Subject:
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Re: Robert Jordan WOT (was Re: Harry Potter Lego Line)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:05:38 GMT
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Viewed:
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2346 times
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In lugnet.general, Mike Petrucelli writes:
> [coughing] rip-off [end coughing]
> Can you say Two Towers the second book of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Any
> other medieval fantasy is pretty much a rip-off of Tolkien's work. While it
> may not be the best reading it did define the whole concept of wizards, eleves,
> orcs, ect.
While Tolkien has no equal, I take exception to your statements. There are many
"medieval fantasies" that are not derivatives of Tolkien, but the demand for
them wouldn't exist if not for Tolkien. Undoubtedly there are some less original
imitations. But, Tolkien re-packaged these things for our time, he didn't invent
them. Consider that Gandalf and Gloin were two characters in the Elder Edda,
which concerned Tolkien professionally as a scholar of language, and the people
of Rohan speak full-throated Anglo-Saxon! One day, future writers may get away
with such borrowings from Tolkien and not be called "rip-offs". And it's worth
contemplating Peter S. Beagle here, "Tolkien didn't invent our dreams, he found
them a place to live." I don't mean to take anything away from the depth of
craftsmanship Tolkien employed, but he was much aware that he was working with
an existing tradition.
A little ways apart from the mass-market choices on bookshelves now, Tim Powers'
_Drawing Of The Dark_ is a good example of a fantasy that draws on Italian
Renaissance-era mythological sensibility rather than the Scandinavian and
English well that Tolkien drew on for both his professional and imaginative
works. (Well, actually, Powers owes a debt to _The Golden Bough_ and Mallory
too.) There are also a few Victorian fantasies that demonstrate that there was
fantasy before Tolkien: E.R. Eddison is recently in print, for example, and I
enjoyed all of his books. C.S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien, was more fond of these
Victorian fantasies and certainly more vocal about them.
Still, the question of what makes 20th century fantasy distinct from all
previous storytelling traditions is still fair game.
Ob. Lego: My yellow castle-era constructions were Tolkien-influenced.
Uhoh, another Tolkien debate...
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