You should be a teacher. My favorite instructors weren't just knowledgeable, but they communicated their passion for the subject as well. You manage that beautifully. :)
There was a small group of people who all knew each other at the root of 19th century English fantasy. William Morris's wife Jane Burden was the model for some of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's most famous paintings, such as Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Christina Rossetti, Dante's sister, wrote Goblin Market, which is at the root of dark fairy-based fantasy like Hope Mirrlees' Lud-In-The-Mist, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Neil Gaiman's Stardust. George McDonald published his short stories in the Oxford & Cambridge Magazine, alongside Morris's early work. John Ruskin, the art critic who promoted the Pre-Raphaelites, wrote an early fantasy novel, The King of the Golden River, for his wife-to-be Effie Gray, who modelled for the Pre-Raphaelites and left Ruskin for Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais (Not Rossetti as I originally wrote). There's a fantasy story in there, I think.
damn, rip to ruskin after he wrote an entire fantasy novel for his lover and she still left him. ive had that happen on a smaller scale, but i ignored the red flags because i was too busy wearing rose-tinted glasses at the time. their loss, i know im a great catch and im sure ruskin was too edit: just kidding, ruskin was allegedly somewhat abusive. for all his polymathic talent, sometimes you just cant trust a bitch :/
I discovered Fantasy while in middle school. Had a friend in my P.E. class who would spout things like "you don't even know what a hobbit is!" I was in a book store and saw a book called The Hobbit. I bought it and read it within a day. After that I was hooked. I read everything I could find from Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Lieber, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Gene Wolff, and a host of others. In the early 80s I discovered Terry Pratchett when he released the Colour of Magic. I've read all of his books and consider him my favorite fantasy author. Glen Cook wrote the Garrett P.I. books which put detective novels into a fantasy world. Cook also wrote the Black Company series which gave a gritty outlook to a fantasy mercenary company. Thank you for the video Jess. It made me recall many wonderful stories I've read through the years.
Great video. Very much looking forward to the upcoming series. Important authors not mentioned in this video: Edgard Rice Burroughs. Never been a fan myself, but there is no denying his influence. The Africa of the Tarzan stories is very much a realm of Fantasy. Robert E. Howard. If there is a "founder of modern fantasy" other than Tolkien, it is Howard. Tolkien is often (and rightly) hailed as the founder of Epic or High Fantasy. But Howard is the founder of Sword and Sorcery. Even though Howard was a very different man than Tolkien with a completely different outlook on life, I have always found it interesting that both men at very much the same time were doing much the same thing: imagining a Fantasy world that was NOT an "other" world or faraway realm but our own world in a long-ago lost period of pre-history. Tolkien's Middle-earth is our Earth. Howard's Hyborian Age is our world.
The ladybird versions of fairy stories were really good back in the day. For older kids they also had versions of Frankenstein and Dracula. In the ladybird version, the monster doesn't build a funeral pyre for himself, he just "plods off into the darkness (of the arctic wastelands)."
I discovered fantasy when I came across The Hobbit in my junior high school library. I hope you will cover The Worm Ouroboros and the Gormenghast trilogy
My former stepdad introduced me to fantasy when he taught my brother and I how to play Dungeons & Dragons. I was so taken with that I had to read whatever fantasy type books I could get my hands on at the time, this being the mid ‘80s. I read Terry Brooks’ Sword Of Shannara and that quickly led to The Hobbit and LOTR and The Book of Swords series. Thankfully I had the kind of parents who encouraged reading, never questioning what I chose. I also had a high school English teacher who introduced me to Arthurian Literature and suggested The Once & Future King. Once I read that book I became an addict for Arthurian Literature and now have an entire bookcase dedicated to that specific genre within fantasy. I think having a grandfather who was a Master Storyteller had an influence on my decision to major in English ~ Creative Writing as well. I took all the Epic Fantasy, Folklore, Children’s Literature, and other related classes I could to get my fantasy fix. I had stopped playing D&D years ago until one of my nieces expressed an interest in learning. Now I’m back at it and had been watching a series of RU-vid videos on the subject, along with LOTR, the last couple years, discovering your series recently. I really enjoy listening to your discussion on these topics.
