Do you read "the classics" of the genre?

[Desdichado]

Recently I've been rereading a lot of my Edgar Rice Burroughs and and Robert E. Howard, and even reading a lot of the inspirations for those guys, like H. Rider Haggard and such. But I haven't read all "the classics"--I struggled and gave up very quickly on Jack Vance, and I read a few of the Elric novels, but didn't like them much, and quit that series after three books. I've also never been able to read more than about half of the first novel of EarthSea for whatever reason. Also never read more than half of the first Dune book.

I like a lot of Fritz Leiber, but I don't have it handy, so I haven't read it in years, sadly.

So, I'd consider myself a fan of the "classics" with the caveat that there are some of the classics that I just never got into, or have somehow avoided, or whatnot.

It occurs to me that many people here are probably true fanboys of old-fashioned classics, while others may ignore them entirely and only read modern fantasy or sci-fi like Martin, Jordan or Goodkind, and heck, some may even only read D&D books, for all I know.

So where do you fit in?

 

[Chaldfont]

If you haven't already, go down the list of recommended reading in the AD&D DMG. Great stuff.

 

[takyris]

Some, but barely much, and definitely not most.

No argument against it, but:

1) Regardless of the fact that somebody else did something first, I really only care about seeing it done well. On more than one occasion, I've read something new, heard other people complain that it's a tired rehash of something old, read the something old they complained that the new thing ripped off, and found the new thing to be better. I'm no longer studying the history of literature. I'm reading for my own personal entertainment, and pretty much all fantasy rips off a large cross-section of all the fantasy before it.

2) My own personal likes are going to keep me reading new stuff, generally speaking. I personally get the biggest kick out of dialogue, and while I can find fantasy dialogue from the sixties quaint, it doesn't do it for me the way that good modern dialogue does. In some cases, the standards were lower. In other cases, they were doing a good job of writing the fantasy-version of how people talked in their era... but that era is outdated now, and so is their dialogue. It might not matter to most people, but it matters to me. (That's my personal stuff, not snobbery -- I forgive massive historical errors and setting goofs because I don't notice them. What I notice is dialogue. I have really really really bad eyes and a really really really good ear.)

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I'm probably on par with you when it comes to reading the classics. I too, have only read 1/2 of Dune, although I've tried several times to get into it. I loved the Earthsea novels, haven't read much Vance, read alot of Burroughs a while ago and occasionally pick up the stuff I haven't yet read. There are some authors I have been meaning to get around to but haven't yet found the time to read, and others that I have tried but don't like, and then there are the classic authors that I love and read regularly. I don't always feel the need to read an authors entire series of books to say I like them. I haven't read all the Elric novels, but I do consider myself a fan of them. When trying to hit as many authors and books as possible, I'd rather read on a wide scope than try and read everything possible by a few select authors. Maybe when I retire I'll be able to finish all those classics that are piling up on my bookshelves (unless my wife finally says "ENOUGH" and forces me to take them all to the used book shop).

 

[Rackhir]

If you haven't already, go down the list of recommended reading in the AD&D DMG. Great stuff.

That's pretty much what he's refering to when he's talking about "Do you read the Classics".

I've read pretty much all of them, with the exception of H. Rider Haggard's stuff, though my readings of the pulp stuff (Edgar Rice Burroughs and and Robert E. Howard) was not thorough. I find the relentless machoism of the Conan Books in particular to be tiresome.

The first Elric book was eh. I liked the later books especially Bane of the Black Sword (#5) and Stormbringer (#6) a lot. But if you didn't like Sailor on the Seas of Fate, you aren't likely to enjoy the rest. The Corum books are not so angst driven though, so you might like those. The second Corum book draws more on Celtic mythology if that's an interest. The Hawkmoon books are more techno-fantasy, which makes for an interesting feel to things. Though avoid the second Hawkmoon series.

Jack Vance is an acquired taste.

I've read the modern stuff as well (Jordan,Eddings,Martin), but have found fantasy to generally be more repeditive and less creative than SF. So I've largely given up on current fantasy stuff sans recomendations.

