Tolkien Compared to Contemporary Authors

[Pitchwife]

Great topic, onewhitetree! And I absolutely concur about Byatt's Possession - a great and memorable read, and I like to think Ash's poetic use of Northern mythology would have delighted our Professor.
Among contemporary fantastists, my top three are Ursula LeGuin (who has been mentioned above), Stephen Donaldson (for narrative technique, character portrayal and piling up any kind of setback imaginable against his protagonists until the final breakthrough) and Patricia McKillip (who has a poet's skill with words - somehow the fantastic in her books seems to just naturally emerge from her use of images and metaphors).
As for contemporary non-fantastists, the most satisfying read I've come across for some years was Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy - the end of Vol. 3, where a damaged and handicapped but strangely loveable character (I have a weak spot for those), with a little help from her friends, 'beats the system' and is vindicated against seemingly impossible odds, comes very close to Tolkienian eucatastrophe for me.

But if you go for sheer daring, scope and ambition, I'll have to mention two contemporaries of Tolkien's rather than of ourselves - both neglected modern classics, both unmistakeably original, and both also sharing our Prof's tendency to write books the size of a brick.
First, John Cowper Powys, author of (among others) Glastonbury Romance, Owen Glendower and, most notably, Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages, an historical novel set in the days of Arthur and Merlin (both of whom are prominent characters in the book). Here we have an author who was just as fascinated with the mythology and history of Britain from Arthurian days to the late Middle Ages as Tolkien, but approached it from an entirely different angle - either (in Glastonbury Romance) using it as backdrop and subtext for a contemporary plot, or (in the other two) examining the characters of history and myth with a depth of psychological introspection comparable to, say, Dostoyevsky, while maintaining a firm connection with the supernatural. In Porius, especially, the thoughts and feelings of his characters, the natural changes in the landscape surrounding them and the stuff of myth and legend just seem to blend seemlessly with one another. Try to imagine D.H. Lawrence (the psychologist of the unconscious, not the sex-prophet) rewriting The Mists of Avalon, and you'll get a faint idea of what Porius is about.
Then, in my native German tongue, there's Hans Henny Jahnn, author of Fluss ohne Ufer (Shoreless River), a fragmentary novel trilogy which draws you into a world (or, what's the same to me, presents a compelling view of our world) as idiosyncratically the author's own as Tolkien's Middle-earth - although as far removed from Tolkien's faith and eucatastrophe as you can possibly get (Jahnn's credo can more or less be summed up by a famous quote from the novel "It is as it is, and it's terrible"). Here, Man (and it's primarily a book about men, which may deter some female readers - Jahnn was your classical closeted homosexual) is just a creature among creatures, floating on the subconscious current of hormonal processes that defy any rationalization. At the same time, the whole book is imbued with a deep, fierce love of nature (including an uncanny skill at describing, or rather evoking, nature and landscape) and compassion for all her suffering creatures that I can't help but think Tolkien would have sympathized with, whatever the philosophical differences. Unfortunately, as far as I could find out, only the first part (Das Holzschiff / The Ship) has been translated into English - which reveals about as much of the whole as The Hobbit does of Middle-earth; but those of you who can read German might give it a try - either you'll be exasperated and throw the book into the corner after Part I, or you'll be hooked for a journey to the dark side of the human mind.

[davem]

Pitchwife - I remember reading Porius many years ago, & its one of those books I keep meaning to go back to, for the very reasons you offer, so I'd add to your recommendation. Odd that you bring Powys up though - I'm going through a re-reading phase at the moment & A Glastonbury Romance is next on my pile ....

[onewhitetree]

I totally concur about Ray Bradbury - a quote of his that I live by: "Stuff your eyes with wonder" is just one example of his amazing gift of expression.

Porius has been recommended to me before - I am definitely putting it on my list.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

The modern author I've enjoyed reading most in the past year or two is Jasper Fforde. His books can't be classified easily, as they don't fit into a specific genre. Though they aren't fantasy, they do contain some fantastic elements; one is future fiction, but has little to do with science.

Two aspects especially remind me of Tolkien's writing: the construction of a secondary world is the first. Fforde's alternate realities are modern - there are no dragons, swords or horses in evidence. He fills in details that make even the most outrageous ideas seem plausible. In the Thursday Next series, there is an additional world within the alternate version of our Earth - BookWorld is fascinating! (The Nursery Crime series takes place in basically the same universe, though without BookWorld). His newest book, Shades of Grey, takes place in yet another alternate reality, a post-apocalyptic future version of our world. Again, he has created a context in which his rather offbeat ideas are logical.

The second aspect is that of language. Fforde plays with words very skilfully, inventing new ones occasionally and punning gleefully. His names (besides the main heroine "Thursday Next", there's also "Paige Turner") are fun to read. The persons and places in Shades of Grey all have colour names ("Vermillion", for one), appropriate for a colour-based society. Oh, and the characters named "Grey" have first names like "Jane", "Dorian" and "Zane"!

Like Tolkien, Fforde says his objective in writing books is to entertain his readers. He definitely succeeds in doing that!