The fantasy lit tradition -- what came right after Tolkien?

[EricNoah]

Ok, so we can pretty much acknowledge that Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy literature. So what were the high points after his work? Who was the next "big" fantasy author? There isn't a name or a work that is really ringing a bell for me until we hit someone like Moorcock and his Elric saga. Those who know the literature better, please chime in.

 

[Claude Raines]

Ok, so we can pretty much acknowledge that Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy literature. So what were the high points after his work? Who was the next "big" fantasy author? There isn't a name or a work that is really ringing a bell for me until we hit someone like Moorcock and his Elric saga. Those who know the literature better, please chime in.

Fritz Lieber was contemporary with Moorcock in the late 60's and early 70's. Jack Vance's Dying Earth was in the mid/late 60s as well. I can't find a publication date for C.L. Moore's Jirel of Jory, but it should be around that time too.

Of course we have Howard's Conan stories as contemporary with Tolkien. And many people consider Eddison's The Worm Orobourous to be the first modern fantasy novel.

 

[EricNoah]

Ah yes, Lieber. That's kind of what I was forgetting, that whole stretch in there.

 

[Claude Raines]

Ah yes, Lieber. That's kind of what I was forgetting, that whole stretch in there.

Also C.S. Lewis published "The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe" in 1950. I'm not sure on the dates of the rest of the series. Fans should be happy to know that 5 movies based on the series is being planned and will be filmed in New Zealand.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...p/20031219/ap_en_mo/film_chronicles_of_narnia

 

[Nightfall]

There's also Stephen R Donaldson and Terry Brooks. They were kind of the forefront of new fantasy realms. Sort of.

 

[EricNoah]

Yeah Shannara/Terry Brooks was probably my first taste of "contemporary" fantasy (i.e. it was written around the time I read it).

 

[Kai Lord]

Also C.S. Lewis published "The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe" in 1950. I'm not sure on the dates of the rest of the series. Fans should be happy to know that 5 movies based on the series is being planned and will be filmed in New Zealand.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...p/20031219/ap_en_mo/film_chronicles_of_narnia

Well they certainly got the right special effects company for the job.

 

[Buttercup]

Actually, C.L. Morore's Jirel of Joiry stories were published in Weird Tales between 1934 and 1939, according to the blurb at Amazon. Was anyone else writing fantasy back then? It seems to me that most of the pulp mag stories were leaning toward science fiction rather than fantasy.

 

[jester47]

Actually, C.L. Morore's Jirel of Joiry stories were published in Weird Tales between 1934 and 1939, according to the blurb at Amazon. Was anyone else writing fantasy back then? It seems to me that most of the pulp mag stories were leaning toward science fiction rather than fantasy.

Howard wrote in the 30s. Leibers first Lankhamar tales were in 30s and 40s. But he did most of his work on them in the 60s and 70s. So as an active Writer, Leiber is contemporary with pretty much anyone who wrote from 1930 to the early 1990s. Its interesting in that you can find elements of Howard and Leiber in Lord of the Rings. Lovecraft was a big influence on both these boys.

Those are the obvious and big ones.

Aaron.

 

[Wombat]

Well, there is also the direct contemporary of Tolkein: Mervyn Peake.

The Gormenghast books, well the first one anyway, came out in the same year as LotR

The critics preferred Peake by a wide margin; time has show which tale had the real legs