 

[David Howery]

I read Burroughs and Howard a lot when I was a kid, and don't read them often now. I discovered Haggard later; I'd read King Solomon's Mines as a kid, like lots of you, but didn't realize for a long time that he had written a lot more books on Quatermain. I found most of these later on, mainly through dealers of old/first edition books (far too much of Haggard's stuff is out of print today, so there's not much choice). Never could get into Dune or Vance...

 

[Wombat]

Let's see...

I've read a lot of versions of the Arthurian legends, from "period" pieces (Taliesin, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chretien de Troyes, Mallory) through the modern (Lawhead, Holdstock, Bradley, Cornwell) and most points in between.

I've read most of Poe, a fair smattering of the early horror writers (Walpole, Radcliffe, Shelley, Varney the Vampire).

When it comes to the late 19th and early 20th century, there's a lot going on. I've read five Haggard novels, about a third of ERB, all of Wells, a chunk of Verne, most of Lord Dunsany, almost all of HPL, some of Howard, several of A.C. Doyle's books (including his White Company novels, huzzah!), and quite a few less known lights.

And of course I have read Lieber (yeah!), LeGuin (yeah!), Moorcock (very, very mixed bag), Tolkein (yeah!), a bit of Vance (so-so), Norton (okay, but not much more) and several of the other "classics".

What interests me is what becomes labelled as "classic". Why does Moorcock rate highly but Tanith Lee barely registers? Why is Vance so important and is that only because D&D used his magic system? When would Terry Pratchett become "classic" and what would that mean to the genre?

So, yeah, lots of room for discussion here.

 

[Desdichado]

What interests me is what becomes labelled as "classic". Why does Moorcock rate highly but Tanith Lee barely registers? Why is Vance so important and is that only because D&D used his magic system? When would Terry Pratchett become "classic" and what would that mean to the genre?

So, yeah, lots of room for discussion here.

All very interesting questions, indeed. And I do think that being "vetted" by Gary Gygax and D&D has given a lot of classic the status they have today, where they otherwise would be obscurities like Tanith Lee.

Of whom I've read a bit, by the way.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I've read lots of classic fantasy novels. I haven't read them all, though.

I have also read a lot of classic and modern novels of many genres.

I have read The Worm Ouroboros, The Well at the World's End, lots of Lovecraft, nearly all of Tolkein, many takes on Arthurian material, several medieval romances (that really were medieval, although with modern translation), Beowulf, The Epic of Gilgamesh, lots of H.G. Wells and much of Jules Verne, most of the "Colored" Fairy Books (Andrew Lang, ed.), more texts on mythology or folklore than I can shake a stick at, and part of Cotton Mather's On Witchcraft (and I'll take my hat off to anyone who can finish that dry old thing).

I've read Burroughs, Poe, Shelley, Stoker, Lord Dunsany, Howard, Doyle, Lieber, LeGuin, Moorcock, and Norton. I have read some (but very little) Jack Vance. And, yes, I have read Dune. Also Watership Down, Shardik, and the Plague Dogs by Adams. I've read Mervyn Peake and Robert Holdstock and John Myers. I've read C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein. Peter Beagle and Alan Garner. Kingsley Amis' The Green Man and Roger Zelazny's Amber novels. Lewis Carroll and Hans Christian Anderson. I have read Gulliver's Travels, and know where the Yahoos come from. I have also read Douglas Adams, and know where my towel is.

I'm sure I could list more.....I own several thousand books. While I haven't read them all yet (many are, after all, reference works), I am working on it.

Like many EnWorlders, I am caught by the twin joys of knowing that I have read far more than many of the people I will meet during my life, and knowing that many of the people I will talk to on these boards will have read more -- or as much, or as much but different material -- than I.


RC

 

[Tonguez]

My reading list should probably described as narrow & long but does involve the classics. By this I mean that I've read practically all the Tarzan books and a lot of ERB, I've read a lot of REH and some of Haggard (both Quatermain and She). I've read all of Narnia and a couple of other Lewis works. I've also read practically the whole Discworld series (except going postal) and the Bromeliad trilogy and imc Pratchett is 'classic'

I read the first Earthsea novel but didn't really get into it. I read the Silmarlarion (sp) but didn't like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I've only ever seen one Vance book (Eyes of the Overworld or whatever it was called) and of course a few others like Dracula, Shardik, the Prydain series and otherwise read historic fiction or mythology