History Film / TheWholeWideWorld

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Howard's mother has this.

* MyBelovedSmother: Howard and his mum. Aside from his slavish devotion to her, there's some implication that she deliberately tried to keep Novalyne away from him.

* AudibleSharpness: When Howard imagines himself to be Conan, you can hear swords clanging as he describes his character to Novalyne.

* GoodbyeCruelWorld: After Howard's suicide, a short poem about death is found in his typewriter.

* LonersAreFreaks: This is the point which Novalyne makes, when she tries to convince Robert that he should work on his social life and stop being so misanthropic.

* SmallReferencePools: Howard's Conan stories are the only ones directly mentioned in the film, and those are mentioned extensively, since they're likely the only Howard stories a casual audience would have heard of. Howard does mention a "boxing yarn" going through his head at one point, and Howard wrote many such stories for other publications. He later talks about selling stories to three different magazines in the same month, but only the Conan story sold to ''Weird Tales'' is described (Conan fans will immediately recognize it as ''Literature/RedNails'').

* BarbarianHero: Conan, obviously. In a way, Howard himself. By the time the narrative meets him, he's long since given up trying to fit in among the people of his small Texas town, because he could just never quite figure out how.

* EverythingIsBigInTexas: Howard's personality largely meets the stereotype. (Interestingly, the same features - loudness, cheerfulness and boastfulness - were attributed to Conan in Howard's fiction, which was explained as the result of his commitment to the culture of Asgard as opposed to cheerless Cimmeria.)

* SliceOfLife: this is what Novalyne wants to write. Howard considers this nonsense, as real life is what everyone has, but something fantastical is unique and different.

* AudibleSharpness: When Howard imagines himself to be Conan when he describes his character to Novalyne.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Robert E. Howard's racism was extremely downplayed in favor of emphasizing his eccentricities as more of a tortured artist and his feelings of being BornInTheWrongCentury and LongingForFictionland. Apologists put forth that [[ValuesDissonance racism was normal at the time]] and would not have been any sort of social difficulty for him. In Novalyne Price's memoirs on which the film is based, she does mention her negative reaction to Howard's racist attitude towards Blacks.[[note]]Howard's racism was mild compared to his idol, H.P. Lovecraft's nasty racism. Howard, to be fair, saw even other Caucasian strains such as Mediterraneans and Slavs as "a different blood". For his own reasons, he was specifically fixated on the Picts, in particular, as his ideal of a superior race, a sentiment that he would emphasize with one of his other creations, Bran Mak Morn.[[/note]] However, this particular conversation did not make it into the film

* DownerEnding: Robert E. Howard, "the greatest pulp fiction writer in [[TitleDrop the whole wide world]]," [[spoiler: commits suicide]].

* ForegoneConclusion: Howard fans and historians will know that his relationship with Price won't end well and [[spoiler:he will commit suicide]].

* GoodbyeCruelWorld: After [[spoiler: Howard's suicide]], a short poem about death is found in his typewriter.

* TheGhost: Creator/HPLovecraft is in the narrative, having asked Howard's editor for his address so the two writers might correspond. Howard geeks out about this. Lovecraft never physically appears, and only one line of one of his letters is read for the audience. Justified, as Robert E Howard lives in Texas while H.P. Lovecraft lives in Rhode Island and neither were the type to travel extensively.

* AudibleSharpness: when Howard imagines himself to be Conan when he describes his character to Novalyne.

* DownerEnding: Robert E. Howard, "the greatest pulp fiction writer in [[TitleDrop the whole wide world]]," commits suicide.

* GoodbyeCruelWorld: after Howard's suicide a short poem about death is found in his typewriter.
* HairTriggerTemper: Price quickly learns that the most innocuous things might set Howard off on an enraged rant. Novalyne has a tighter reign on her temper, but blows up bigger and stays mad longer than Bob.
%%* HenpeckedHusband: Howard's dad.

%%* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Howard's mother.

%%* MyBelovedSmother: Howard and his mum.
* LonersAreFreaks: this is the point which Novalyne makes, when she tries to convince Robert that he should work over his social life.
* MagnificentMoustachesOfMexico: Howard seems to have a thing for Mexican sombreros, and at one point grows large moustache to complete the look.
%%* ManChild: Howard, in a way.

%* SexyMentor: Howard to Price.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Robert E. Howard's racism was extremely downplayed in favor of emphasizing his eccentricities as more of a tortured artist and his feelings of being BornInTheWrongCentury and LongingForFictionland. Apologists put forth that [[ValuesDissonance racism was normal at the time]] and would not have been any sort of social difficulty for him. In Novalyne Price's memoirs on which the film is based, she does mention her negative reaction to Howard's racist attitude towards Blacks.[[note]]Howard's racism was mild compared to his idol, H.P. Lovecraft's nasty racism. Howard, for his credit, saw even other Caucasian strains such as Mediterraneans and Slavs as "a different blood" and he was fixated on the Picts, in particular as a superior race, a sentiment that he would emphasize with one of his other creations, Bran Mak Morn.[[/note]] However, this particular conversation did not make it into the film