I moved from Dr. Suess and Breer Rabbit into Beverly Cleary and The Hobbit. My older brothers were fans of Tolkien's books. Once I discovered Mr. Tolkien I was hooked. I discovered Robert E Howard's Conan at about the same time or a little afterward. The Conan book covers painted by Frank Frazetta always pulled you into the story really well. I read anything I could get my hands on from L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, and eventually Michael Moorcock. I branched off into Science-Fiction (which I consider to be a form of Fantasy) at about that same time. Much of what I read for quite a while was Sword and Sorcery or Science Fiction. Eventually I got around to reading people like John Steinbeck, Gore Vidal and other more serious- minded authors. Not that Fantasy can't be serious. I don't read nearly as much as I used to when I was a kid/young dude back in the 60s and 70s, but I occasionally pick up a book I've read many times before and enjoy it. I especially like David Brin, C.J. Cherryh, Robert Silverberg and all of the Sword and Sorcery authors I've mentioned.
Science fiction was a subset of fantasy and recognized as such when it started to be called "scientificition," then "science fiction." And it really still is since it all required fantastic "technology" to explain what is essentially magic. The only distinguishing feature seems to be that these days. Star Wars is just a fantasy set in space.
I would love to see a video that tackles how the Bible has shaped storytelling and fantasy, since that has been such an influential text in the West and includes a collection of books of different genres, some of which are more fantastical than others (gotta love that Leviathan. And the story of Daniel and the dragon is one of my favorite!). I think it’s a great example of how stories communicate truth, but they do it in different ways (not always primarily literal)
I was introduced to Fantasy by my mother who read to my older brother and I when we were smol. She read classic faerie tales, more modern fantasy, The Hobbit, and books I would consider fantasy, though others may not, "The Phantom Tollbooth" falls into this category.
Tolkien led to Dungeons and Dragons which led to Record of the Lodoss War which led to one of my favorite types of fantasy, western style Japanese fantasy. Sword World, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest etc.
This was actually pretty cool. Well done. I read a bunch of Medieval Arthurian literature this year. Reading the Mabinogian is on my TBR. I am currently reading Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. It originated as a Welsh story in the Mabinogian. Also, I see you have Dune on your shelf. Dune got me to read the Iliad this year because Frank Herbert connects the House Atreides to the House of Atreus. Very cool stuff. Look forward to this series. Subbed. 👍
Loved the video! There's a brilliant exhibition on at the British Library right now about fantasy worlds that covers a lot of the same themes from Gilgamesh to Skyrim. They even have Gandalf's staff on display!
My official introduction to fantasy was probably when my 6th grade librarian introduced me to Anne McCaffrey’s dragon riders of Pern series. I’d always been an avid reader, my mom encouraged that since I was smol, but it wasn’t until middle school I remember books. After that it was Tolkien, LOTR books/films that locked me into fantasy as a genre. I think the movies had just finished by the time I was in 6th grade or been maybe a year out. Harry Potter helped too, with the magic side of fantasy as those books came out when I was young as well. But for the fantasy with dragons and elves it was McCaffrey and Tolkien.
Apologies if I missed it, but did Lord Dunsany get a mention? His influence can't be understated, especially insofar as fantasy works tend to contain constructed mythologies.
I found The Hobbit by myself, on a school library shelf, and I was very proud of having read it, aged about 8. But my fondest memories are the stories of E.Nesbit. They were still in the original editions; children's books didn't have author bios in those days, so I had no idea who or what E.Nesbit was. The Andrew Lang colour Fairy Books were there too. Unlike Tolkien I liked the French stories, especially the Marquis of Carabas. On the contrary, I must have completely passed over The Black Bull of Norroway and the Red Etin, both nineteenth-century pastiches which DID have profound effects on JRRT (in different ways). That's genius for you!
