Howard or Tolkien, Which of them Had The Greatest Impact On Modern Fantasy ?

[psikeyhackr]

Ursula Le Guin discusses Lord of the Rings

Lois Bujold

Bujold formed her own "out crowd" with other girls who liked to read and write. In eighth grade, she and her best friend, Lillian Stewart, began writing for each other -- mostly imitations of books and TV shows they loved. Bujold even tried an imitation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" in Spenserian verse. "It was not viable," she said, "but it was a valiant attempt."

http://www.startribune.com/the-speculator/18174439/

 

[Lafayette]

Yup. I forgot about, for lack of a better descriptive, anti-influence. Almost anything that sparks a big favorable response will also ignite its own opposition. See also, Lovecraft. Or, for that matter, Hemingway.

As for Henry James, it's entirely possible you read writers influenced by James and were thus contaminated.


Randy M.

 

[Lafayette]

Yup. I forgot about, for lack of a better descriptive, anti-influence. Almost anything that sparks a big favorable response will also ignite its own opposition. See also, Lovecraft. Or, for that matter, Hemingway.

As for Henry James, it's entirely possible you read writers influenced by James and were thus contaminated.


Randy M.

 

[Lafayette]

As for Henry James, it's entirely possible you read writers influenced by James and were thus contaminated.
Randy M.

Contaminated? How come I can't get contaminated by Tolkien, Donaldson, Brooks, and Guy Gavriel Kay? Why some of these other people I don't care about?

 

[BAYLOR]

Ursula Le Guin discusses Lord of the Rings

Lois Bujold


The speculator

Interesting stuff.

 

[BAYLOR]

Many authors have written and published Conan stories but most of them are clearly inferior to the originals so I don't think he is as easily imitated as you seem to suggest.

And I would say while many authors have tried to imitate Howard stylistically, who actually wants to imitate Tolkien's (rather dry) style? It is not his style that people seek to ape but rather his world building, the way he injected a real sense of history and age into his settings.

And I think another branch of major influence (and every bit as important) on modern fantasy is via authors such as Lord Dunsany and Jack Vance that are quite apart from either Howard and Tolkien.

L Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter did capture Howards style as Bjorn Nyborg . Karl Edward Wager wrote a very good Conan pastiche Conan The Road of Kings and an even better Bran Mak Morn pastiche Bran Mak Morn The Legion of the Shadows and then ther is Pula Anderson's Conan The Rebel which is a prequel to Queen of the Black Coast.

 

[Vince W]

L Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter did capture Howards style as Bjorn Nyborg . Karl Edward Wager wrote a very good Conan pastiche Conan The Road of Kings and an even better Bran Mak Morn pastiche Bran Mak Morn The Legion of the Shadows and then ther is Pula Anderson's Conan The Rebel which is a prequel to Queen of the Black Coast.

Pula?

Conan the Rebel is a surprisingly readable pastiche. Better than a few of Robert Jordan's efforts.

 

[BAYLOR]

Pula?

Conan the Rebel is a surprisingly readable pastiche. Better than a few of Robert Jordan's efforts.

Anderson is by and large a pretty good writer, I would like to have seen him write a one or two more Conan Pastiches. Karl Edward Wagner too. I would love to see either one of them write a King kull novel .

 

[BAYLOR]

Im wondering it the proposed tv series will re-ignite Conan's popularity . Many tv show nowadays take a serial approach to story telling, It not at all sure how well that would work with Conan.

 

[Vince W]

If there's enough throat stabbing head crushing action the masses will love it.

The real trouble will be adapting the stories to show how intelligent he was and have people understand that.

 

[Cathbad]

Howard was fun to read when I was young. But I no longer appreciate his work.

 

[BAYLOR]

Robert E. Howard was a marvelous story teller and is one the older writers whose. stories I can re-read and still appreciate. His characters Conan, King Kull, Bran Mak Morn , Solomon Kane, Red Sonja and others were all memorable and larger then life . I could visualize his characters and the settings in way that ive never really quite been able to do since . Yes Ive read plenty of writers who were better and more accomplished then Howard but, no one quite like him. The sad part is the there are some who dismiss him as a pulp writer and a hack which, he is not, and yes Im well aware of how prejudiced a human being he was . Howard was not PC correct by any stretch of the imagination nor were other writers of his era . Howard was to all intents purposes a man of his time with all the awful prejudices that went with it and no im not excusing it either. In 100 years, Robert E Howard will still be read and reread while many of todays writers will be long forgotten.

 

[psikeyhackr]

That is one of the ironic things about these fantasy novels, to me Conan comes across as more intelligent than Gandalf or Dumbledore. LOL

 

[Cathbad]

*shaking my head*

 

[BAYLOR]

Conan was naive in the beginning but but over time he learned. He ended up become the King of Aquilonia.

 

[Vince W]

He was also a polyglot. He seemed to pick up languages like leaves.

 

[hitmouse]

He was also a polyglot. He seemed to pick up languages like leaves.

And girlfriends similarly.

 

[BAYLOR]

And girlfriends similarly.

Every story. but the one woman that Conan loved the most of all. was Belit in Queen of the Black Coast.

Poul Anderson's novel Conan the Rebel is a prequel to it.

 

[BAYLOR]

He was also a polyglot. He seemed to pick up languages like leaves.

Conan for All his ferociousness was both smart and practical.

 

[BAYLOR]

Howard was fun to read when I was young. But I no longer appreciate his work.

The other day I was rereading The Devil in Iron and still found it enjoyable . My favorite Single Howard short story is Kings of the Night. This particular Howard story is interesting in that you have3 of Howard's greatest heroes. Bran Mac Morn, Cormac Art and King Kull all in the same story . In this story King Kull who is dead 100,000 years has been summoned from the past to help Bran Mack morn battle the Romans . Magnificent stuff !