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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Thu, 22 Mar 2001 15:47:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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1410 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Stacey writes:
> > 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. [snip]
>
> "Sword of Sha na na?" BWAAAAAA! :) Lord Bowser, your
> mighty steed awaits!
>
>
> > 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.
>
> 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 Tolkien and his contemporaries.
> Basically, they had to repackage the Middle Ages as something that
> could be "sold" to a popular audience. The idea of mediaeviality
> (if a word) as most of us know it is about 95% bogus and derived
> from scholarship fifty years old or older. That doesn't make it
> any less *fun*, however. But if you take a look at that book, I
> guarantee you'll never look at Tolkien the same way again.
Tolkien pretty much did his thing for self-satisfaction rather than
packaging something to be "sold" to a popular audience. In any case,
Tolkien was interested more in mythology than actual history.
I saw Inventing the Middle Ages on a bookstore shelf (Vroman's, Pasadena,
great store) and almost picked it up. Now I'll have to go back.
>
> But man, did Cantor ever say a LOT of really rude things about
> some really big names (many of whom are still alive). Thank God
> for tenure!
Back-biting. I love it (and speaking of that, let's see what ripples the
egotistical Leakeys' latest discovery sets off).
Bruce
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