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#21 | |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Birmingham, UK
Posts: 221
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Quote:
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Durin the Sleepless! |
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#22 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Lindon
Posts: 637
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True, but fortunately there are, occasionally, actually good ones.
I would point out Amber, from the late Roger Zelany, the Dying Earth series from Jack Vance or the Tree of Swords and Jewels from C J Cherryh as examples. Both are quite different from Tolkien’s work, and in my opinion not so good, but still very enjoyable
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**************************************** "None are more hoplessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Reality is just an illusion, albeit a very persistent one - Albert Einstein The Caffeine Mantra It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Brazil that the thoughts aquire speed, The hands aquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion... Elvellon Erelion |
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#23 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: USA until I find a way to get to Middle Earth
Posts: 681
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I haven't read all the posts yet, so someone might have said this already, but the reason I think that Tolkien is so much better than other fantasy (not that I don't like other fantasy story, there are many that I do like) is the depth. Tolkien invented languages, and came up with an elaborate history for the world, and used hints of this in the books. These hints made it seem real, because there were so many layers, while most fiction, especially fantasy (where so much is not real) has a story, but less background.
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"...but I love not the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Numenor." "'I would,' said Faramir. And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many. And many indeed saw them and the light that shone about them as they came down from the walls and went hand in hand to the Houses of Healing." |
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#24 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: paisley (scotland)
Posts: 35
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i think that since tolkien released his works he has set a very high stardard for other fantasy writers to achieve. i often find myself and my friends comparing fantasy novels that we have read to the level that tolkien has set. i love his writing because it isnt just a story, it is a history and sometimes have to tell myself that it is actually only fiction. tolkiens stories i think are so compelling because you actually feel his passion for his own writing when you read it. i think that fantasy writing would have been alot lower in standard had tolkien never published. i have read a few very poor books lately and i think that i only find them so poor because they do not satisfy my need for detail the way tolkien does. i mean every aspect of his writing, his races of people and places and his legends for example can be studied and always have a history. you never meet a dead end. i think that had tolkien not released his books then fantasy novels would be very different and may even have merged totally with sci-fi.
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"he passed over dor-nu-fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that orome himself was come" |
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#25 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Valinor, right next to Telperion . . . what did you expect, Michigan?
Posts: 1,315
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Gah. Most modern fantasy sucks. Plot holes galore, weak villians, weak protagonists as far as emotions are concerned, badly developed lands. (Wait a minute . . . why on Earth am I a fantasy writer?
![]() I doubt, then, that anyone will ever surpass Tolkien's work. Besides everything else, he was the first really great fantasy writer. If anyone ever did surpass him, he would still be the first. He'll go down in history that way. He created languages, he created histories, oh, what everyone else so far has said in his praise. As I learn Quenya, the depth of his work is impressed on me again and again. He knew what he was doing as he did it. Each detail came from both his heart and his vast knowledge. Middle-Earth was something he devoted his life to. That amazes me. Again and again, it amazes me. A friend of mine has decided that he thinks Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time is a better work than Tolkien's. ![]()
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The Third Age of Entmoot has begun. Angel of music, guide and guardian! Grant to me your glory! The country I eat and spend the day in is by no means the country I sleep and dream in. Define patriotism. Hold the boat, you spastic monkey! ~ Elenka |
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#26 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: USA until I find a way to get to Middle Earth
Posts: 681
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Tolkien raised the bar for fantasy, which makes most other fantasy seem disapointing, but it also gives something for other fantasy writers to strive for, so that even if thier stories are nowhere near as good as Tolkien's, they are still good stories. It also got more people interested in fantasy, which increased the amount of fantasy literature (good and bad).
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"...but I love not the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Numenor." "'I would,' said Faramir. And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many. And many indeed saw them and the light that shone about them as they came down from the walls and went hand in hand to the Houses of Healing." |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Tolkien: Jung's Collective Unconscious | SonOfSamWise | Middle Earth | 13 | 11-23-2004 02:31 PM |
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