Subject:
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Re: Saw the movie today! (bit OT)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Wed, 5 Dec 2001 12:51:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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490 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Erik Olson writes:
> In lugnet.loc.uk, Dave Schuler writes:
> > Speaking as an outsider, since I haven't read more than a few pages of
> > Potter (though I'm casually familiar with the overall plot), I would suggest
> > that one of Rowlings' greatest virtues is that the vast story she's crafted
> > is one of very, very few 20th century works of Western fantasy that isn't
> > heavily derivative of Tolkien, the Arthurian myth, or Greco-Roman mythology.
>
> I'm an outsider, too, but if you remember what was on the children's fantasy
> list 20 years ago, there were a tremendous number of books about witchcraft,
> not derivative of those things either. Susan Cooper doesn't count (too
> Arthurian) but there were John Bellairs, Mary Norton, Edith Nesbit, Edward
> Eager, all writing about kids and witchcraft without those things. You might
> call it the Victorian Witchcraft tradition.
That's not a bad point, and I should have specified "major 20th century works
of Western fantasy. All of these Victorian Witchcraft writers played their
part, but honestly none can be said to have had the impact of Arthur, Gandalf,
or Harry.
Of course, if one wishes to extend the discussion to cover "weird fantasy,"
then obviously Lord Dunsany and Lovecraft are two writers not notably
influenced by Tolkien!
Dave!
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Saw the movie today! (bit OT)
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| (...) That's a little premature. When I was a kid, *everybody* in my class had read or listened to those authors I brought up (thanks to reading lists). Tolkien was obscure by comparison (few are able to conquer Tolkien before age 12. He didn't win (...) (23 years ago, 6-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
| | | Re: Saw the movie today! (bit OT)
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| (...) Asimov's magazine (arrived yesterday) carries an article contrasting polar opposites Tolkien and ... Mervyn Peake (_Gormenghast_). Somehow I have managed to delay learning more than how to spell that, and this columnist considers him the (...) (23 years ago, 7-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Saw the movie today! (bit OT)
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| (...) I'm an outsider, too, but if you remember what was on the children's fantasy list 20 years ago, there were a tremendous number of books about witchcraft, not derivative of those things either. Susan Cooper doesn't count (too Arthurian) but (...) (23 years ago, 5-Dec-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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