Did Dunsany influence Robert E.Howard?
Robert E. Howard was very well read so and was influenced any a variety of writers including Lord Dunsany .
Did Dunsany influence Robert E.Howard?
It got slated on imdb. Watching it now...Wyndham, the new TV series about The Midwich Cukoos, made me want to read the book before I watch the show. I found it enjoyable and I'm now halfway through Day of the Triffids.
Should be:Dunsany -- He was one of my favorite authors when I was an adolescent, but I haven't cared for much of what I have read when I've taken him up again in the past 20 years or so. If I were to try him again now, I would take up The Charwoman's Shadow, of which I was very fond almost 50 years ago. His mythological embroidery has no interest now.
Wyndham has seemed to provide fast-read fare in Triffids, etc. -- the novel to start with, without question.
Peake -- I've just read Titus Groan for the third time and am about 80 pages into Gormenghast. At his best, he provokes admiration with the vividness and freshness of his imagination, which is strongly visual: in this he reminds me of G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who was Thursday, etc. However, he can be unusually self-indulgent too. He deserves a try, but you will have to meet him on his terms. His work will be intolerable if you try to read it while requiring an eventful Fantasy Novel.
I'm inclined to guess that Dunsany's importance was overestimated half a century ago when the Ballantine fantasy series was being edited by Lin Carter with blurbs from his collaborator L. Sprague de Camp. In a book I reviewed a few weeks ago, for example, Peter Grybauskas -- without documentation although his book was from a respected academic publisher -- asserted that Tolkien admired Dunsany's short stories. We do not know that Tolkien did. We can be pretty sure he read three of them ("The Hoard of the Gibbelins," "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind<" and "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" -- none of which is Tolkienian, btw). The only one of the three, so far as I remember, that Tolkien specifically avaluted was "Thangobrind," which Tolkien disliked. I would guess he read more Dunsany stories than these. If Dunsany influenced Tolkien very early one, Tolkien outgrew that influence early.
My 2c as of today.
But that Prunesquallor stuff! Gahh!
Equally in my opinion, I'm grateful that Jackson didn't attempt to film Bombadil. It would take a genius, or group of geniuses, really to convey Bombadil. Jackson was not that. I don't mean to start, or to participate in, an extended discussion of his movies here, but, in my opinion, he misses the Tolkienian magic repeatedly. Just one more instance: his conception of Lothlorien is of a rather eerie place, something like the Greek Hades -- "drifting crowds of shadowy figures" -- almost the opposite of Tolkien's conception, which is, to put it crudely, of a place "more alive" than most of the rest of the world (Rivendell might be excepted).Tom Bombadill was a sad omission from the films IMO
OK, thank you: that might be just what I need. Armed with that insight, I think I'll tackle Gormenghast again soon. Perhaps I'll let you know if the point comes when I feel like giving up again!I might have said this elsewhere: Prunesquallor is the cleverest person in the story, and a counterpoint to Steerpike. Prune stands apart from the other functionaries and servants, and although he is loyal to Groan he is independent of it. He has a silly facade, but in the end he is fearless and incisive. Irma is stupid and conceited, and her brother is well aware of this.
That is a lovely edition. A Peake illustration on the cover if I am not mistaken.Well, I'm up to Chapter 9 of Gormenghast, and except for twinge or two with the doctor and Irma, I'm liking it a lot.
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