My first exposure to fantasy was probably through fairy tales that were read to me as a child. But my first awareness of fantasy as a distinct genre came from the Rankin-Bass animated version of The Hobbit (which led to my love of Tolkien) and The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (which was my favorite book series as a kid). From that point on, I was hooked. Fantasy has become my favorite genre. I love it because it offers escape from bland or depressing reality. But it can also comment on and reveal truths of the world around us through a veil of imagination.
Hey Jess. Thanks for doing this channel. I have my own thoughts' on some things you talk about here but its a good video. I just want to say thanks for including MacDonald. Please keep making these.
My dad read the Hobbit to me and my brother when I was 6 and he was 8. Before that I loved The Elves and the Shoemaker. I've loved fantasy all my life.
I've been consuming fantasy since before I can remember. My parents read The Chronicles of Narnia to me before I could read. I first encountered The Hobbit via a storybook and tape when I was five or six years old. I read MacDonald, Lewis and Tolkien as soon as I could.
My mother introduced us to Tolkien and The Hobbit. Which of course grew to Lord of the Rings. She had a friend that worked at the Renn Faire too, so we would attend that growing up too. Which led me to D&D and more fantasy stories.
A great video, thanks for mentioning Morris, he's a great writer and thinker who is often overlooked when it comes to the history of fantasy! I would love it if you would make a video about Lord Dunsany in this series, my favourite author and another huge influence on modern fantasy.
Fantasy means a lot to me, I love the works of J.R.R. Tolkien first through the movies and later through the books. It made me feel so good that I started my own middle-earth lore youtube channel ❤
To be honest with you I can't remember how I discovered fantasy. It's always been a part of my life since I can remember. It was quite literally a life-saver in my childhood, along with sci-fi and horror. It gave me an essential escape and also gave me the need to create more of it, which is why I became a writer. I enjoyed this video and I'm looking forward to the next ones in the series!
I always wondered a lot of the same things about mythology. A lot of those cultures were less concerned with literal "truth" than we are so did they believe those stories were literally true or were they more interested in what they could learn about the world from the stories? Interestingly, I've seen some discussion recently of Navajo origin stories that mesh surprisingly well with the modern scientific understanding of the universe. But you're right--we can definitely learn about what a culture prizes and what it fears from the stories they tell. Great discussion, Jess! Hope your holiday season is off to a great start!
According to youtube you joined 2 years ago today so, happy anniversary! 😁 I haven't followed you that long but I think I've seen all your videos in the last six months. Your videos are always informative and you're narrative style keeps me engaged. Plus your cosplays are cute. P.S. I think I played against you on a game called Royal Kingdom. If that was you, you won. 😁
It's not quite yet my 2 year anniversary of actually making videos, but thank you all the same! I'm glad you enjoy my videos. Unfortunately, I don't play any online games at the moment, so I can't claim that victory as mine.
Great video. I discovered fantasy with Into the Land of the Unicorns by Bruce Covile back when I was 11 and finally getting the hang of reading. I see fantasy, myth, fairy tales, folk tales, ghost stories, urban legends and legends as all part of the same fabric as they all tell us something about the people who tell them.
Sadly E.R. Eddisons The Worm Ouroboros gets overlooked today. It is a slightly weird to read book, but I really enjoyed it. As did Tolkin and C.S. Lewis (funnily not a one name author), citing him as inspiration.
Fantasy started for me when my older sister was studying Greek mythology and was insightful enough to include me. Years would go by that I was into Star Wars and He-Man, and anything vaguely fantastical. And then the Lord of the Rings movies were announced, and I bought a copy of the book and read it in 2 weeks, and then saw the Fellowship opening night. Also, this video convinced me to patronize your Patreon.
