My brother who is reading LOTR for the first time thiks its more like historical fiction because of Tolkein writing its whole history. I never thought of that but its kinda neat.
note-Ursula le Guin's Earthsea trilogy was interesting

It's not actual history, though. So, it can not be classified as historical fiction.

A Brief Comment:

Why should Tolkien be present in all Fantasy? Are Tolkien's thoughts and methods present in all author's minds? Need everyone use elves, dwarves and dragons in their dreams of other worlds? If you can fantasize about somewhere else, why does that somewhere have to contain the "unavoidable" elements of Tolkien's works? Any tale is possible to be told, you just have to work hard to find one that is original. If no one puts any effort into originality, then we end up with an entire genre chock full of lazy imitations and poor recreations of the founder.

Iarwain

Well, by "fantasy" I meant the elves, dwarves etc. branch of it. Of course if you didn't use thos,e you'd have no problme. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Iarwain~ Of course, Tolkien didn't create Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, or Goblins. They all were written about in myths and legends before Tolkien. So, you cannot rightly say that other writers are copying Tolkien by using those species. However, if they were to use Orcs, Hobbits, Ents, or Balrogs, then, yes, they would be copying Tolkien.

Tolkien doesn't have to be present in all fantasy. But, the best fantasy unites both the familiar and the unfamiliar. Tolkien took many common mythological creatures for his mythological/fantasy work. So, if one were to try to write another mythological fantasy of the history of the world, it would be hard because Tolkien used up many of the mythological creatures that people could identify with. Everyone knew a little about elves, dwarves, and dragons. Tolkien used those creatures and gave them a history. Of course, you can make up your own creatures, but creatures that already exist yet are mysterious are the most effective. Fantasy itself does not have to resemble Tolkien or Middle Earth at all. But any attempt at a mythological fantasy of the world would be difficult because many of the common mythical creatures have been taken. It would not be impossible by any means, but would take a bit of work.

I think that we might be getting a little precious in describing JRRT as the creator of the fantasy genre. The Hobbit was first published in 1936. At the same time, Robert E Howard was publishing his first Conan stories, and had published a few stories in similar vein earlier. Fritz Lieber's Nehwon books were first published (I think) in the 1940s. And I'm sure that there were fantasy novels published earlier than all these.

Indeed, fairy-tales, involving Elves, Dwarves and Goblins, have been around for centuries, and the Brothers Grimm first started collecting and publishing such tales in the early 19th century.

Of course, in our opinion, JRRT is the best fantasy author. But that does not mean to say that he was the first.

Glad you posted, Saucepan! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Now I have no further reason to post in this thread. Good-bye Everyone!


Iarwain

Perhaps it is better to say that Tolkien started the current boom of fantasy writings.

[ March 16, 2003: Message edited by: Meoshi ]

I quite agree with you Meoshi