ot-my mini review of Children of Hurin

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 16 Apr 2007, 16:11 · from 2007-April.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:11:24 -0700
Subject: (urth) ot-my mini review of Children of Hurin
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On 4/16/07, brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:
> > Well, I haven't read the book, but from what I'v read of it there seems
> > to be elves, evil overlords, dragons and orcs in it, so I don't think
> > that's what he meant.
>
> Well, no, it wouldn't be, and I'd have to say I'm as puzzled as you are.
>
> Perhaps Don shall enlighten us at some point.

I would make a guess (and I'm fairly confident of it, though I too hope
Don will step forth and say in his own words what he meant) that the
estimable Mr Doggett was suggesting that, though it contains elements
of the fantastic, Tolkien's work was not created in the context of the
commercial genre of "fantasy," as we know it today, and in fact could
not be because that commercial genre came to be in response to JRRT's
work.

I agree that it is not a part of that genre; however, I would say that it
was only *partially* in response to Tolkien's work that "fantasy" as a
commercial category came into being. It certainly existed in the pulp
magazines before the publication of _The Lord of the Rings_ -- the
first issue of _The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_, a/k/a
_F&SF_, was published (under the original title, _The Magazine of
Fantasy_) well before the publication of _LotR_. Tolkienesque or
"high" fantasy is only a part of the overall genre, which also includes
such subgenres as swords'n'sorcery, urban/contemporary fantasy,
dark fantasy (horror), and "the weird" -- all of which existed in some
forms prior to the publication of _The Hobbit_, let alone _LotR_.

Nonetheless, the success of _LotR_ in the '60s (ten years after
publication), along with the _Conan_ boom of the early '70s, opened
the way for modern fantasy. _LotR_ begat Lin Carter's "Ballantine
Adult Fantasy" series, which begat the Del Rey line, which published
the best-selling _Sword of Shannara_ and _Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant the Unbeliever_; between these two and the publication of
the _Silmarillion_, the existence of fantasy as a significant publishing
category from then on was assured.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.

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