Quote:
Originally Posted by Malovech
I love people that like to preface their comments/insults/retorts with "You sir", like somehow that makes your point more effective. I can just see the pointy Vulcan ears and the three-week-old pit sweat on the writer every time it's used.
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I prefer to retort to the OP by simply saying, "Yeah, well eat me and my degree in English."
That he has 2 posts tells me he's probably not bothering to read much around here anyway. Not worth getting worked up over.
I do take issue with the idea that Tolkien introduced genre fiction...Howard came first (at least, as far as reaching readers goes). Before him, Lord Dunsany. I'm not going to track it all the way back to myth and epic because that would be obnoxiously pedantic and defeat the point (myth is not technically "genre fiction.") But as far as fantasy, swords-and-sorcery, and the like go, yeah, Howard and Dunsany came before Tolkien, Dunsany literally and Howard in print. And as far as straight-up
genre fiction as a concept, you have Chambers, Lovecraft, et. al. really giving Weird Fiction a kick in the pants.
I would actually argue as far back as Byron, Shelley, and Wilde for genre in general, particularly the Weird genre, and don't forget H.G. Wells and Jules Verne for science fiction.
Tolkien had a great story to tell. An amazing story. A story that influenced millions of writers and readers the world over, for decades after.
So did Howard. It's just that his influence is a bit less obvious. The strongest current influence on fantasy literature, like it or not, is the first two editions of Dungeons & Dragons, which is equal parts Howard, Tolkien, Moorcock, Lieber, and Vance. Even many writers don't realize it, just as there are a lot of horror writers out there who have not read or are not fans of Lovecraft, but use the tropes he standardized in their prose all the time without even realizing it.
Btw, sorry I'm late to the game here. I completely missed the review being posted.