Jess, you've given us an excellent introduction to a complex field. As a young reader, fantasy and science fiction were much the same thing for me. Yes, science fiction has to have some science in it, but otherwise, what's the difference if the fantastical elements are vampires or aliens? Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan the Ape Man series and his Mars and Venus series, along with Jules Verne, were my springboard to F&SF (which is also the name of a magazine to which my parents subscribed in the 60s and 70s). I moved onto what is now called the golden age of science fiction with Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Bradbury, Vonnegut, and a score of others and into modern fantasy/sci fi/horror, whatever the label. I read Tolkien in my early college days in the 70s and loved his work. There is some very fine fantasy these days and a lot of schlock, but I expect to keep reading it for the rest of my life. Keep up the good work, Jess! Thank you for sharing your erudition.
There was one name that I somehow missed and that was Jules Verne. Other names I expect you will cover in your next videos would be Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. And stories like King Kong and Alain Quartermain. There is a mix of Western adventure meeting African and Indian fantasy. I liked this video and am looking forward to this new series.
My first fantasy novel was Through The Eyes Of The Dragon by Stephen King, when I was maybe 15. Ready to revisit it as that was almost forty years ago. Great content! Thank you
Fascinating video Jess. Although I was already aware of most of the stories you discussed, you made quite a few connections and points that I hadn't previously thought about. Excellent 👍
I really enjoy your videos on the broader context behind Tolkien and the origins of modern fantasy. As always, you bring a thought-provoking perspective to the topics you cover. Another subject I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on is the changing world of Edwardian England, and how that may have shaped Tolkien's imagination. Beyond the well-trodden topic of "machines bad, nature good," I think there are other broader trends occurring in England that are worth examining for their influence. Not least, to me, is the general globalization that arose during that time, that in many ways trivialized and made obsolete formerly important social elements such as small-scale farming and local craftsmanship. Those things became quaint, and of little importance when weighed against the greater world that was imposing itself upon the English landscape, much as the Hobbits were small and quaint, and equally of little importance to the movers and shakers of Middle-Earth. Of course, this just briefly touches on the theme, as I would like to hear your take on it.
I'm so glad you like this style of video! It's one of my favorite kinds to make. This would be such an interesting topic! Globalization definitely had a powerful influence on his works. There's also the influence of medievalism as stated in this video. Without the inspirations of Beowulf, the Prose Edda, etc, he never would have had works to "reconstruct" into Middle Earth. Thanks for the idea and for sharing your thoughts!
After watching a RU-vid video that made this argument, I wouldn't regard Tolkien as fantasy. Fantasy is Peter Pan, the Lion the Witch and the Wadrobe. What Tolkien was doing was trying to write a Poetic Edda, he was continuing where Beowulf left off. His genre should rightfully be considered Anglo-Saxon Mythos, not fantasy. Fantasy didn't have Anglo-Saxon monsters such as Orc, Ents and Elves, till Tolkein.
Jess, brilliant as always. Susanna Clarke's novels move between alternative history - including the world of faerie in 1800 Britain, to an alternative world existing parallel to the current world.
A lot of my early experiences with fantasy were through childrens’ stories, folklore, Shakespeare, and stumbling across Tolkien’s Hobbit in the school library. But that was mostly being young in the late-80s/early-90s and there was already a huge pop culture fantasy industry of books, cartoons, games, movies, magazines, and other media that I had yet to discover. Adding to what you mentioned, I think one of the contributions to contemporary fantasy after Tolkien is pulp and pop fantasy like early pulp fiction and Dungeons and Dragons. I still had a sense as a kid that fantasy proper was still intertwined with literature to some extent, but once I stumbled upon the pop culture incarnation of fantasy, I came to realize that a lot of the genre has come to take on and in many ways become synonymous with the pop culture phenomenon. I’d even say that at this moment, the genre is more informed by dungeons and dragons and other pop media than it is informed by folklore, mythology, or past literature. At least, I’d say that the previous inputs of folklore/mythology are intertwined with distinctly contemporary notions of genre. I mean, who doesn’t think of orcs as fantasy? They were an hazily defined (non-folklore) invention of Tolkien that then was given a life of its own and largely shaped by dungeons and dragons into a fantasy creature. These days you can hardly separate the idea of an orc away from the folklore/mythology ideas of elves, dwarves, or goblins.
