Subject:
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Re: Plagarism in Fantasy Novels? (was Re: Harry Potter?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 21 Mar 2001 22:01:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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625 times
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In lugnet.castle, Thomas Garrison writes:
> 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_potter_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.
Lord Dunsany would be another, Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, though none
in quite the same style.
>
> 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
Lin Carter (terrible author, but great editor whom revived such authors as
Eddison and Dunsany) very specifically reviled The Sword of Shannara as the
worst sort of plaigarism. I think he was being kind. ;-)
Bruce
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