On October 21, 1997, Yvonne Rowse wrote:
>Talking about the reality of war etc, have you read _The Lions of
>Al-Rassan_ by Guy Gavriel Kay? I cultivate a poor memory so I can read
>things again and be (relatively) surprised and it's been a year since I
>read it but I remember it being streets ahead of Tolkein on the reality in
>fantasy front. I think I'll read it again and bring it up for discussion.
Dear Yvonne (and other Feminist SF'ers),
I have to agree with you on Kay. In general, I think that a lot of
contemporary fantasy has surpassed Tolkien in creativity. That doesn't
mean I don't admire Lord of The Rings as a classic. In actuality, I tend
to feel that Tolkien's lesser known contemporaries (Mervyn Peake and E. R.
Eddison) are just as interesting, if not moreso, in their own ways. I
stopped reading Tolkien a long time ago, but I have to thank him
posthumously for getting me interested in fantasy and reading in general.
I probably wouldn't be a graduate student in an English program, if I
hadn't been exposed to Tolkien, and become a fan of him and many others.
Anyway, enough testimony.
I like _Lions_, but IMHO, his first speculative historical fantasy,
_Tigana_, was the one which resonated the most with me. Speaking as a
literary critic and scholar, I have to say that I was really impressed by
the way he worked the whole question of imperialism, nationalism, and
nationalist liberation into the story. There's a real depth and power to
_Tigana_ which I haven't found in the other two speculative histories he
has written. Comments? Responses?
Erik
Erik Tsao
Department of English
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
"Ah! to return to life! To stare at our deformities. And this poison, this
eternally accursèd embrace! My weakness, and the world's cruelty! My God,
have pity, hide me, I can't control myself at all! I am hidden, and I am
not.
And as the Damned soul rises, so does the fire."
-- From Arthur Rimbaud, "Night in Hell," _The Complete Works_. Tr. Paul
Schmidt. New York: Harper, 1975.
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