I was introduced to fantasy as a baby, though those were more akin to fairy-tales, that eventually sparked into an interest in mythology (particularly Greek myth). It wasn't until college (high-school to Americans) that I was introduced to what might be considered true fantasy literature, when a friend recommended me to read Terry Pratchett, and I was able to pick up a copy of _Men At Arms_ in the library. I now own hard-copies of most of his works.
I discovered fantasy when I was in probably third grade. The first novel I read was “The Phantom Tollbooth” which I think is a must for any child. Great childrens book! This was right around the time Harry Potter started to get traction here in the US, so naturally I followed up with those first four books and then Holes
As a child, I grew up reading your standard Western fairy tales (*ahem* Disney) eg. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Bean Stalk, etc. but I was also introduced fairly early on to a handful of lesser known stories and folktales (for modern children, that is) such as Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, and Wind in the Willows. I think I mostly grew up with historical fiction with elements of Fantastic Realism like Asterix, though. I then got introduced to more German and Czech stories by my mother like the Goose Girl, the Salt Prince, Tischlein Deck Dich and the like. Then, just before the sequel came out, they aired How to Train Your Dragon on TV and I went nuts over it! I remember there was this trilogy I loved around the same time in Primary School called 'The Mice of Gerander' which influenced my reading a lot, but to begin with, I didn't really want to get into 'High Fantasy' until Yr 8 when we had to read the Hobbit at school, and I've never looked back... That was a number of years ago now and since then, I've gone through some Tolkien (which is what brought me to this channel!), Naomi Novik, Andrej Sapkowski, and Tui T Sutherland, and the list of books and authors in the Fantasy genre I still want to get to is growing constantly longer and I like it that way!
Al Stewart has a song that retells the Trojan War called, "Helen and Cassandra." The bridge of the song addresses the myth/history aspect, "A whisper in the ear of Homer, perhaps there never was a horse.."
My childhood was shot through with fantasy stories. Astrid Lindgren and Tove Jansson were the first authors I read. When I was seven I read C.S. Lewis's _The Magician's Nephew,_ and I've been hooked since then. I read _the Hobbit_ when I was 8? 9? and Lord of the Rings when I was 10 or 11. I love reading so much.
I had a gorgeous fairy tale book and alsoI read the various color fairy books when young. I absolutely loved Tolkein, but also read all the CS Lewis books, the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander, and later got into the fantasy lore of LeGuin and McCaffery. I loved authors that produced whole series of books!
Jess, have you ever read any of these books? If so, what did you think of them? Vathek by William Beckford The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Count Jan Potocki Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué Possessed by Witold Gombrowicz Krabat by Otfried Preußler All through my time in Kindergarten and Grundschule (elementary school), my mother read to me the Märchen (fairy tales) by the Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Hauff, and Hans Christian Andersen, and also the Deutsche Heldensagen (German heroic sagas) every night before bedtime. When I was twelve and in Catholic boarding school, we gathered around every evening and took turns reading Krabat to each other. When I was thirteen, I read Die Unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story) by Michael Ende, and when I was fourteen, I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for the first time. Nowadays I'm more of a Sci-Fi guy, and my favorite author is Ursula Le Guin, whose political beliefs I share, if you catch my drift. The Left Hand of Darkness, the aforementioned Undine, the Saragossa Manuscript might be my favorite books of all time. That and the Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein and Fact, Fiction, and Forecast by Nelson Goodman. Oh, and The Art of Prolog by Sterling and Shapiro. Yes, I sometimes read tech literature for pleasure. I, myself, am strange and unusual.
I read The Hobbit over 50 years ago and then borrowed Lord of the Rings from the school library in 1976 (I still have it). Your channel is fascinating and very well presented. Keep up the good work. Have you read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner?