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Robert E. Howard's racism was extremely downplayed in favor of emphasizing his eccentricities as more of a tortured artist and his feelings of being BornInTheWrongCentury and LongingForFictionland. Apologists put forth that [[ValuesDissonance racism was normal at the time]] and would not have been any sort of social difficulty for him. In Novalyne Price's memoirs on which the film is based, she does mention her negative reaction to Howard's racist attitude towards Blacks. However, this particular conversation did not make it into the film

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Robert E. Howard's racism was extremely downplayed in favor of emphasizing his eccentricities as more of a tortured artist LongingForFictionland. Apologists put forth that [[ValuesDissonance racism was normal at the time]] and would not have been any sort of social difficulty for him. In Novalyne Price's memoirs on which the film is based, she does mention her negative reaction to Howard's racist attitude towards Blacks. However, this particular conversation did not make it into the film

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The real Robert E. Howard's racism was extremely downplayed in favor of emphasizing his eccentricities as more of a tortured artist LongingForFictionland. Apologists put forth that [[ValuesDissonance racism was normal at the time]] and would not have been any sort of social difficulty for him.

* MostWritersAreMale: Howard's fiction is presented as [[PornTropes not targeted]] at female audience.

* DownerEnding: Robert E. Howard, "the greatest pulp fiction writer in [[TitleDrop the whole wide world]], commits suicide.

%%* AlliterativeTitle

%%* BarbarianHero: Conan, and, in a way, Howard himself.
%%* DownerEnding
* DrivenToSuicide: Howard, when he learns that [[spoiler:his mother's illness is incurable]].
%%* DrivesLikeCrazy: Howard.

%%* GenteelInterbellumSetting

%%* HairTriggerTemper: both Howard and Price.

%%* HotTeacher: Novalyne.

%%* MrImagination: Howard.

%%* SanitySlippage.
%%* SexyMentor: Howard to Price.

%%* SliceOfLife: this is what Novalyne wants to write.

* SliceOfLife: this is what Novalyne wants to write.
%%* SpiritedYoungLady: Price.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

[[quoteright:183:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wideworld_5883.PNG]]

A 1996 {{biopic}} about pulp novelist Creator/RobertEHoward, concentrating on his complicated relationship with schoolteacher Novalyne Price and based on her memoirs.

A biographical movie about Creator/RobertEHoward, concentrating on his complicated relationship with Novalyne Price and based on her memoirs. Price, who dreams about becoming a writer herself, works as a Sunday school teacher, but when she meets Howard, her ambitions awake. She admires him and asks him for advice, even though she is appalled by the way in which he handles sexual themes in his stories. He does not share her opinion that good fiction should be true to life in the first place but she interests him as a woman and a friend. When Price fails in her desperate attempts to put an end to an abnormal relationship between Howard and his sickly mother, they break off, and she leaves to Louisiana to continue her teaching career - three weeks before Howard's suicide. Price's book was intended as a response to the prevailing opinions on Howard's life and personality, and the film explores her point of view to analyze Howard's creation and the reasons of his tragic death.

Besides being a psychological drama about love which somehow manages to be both mutual and unrequited, the film deals with such issues as: the process of achieving maturity, the nature of the connection between the mentor and his disciple, realist vs. visionary attitude towards fiction, the role of pulp (as opposed to mainstream) fiction in American culture in the [[GenteelInterbellumSetting 1930s]], and artistic activity as [[MadArtist a form of escapism]] triggered by the demands of society. The character of ConanTheBarbarian is mentioned a couple of times - and it is suggested that Conan was Howard's simplified and coloured alter ego, which initially served as a channel for venting off his frustration but later became his gateway to insanity.

A biographical movie about Creator/RobertEHoward, concentrating on his complicated relationship with Novalyne Price and based on her memoirs. Price, who dreams about becoming a writer herself, works as a Sunday school teacher, but when she meets Howard, her ambitions awake. She admires him and asks him for advice, even though she is appalled by the way in which he handles sexual themes in his stories. He does not share her opinion that good fiction should be true to life in the first place but she interests him as a woman and a friend. When Price fails in her desperate attempts to put an end to an abnormal relationship between Howard and his deceased mother, they break off, and she leaves to Louisiana to continue her teaching career - three weeks before Howard's suicide. Price's book was intended as a response to the prevailing opinions on Howard's life and personality, and the film explores her point of view to analyze Howard's creation and the reasons of his tragic death.

[[index]]
* AlliterativeTitle

* BarbarianHero: Conan, and, in a way, Howard himself.
* DownerEnding

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Howard.

* GenteelInterbellumSetting

* HairTriggerTemper: both Howard and Price.
* HenpeckedHusband: Howard's dad.
* HollywoodKiss.
* HotTeacher: Novalyne.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Howard's mother.
* IRejectYourReality.
* MrImagination: Howard.
* MyBelovedSmother: Howard and his mum.

* ManChild: Howard, in a way.

* SanitySlippage.
* SexyMentor: Howard to Price.
* SidelongGlanceBiopic

* SpiritedYoungLady: Price.

* PulpMagazine: the pulpest of all, ''Weird Tales'', appear a couple of times in the film.
* RelativeButton: results from Howard's MommyIssues (without the murder part).

* DownerEnding.