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Shade of Carn Dûm
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Re: Book of the Century?
Gilthalion: To be honest, I've always thought the claims that Tolkien "invented"/"was the father of"/whatever modern fantasy are strange. Tolkien's style is so unlike that of other "modern fantasy" authors that I find it difficult to consider them to be in the same sub-genre.
(To me, most post-Tolkien fantasy is "Ooh! Let's write a novel about "medieval" warfare, and throw in a wizard so that it's "fantasy" and not "crappy story induced by too much testosterone"." Why anyone would want to associate themselves with it is beyond me.)
If we're going to talk about "inventing" sub-genres, let's also mention Mary Shelley, whose novel
Frankenstien is considered to be the first "science fiction" story.
As for "wide impact" or whatever, what about
Animal Farm or
1984? The former, at any rate, is very widely read, and (going back to a previous point) even has definite "goodies" vs. "baddies". <img src=wink.gif ALT="
">
"This sig is proudly quote-free." -Me.
(Also known as eoz, and now has a non-Tolkien forum, called
http://pub57.ezboard.com/beverythingelse45161everything else</a>.) </p>