How I discovered fantasy? I feel like I've always heard/read/known fantasy! I've loved fairy tales from a very young age and, in the course of my voracious reading habit, have gravitated towards fantasy and science fiction, which I generally see as another type of fantasy!
I remember when I was little, I didn't have a firm grasp of the difference between reality and fiction. Fantasy stories that didn't include some sort of explicit disclaimer didn't help. So I think my introduction to the quintessential concept of "fantasy" came in a 1977 theater when I read, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."
My encounter with fantasy literature started with the late prose romances of William Morris when I was an undergraduate over fifty years ago, the very first being "The Water of the Wondrous Isles" , followed by "The Well at the World's End"- I read these and Morris' other prose romances in hardcover as my university had a complete set of his Collected Works (this was before Ballantine began publishing Morris in paperback). To this day these two tales remain my absolute favourite works of fantasy and I re-read them every few years, and Birdalone and Ursula are at the top of my list of most beloved literary characters. After Morris I read "The Lord of the Rings" and I came to very much enjoy Tolkien's work - over the years I have also re-read TLotR many times - but I have always been disappointed by the paucity of female characters. Hopefully you will at some point be able to devote a video to Morris and his prose romances.
Fairy tales and Disney cartoons, eventually TSR Hobbies' choose-your-own-adventure books based on their game worlds (1 Gamma World, 1 Star Frontiers, and a bunch of D&D-based titles). Eventually discovered Warhammer in high school; the setting back then was like D&D but made much more sense - a Tudor or later country with no guns, even though some of their building features are actually Victorian? The best settings I've gone through since are the Iron Kingdoms and the Bas-Lag trilogy.
I honestly don't remember how I discovered fantasy, but it has become my favorite genre ever. I love lotr, Harry Potter, and GoT and my favorite video game series--the Dragon Age series--is fantasy. There's something so innately charming about worlds full of magic, creatures, people, and events we could only dream of. Real life is boring but through fantasy I can experience so much more. I use fantasy as a way to escape this mundane world, which is probably unhealthy but I enjoy it anyway. Fantasy is like a comforting blanket or cup of hot chocolate I can sit with and relax while I let my mind wander.
For me it was the two good friends, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. When I was a teenager I read Lewis's Space Trilogy (Out Of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). which Lewis said were fairy tales for adults. In That Hideous Strength. These stories were quite fantastical, and yet tied into the modern world as if they were real. Also they came out a couple of decades before LOTR, yet contained references to the lost isle of Numenor. Which then led me to LOTR, and I was a goner. When I was a Fantasy was regular literature, like Watership Down was on the shelves in the non fiction section. Then they were Sci Fi, then it was SF (Speculative Fiction), now it's separate.
I love Lord Dunsany "Sword of Welleran" and "Chu-Bu and Shemish". I was wondering if you would do an episode of Fantasy artwork? The Pre-Raphaelites Sidney Sime Pauline Baynes And J.R.R.Tolkien (who drew his own pictures for his stories).
One: thanks for saying that there's going to be more of this, Two: thanks for the shoutout to George Macdonald (sp) and 'At the back of the North Wind'. - another old guy from Canada.
My good friend was a reader. I was not. He shared a Xanth fantasy novel by Piers Anthony with me. And my imagination took off. I read and reread the Xanth novels, fell in love with reading, and there was no going back
16:55 -- RE: Realism is the Necessary Counterpoint for Fantasy to Exist in the Modern Now; I think I'd agree with you there. And here comes another suggestion for light reading: Larry Niven. His science fiction is well salted with ways to get magic and werewolves, too. Niven is the writer who I first noticed using the word "mana" to describe occult and magical power present in the very matter of Reality, itself, on and in the very Earth.
