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Subject: 
Re: Plagarism in Fantasy Novels? (was Re: Harry Potter?)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 21 Mar 2001 05:51:39 GMT
Viewed: 
684 times
  
"TWS Garrison" <tgarriso@math.purdue.edu> wrote in message
news:GAKFqz.58w@lugnet.com...
In lugnet.castle, Mark James writes:
In lugnet.castle, Dave Schuler writes:
I haven't read any of these cultishly popular books, so I'm in no • position
to judge or make other comment, but what do Potter fans make of this:


http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/gma/goodmorningamerica/gma010320_potte • r_suit.html

An extremely odd coincidence, at any rate!


The author NK Stouffer's website - www.realmuggles.com - has a list of
infringement examples which includes such uncanny shared attributes as...

mythical place - perhaps those old Greek guys should sue too?
muggle families - what, they *breed*?
muggle village - what, they live in *communities*?
boats travel across lake - hey, *moving* boats?
castle on cliff - wow, no-one's ever thought of building one there before
flagstone floors / great hall - strange things to find in a castle
characters dressed in tights / quill pens and parchment / underground • caves
/ and on, and on, and on...

The format was nailed down into a cod-medieval/'age of chivalry' milleau
(with a few Nordic bits and Christian allegory) by Tolkien and the • Inklings.
No-one has significantly deviated from this.

I'd say the genre predates Tolkien and co. (see, e.g., _The Worm • Ouroboros_ by
E.R. Eddison).  Tolkien is the archetype for much later s&s • fantasy--notice
blatent use of orcs (you can barely argue a medieval precedent), his • spelling
of dwarfs, etc.

But all this can't be what Bruce was referring to before about _The Sword • of
Shannara_ as fantasy plagarism, since that novel is almost unique (in my
experience at least) as being a fantasy novel set on a • post-nuclear-apocalyptic
Earth.  On the other hand, I might argue that Terry Brooks plagarizes
*himself*, since his Shannara books get very, very repetitive. . .

TWS Garrison


As opposed to Earth in the distant past (some have claimed) - Tolkien
I had to stop reading Sword of Sha na na cos it was such a blatent rip off I
couldn't stomach it - I love the lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a great
scholar of western European Mythology and it did inspire much of his work,
but it can definately be said he put it into a unique context which many
others have tried to emulate. Brookes was embarrisingly bad, Donaldson was
just too depressing, Feist was too far up his own ass and Eddings was to
simplistic for his own good. imho. David Gemmell is the only writer to get
close. Apart from Terry Pratchett who in lampooning the entire genre has
created something quite original. I haven't read any Harry Potter yet cos
people keep saying they're the best childerns Fantasy books ever, lets see
if it ages as well as CS Lewis' Narnia or The Hobbit. I'll put money on the
fact it dosen't

anyway.... ... I want a lego balrog !

james
www.minifig.co.uk



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Plagarism in Fantasy Novels? (was Re: Harry Potter?)
 
(...) I couldn't finish it either. I threw it against the wall. It had such a marketing hype from Ballantine along with the Hildebrandt illustrations, I felt betrayed that either would have anything to do with it. (...) I am a leper. I feel sorry (...) (24 years ago, 21-Mar-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Plagarism in Fantasy Novels? (was Re: Harry Potter?)
 
(...) "Sword of Sha na na?" BWAAAAAA! :) Lord Bowser, your mighty steed awaits! (...) I'll put on the "historian cap" here: most Mediaevalists hate it, but Norman Cantor's polemic _Inventing the Middle Ages_ has a rather ...interesting... chapter on (...) (24 years ago, 22-Mar-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Plagarism in Fantasy Novels? (was Re: Harry Potter?)
 
(...) I'd say the genre predates Tolkien and co. (see, e.g., _The Worm Ouroboros_ by E.R. Eddison). Tolkien is the archetype for much later s&s fantasy--notice blatent use of orcs (you can barely argue a medieval precedent), his spelling of dwarfs, (...) (24 years ago, 21-Mar-01, to lugnet.castle, lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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