaches at the University of Winnipeg. I went to all of the public lectures from visiting scholars that were offered, but had to sneak out of one because it was in Russian.
I grew up reading the Conan novels, including the ones written by the likes of Lin Carter. At the time the world of Conan seemed historically accurate to me, but I learned later that it was a sort of hodgepodge of cultures and histories spanning thousands of years. But that didn’t diminish my interest in the imagination that went into building that world. I didn’t realize until I was in grad school that Howard had such a tragic history. I believe there was a low-budget Indie film about him made in the 1990s that goes into his story.
One of the novels that I really enjoyed that I feel does a good job re-creating the Near East, India, and China of the 6th century BCE is “Creation” by Gore Vidal. I’ve read it twice. The other book that I really enjoyed that is set in the Middle East about that time is “The Persian Boy” by Mary Renaud. I feel like there aren’t a lot of well-written historical novels set on the Central Asian Steppes, so I applaud you for filling that gap!!!!
This was such an interesting read. I really like your analysis and how clearly the information is conveyed. I didn’t know anything about the Scythians or Cimmerians before reading your Substack.
I really enjoyed this essay. I went to Indiana University, which has a rather well-known Central Asian Studies department (used to be called “The Department of Uralic and Altaic Languages”). I never studied any of the languages in the department, but took a few of the history courses and had several friends affiliated with it. My best friend from that time studied Uzbek and Chaggatai (sp?) and now teaches at the University of Winnipeg. I went to all of the public lectures from visiting scholars that were offered, but had to sneak out of one because it was in Russian.
I grew up reading the Conan novels, including the ones written by the likes of Lin Carter. At the time the world of Conan seemed historically accurate to me, but I learned later that it was a sort of hodgepodge of cultures and histories spanning thousands of years. But that didn’t diminish my interest in the imagination that went into building that world. I didn’t realize until I was in grad school that Howard had such a tragic history. I believe there was a low-budget Indie film about him made in the 1990s that goes into his story.
One of the novels that I really enjoyed that I feel does a good job re-creating the Near East, India, and China of the 6th century BCE is “Creation” by Gore Vidal. I’ve read it twice. The other book that I really enjoyed that is set in the Middle East about that time is “The Persian Boy” by Mary Renaud. I feel like there aren’t a lot of well-written historical novels set on the Central Asian Steppes, so I applaud you for filling that gap!!!!
This was such an interesting read. I really like your analysis and how clearly the information is conveyed. I didn’t know anything about the Scythians or Cimmerians before reading your Substack.