I first discovered fantasy through the Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black & Toni Diterlizzi. You could describe them as modern dark fantasy fairytales. They follow three kids who learn that their great great uncle was a fairy naturalist, and they have to deal with all of the fairy creatures who want to get ahold of his work. The authors use the literary device that the story is true and was reported to them by the children who experienced it, sort of like Tolkien's Red Book of Westmarch. I read the first one when I was 5 (with help from my parents), and for many years after that I believed, or made myself believe, that fairies were real and that if I found myself in the woods or at a crossroads at twilight, I might meet them, and they might be dangerous and wonderful all at once. I still carry that feeling with me today.
i started playing D&D in 1980 when i was 10 and became hooked on all kinds of fantasy (and scifi and horror) , as well as tolkein , i love michael moorcock and susan cooper's dark is rising stories. but i swallowed the myth that it was all invented by tolkein upon publishing the hobbit in 1937 or whatever . i found out over the years there were others , the glittering plain (1891) , the worm ourobouros (1922) and the midnight folk/ box of delights etc
As a wannabe writer, fantasy has been a central fixture for every creative idea I've explored. At the moment at least, I mostly just write horror with a dash of pulp, so I'm probably not going to explore territories not already pioneered by Lovecraft or Robert E. Howard. But writing is the first thing about myself that I ever really believed in, and I don't want to leave this world before those works are realized.
The first recollection of a fantasy story is the movie rendition of The Wonderful Wizard Oz. The most lasting impression I have of the movie is that I had nightmares after watching. Rereading the book, as a teen - and from decades after that time - it is not the air of Oz, or Kansas, that remains, it is that the slippers were silver. In Baum's book, the slippers are silver. Considering the matter, though not thought of as a violent story, there was violence in Oz. The chapter about the Hamer heads is the 1st instance to come to mind. Peculiar how my mind went straight to the wonderful Wizard of Oz and skipped over all the fairy stories I had heard. And they, too, were violent.
As a final fantasy fan myself, I urge you to give it a good chance to captivate you, like a fantasy novel in video game form. Each game is more elaborated and tactically strategized than most normal other games.
John Masefields 'The Box of Delights' and 'The Midnight Folk' are , for me, a turning point in the modern Fantasy trends.They are not High Fantasy but overlap reality with magical realms.
the other big fantasy writer for me, beyond tolkien and lewis is the American Fritz Leiber. credited with inventing the term 'swords and sorcery his most famous creations, the characters Fafherd and the Grey mouser were the antithesis of the great quest heroes in their world of Newhon., but he also wrote fantasical stories of people in this world having encounters with the strange with his novel 'conjuor wife' being made into a movie in the 1940's
If you have not read "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her own Making"... then you are missing out on what Fantasy can become. It is the greatest young adult novel... ever written? In my opinion at least.
I discovered Fantasy as a kid through both George MacDonald's two Curdie books and Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. I read Tolkien in my teens. Tolkien was also influenced by MacDonald too, particulary in his depiction of the goblins in The Hobbit. Their "soft shoes" which they slip on is a nod to the soft feet of the goblins in MacDonald, and the songs of the goblins in The Hobbit is very similar to the songs in The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. Chesterton also famously said, "I…can really testify to a book that has made a difference to my whole existence, which has helped me to see…a vision of things…so real….Of all the stories I have read…it remains the most real, the most realistic, in the exact sense of the phrase the most like life. It is called 'The Princess and the Goblin', and it is by George MacDonald."
You wanted our stories about our encounters with the genre? Here's mine. I've loved fairy tales my entire life but it was CS Lewis who baptized my imagination first with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was about 6 or 7 through tapes and the BBC tv series. A friend came for a sleepover and brought the Rankin Bass Hobbit over when I was 7. That was my introduction to Tolkien. I wasn't aware of MacDonald till collage but boy is he good. That's my story Could you please do an episode on Lewis? Thanks again for doing this channel.
I read the LoTR books in the mid ‘70s and sought out fantasy novels, some of them tried to compare them to LoTR or Tolkien. Fantasy books then were simpler litrally and would not be published today. It was evolving.
