> In 1954, fantasy novels were a minor feature in the literary landscape. Seventy years later, in 2024, in any bookstore, you can find a substantial section for fantasy, often alongside its literary cousin, science fiction (a genre that Tolkien enjoyed, incidentally1). Fantasy series such as C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones have name-recognition far beyond their readers, and the popularity of the genre extends from the printed page to the screen, both big and small.
> Today, ‘fantasy’ often brings to mind elves and dwarves, dragons and treasures, kings and warriors; medievalesque worlds imagined in great detail; magic items and strange prophecies; quests and epic battles: these elements of plot, character, and setting have become fantasy staples in large part because they appear in The Lord of the Rings. For the Victorians, ‘elf’ suggested a diminutive flower-fairy; for readers today, it suggests a warrior of a proud, wise race older than humans. The difference is profound, and it is Tolkien’s. Even the tendency to publish fantasies in trilogies (or trilogies of trilogies!) stems from the publication of The Lord of the Rings in three volumes.
> C.S. Lewis, in his review of The Fellowship of the Ring, put it this way:
> > This book is like lightning from a clear sky . . . in the history of Romance itself—a history which stretches back to the Odyssey and beyond—it makes not a return but an advance or revolution: the conquest of new territory. Nothing quite like it was ever done before.3
> The Lord of the Rings has shaped not just the literature that came after it, but even readers’ expectations of what fantasy should look like. Ironically, the effect of Tolkien’s work on the genre has influenced (indeed, distorted) later readers’ responses to The Lord of the Rings itself. At this point, it can be well-nigh impossible to imagine the fantasy genre without imposing on it ideas taken from The Lord of the Rings or from reactions against it.
1 Comment
https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/celebrating-the-epochal-publication-of-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-70-years-on/
> Author: Dr. Ordway (2024)
> In 1954, fantasy novels were a minor feature in the literary landscape. Seventy years later, in 2024, in any bookstore, you can find a substantial section for fantasy, often alongside its literary cousin, science fiction (a genre that Tolkien enjoyed, incidentally1). Fantasy series such as C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones have name-recognition far beyond their readers, and the popularity of the genre extends from the printed page to the screen, both big and small.
> Today, ‘fantasy’ often brings to mind elves and dwarves, dragons and treasures, kings and warriors; medievalesque worlds imagined in great detail; magic items and strange prophecies; quests and epic battles: these elements of plot, character, and setting have become fantasy staples in large part because they appear in The Lord of the Rings. For the Victorians, ‘elf’ suggested a diminutive flower-fairy; for readers today, it suggests a warrior of a proud, wise race older than humans. The difference is profound, and it is Tolkien’s. Even the tendency to publish fantasies in trilogies (or trilogies of trilogies!) stems from the publication of The Lord of the Rings in three volumes.
> C.S. Lewis, in his review of The Fellowship of the Ring, put it this way:
> > This book is like lightning from a clear sky . . . in the history of Romance itself—a history which stretches back to the Odyssey and beyond—it makes not a return but an advance or revolution: the conquest of new territory. Nothing quite like it was ever done before.3
> The Lord of the Rings has shaped not just the literature that came after it, but even readers’ expectations of what fantasy should look like. Ironically, the effect of Tolkien’s work on the genre has influenced (indeed, distorted) later readers’ responses to The Lord of the Rings itself. At this point, it can be well-nigh impossible to imagine the fantasy genre without imposing on it ideas taken from The Lord of the Rings or from reactions against it.