What is your opinion of these 3 Authors;John Wyndham, Mervyn Peake,Lord Dunsany?

[Extollager]

Dont get too bogged down in the Prune bits such as his party. The second half of the book is dark and gripping.

I've kept reading and am roughly halfway through Gormenghast. It's very impressive. Thanks for the nudges!

 

[Bick]

OT Looking for a recommendation for PG Wodehouse and/or Terry Pratchett

Is this the right sub forum?
There are many recs for these authors on other forums already - perhaps run a search?

 

[Bick]

I've kept reading and am roughly halfway through Gormenghast. It's very impressive. Thanks for the nudges!

It is. I think I like Titus Groan slightly more though.

 

[The Big Peat]

Should be:

The only one of the three, so far as I remember, that Tolkien specifically evaluated was "Thangobrind," which Tolkien disliked. I would guess he read more Dunsany stories than these. If Dunsany influenced Tolkien very early on, Tolkien outgrew that influence early.

I'd stand by these assessments. I didn't persist with Gormenghast. That book has defeated me about as often as any fantasy classic that I have tried to reread. Yet I do want to read it a second time. But that Prunesquallor stuff! Gahh!

Wiki says Tolkien gave Kilby a copy of The Book of Wonder ahead of Kilby helping compile the Silmarillion, which suggests at least some valuation and knowledge.

As for outgrowing influence - people more oft repent of their influences than outgrow them. Tolkien was highly critical of George MacDonald later in life, but that doesn't stop there being an obvious MacDonald influence on his work.

That said, I am skeptical of a big influence by Dunsany on Tolkien these days.

 

[Extollager]

Does the Wiki item give a source for the Kilby attribution? I have Kilby’s Tolkien and The Silmarillion and don’t remember that about Dunsany.

 

[The Big Peat]

Does the Wiki item give a source for the Kilby attribution? I have Kilby’s Tolkien and The Silmarillion and don’t remember that about Dunsany.

Classics of Fantasy: The Books of Wonder

Classics of Fantasy: The Books of Wonder

web.archive.org

Rateliff is a Tolkien scholar so I don't much doubt him but am vexed he doesn't himself give a reference beyond his own word.

 

[Extollager]

BP, I checked the index of Tolkien and The Silmarillion, Clyde Kilby's enjoyable little book about his summer with Tolkien, etc., and find no mention of Dunsany. Rateliff is a first-rate Tolkien scholar, so I'll be careful about assuming he's made a mistake. Possibly he had private communication with Prof. Kilby and the latter told him about the incident. On the other hand, on one occasion at least I've thought Rateliff floated a possibility that was unlikely to be correct (that Inkling Charles Williams was influenced by Lovecraft). But there, Rateliff does not state something as fact, just as possibility. So for the moment I'll guess Rateliff's account is correct. It is believable that, very early on, as Tolkien was creating "a world for the languages," he was indeed influenced by Dunsany. But the mature Tolkien is about as un-Dunsanian a fantasist as there could be.

 

[Extollager]

I don't have around $137,500 to spend, but if I did and had to spend it on one of these three authors, I'd go with Peake. Not necessarily this offering, which seems to have a lot of duplication. Funny thing, I don't see the 1960s Ballantine paperbacks of the Titus trilogy or the Weybright and Talley hardcover editions of the same.

A COLLECTION. by PEAKE, Mervyn: Signed by Author(s) | Michael S. Kemp, Bookseller

Signed by Author(s) - Hardcover - 1922 - 2011. - Dust Jacket Included - A once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire what is thought to be the most extensive collection of Mervyn Peake items in the world. This collection has been formed over a period of more than 30 years and consists of over 500...

www.abebooks.com

 

[Dave Vicks]

Read DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. It was good .
Tried Dunsany DNF.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Watched a Documentary on PEAKE.