There is a nice piece in the current The New Yorker on Michael Moorcock entitled "The Anti-Tolkien."
While Moorcock's style of fantasy is radically different from Tolkien's in almost every respect, and Moorcock himself famously criticized Tolkien's work, I have been a great fan of both authors for at least three decades now. Indeed, I can't imagine what contemporary fantasy literature (or role-playing games) would be like without both of them!
Anyhow, happy 75th, Mr. Moorcock. And happy 2015 to all lovers of fantasy!
AKRATIC WIZARDRY: A blog wherein I scribble about role-playing games (Mythras, Against the Darkmaster, Dungeons & Dragons [esp. old school], Swords & Wizardry, Into the Unknown, Middle-earth Role-playing, Lord of the Rings Role-playing, Adventures in Middle-Earth, Crypts & Things, Call of Cthulhu, etc.) and RPG settings (Middle-earth, Cthulhu Mythos, Greyhawk, Lyonesse, Ukrasia, etc.). I also write about fantasy and science-fiction films, novels, art, TV shows, and the like.
It's the same for me. I like both Tolkien and Moorcock. A lot. If I were to name just two authors defining what is fantasy literature for me I would name JRRT and MM. Extending the list, Fritz Leiber and RE Howard would share a distant third place.
ReplyDeleteIronically, different as they may be, they have a shared RPG and literary offspring: D&D, and more emphatically Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play are a mash up of JRRT and MM elements. The hilariously entertaining novels of Polish author A. Sapkowski - the Witcher series - would not exist without a mix of Tolkien and Moorcock tropes.
And maybe, just maybe. Turin Turambar and Elric, both brandishing a black sword, both killing themselves with it, aen't just superficially similar. They share a source in the character of Kullervo in the Finnish Kalevala, but maybe there is more...