What are the "Classic" Fantasy novels?

[Endur]

They had legal reasons (i.e. lawsuits) for not mentioning J.R.R.Tolkien as the most direct influence on the game.

This list is selected from a list found on p. 224 of the 1st ed. DMG

According to the authors of the 1st ed. DMG, de Camp & Pratt, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt had some of the most direct influences on the direction of the game, and the others had a lesser influence.

 

[Dark Jezter]

They had legal reasons (i.e. lawsuits) for not mentioning J.R.R.Tolkien as the most direct influence on the game.

Well, I do know that when D&D was first released, the game had hobbits, but they were later renamed to halflings after the Tolkien estate sent them a cease and desist order.

But, while there is no doubt that Tolkien was a huge influence on the creators of D&D, I believe that Robert E Howard and Fritz Leiber played just as much of a role in D&D's creation. D&D dwarves, elves, and halflings are similar to the races in Tolkien's world (in previous editions halflings were fat and had furry feet. Now they are more like miniature humans), but many of the core concepts of D&D such as raiding dungeons for treasure and adventuring for gold and glory resemble Howard and Leiber more than Tolkien.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels. IIRC, he's the highest-selling modern fantasy author behind Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks.

Probably, but are they really classics of the genre?

 

[CCamfield]

Those are exact quotes.

I didn't mean to doubt that they were (although I'm not sure where the line about Shadows is in the books?), but rather that I thought the dialogue in general was better than you were making it out to be.

I've started reading Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow... man, could he ever write!

 

[Michael Tree]

Probably, but are they really classics of the genre?

I would say not. Merely selling a lot of copies doesn't make a book a classic. Danielle Steele sells tons of books, but that doesn't make any of her books classic romances.

 

[Knightcrawler]

Now we get into the problem of definitions. What are the classic fantasy novels. Now are you talking popular being read and remembered by a lot of people. Or are we talking the basis of much of fantasy literature. I'm going to choose the latter and work up in time.

Beowulf
Gilgamesh
Illiad
The Odyssey

The base, the beginning from these much of fantasy literature has sprung. And if the past century much of fantasy literature has been shaped by these four authors.

Tolkein
Howard
Lovecraft
Burroughs

Probably mostly the last 50 years or so.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I would say not. Merely selling a lot of copies doesn't make a book a classic. Danielle Steele sells tons of books, but that doesn't make any of her books classic romances.

Yeah, you aren't a classic until some tweed blazer-wearing professor in a stuffy office says that you are a classic!

 

[Avouz]

Another series I've had highly recommended to me (although I must admit, I've not read them yet), is the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams.

Also, how about Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth?

Another vote for GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire.

These are all newer series (i.e. published in the past 10 years) so I don't know if they count as classics yet, but I imagine they might in a few years.

 

[Rozman]

I'd have to echo WayneLigon's list & sentiments, and add:

(YA?) Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." Talk about introducing ideas into the genre.

 

[Orius]

Myth vs. Fantasy

Now we get into the problem of definitions. What are the classic fantasy novels. Now are you talking popular being read and remembered by a lot of people. Or are we talking the basis of much of fantasy literature. I'm going to choose the latter and work up in time.

Beowulf
Gilgamesh
Illiad
The Odyssey

The base, the beginning from these much of fantasy literature has sprung.

I'm going to have to disagree here.

This probably would have come up eventually in this thread; you're basically equating mythology/legend/folklore with fantasy fiction. Others have done so. I disagree with that view.

Certainly fantasy fiction draws a great deal from the myths, legends and folklore of the past. However, I see a important distinction between the two.

Mythology at one point in the past was considered real, usually historical events. And often, myths and legends are distorted memories of past events. Even today, there are some stories some people would consider myths, while others would disagree stridently, and likely take offence at that view because they consider them true events. Since this point involves modern religions, I will say no further more on this matter here.

Fantasy fiction is just that, however, fiction. Yes, Tolkien may have presented ME in a mythological fashion, but it was an invented world. Myths and legends are usualy built upon stories written down by several authors over many years, and often go back to oral traditions. And nobody considers fantasy fiction as portraying events that actually happened.