Reading this I couldn't help but think how much you would like John Crowley's masterpiece "Little, Big" (1981), one of the great (if sadly obscure) fantasy novels. Give it a try, you won't regret it. But I warn you: it's not written for the modern world: beautiful, slow, stately, haunting—it repays what you give it but you have to give it your time & attention.
Wow, wow, wow. This was a sprawling meditation on fantasy. A battle cry and love letter in one. Framing fantasy not as a modern genre but as the original storytelling mode is ingenious. Why have I never thought of it that way? Myth as memory, sacred weirdness, cultural infrastructure… Wonderful! In the truest sense of the word. Thank you for such a refreshing and inspiring piece. (My TBR may never recover.)
Thank you, Nadezh! This means the world to me. So glad the “myth as memory” framing resonated...it’s wild how something so ancient can feel like a revelation when recontextualized.
Thanks for writing an instructional post for those of us who have only dipped our toes in fantasy. I have a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on my shelf I've lent out and can appreciate. You've convinced me I need to read LOTR.
I both agree with you thus far and am a fan of asoiaf & wot. Especially w/regards to the latter I shudder at your upcoming take (coz seriously, that first book is totally beat for beat plotwise, even whilst changing enough & having compelling enough characters to make it worthwhile. At least for me.)
And shout out to the Lin Carter reference! He wrote a great book about historical precedents to Tolkien which im guessing you're already familiar with (clearly, you're familiar w/the historical precedents, which I only learned of coz of reading his book in the 8th grade, ive forgotten the title).
I enjoy both too haha, and like alongside that there are THINGS that ought to be thought more about lol
and YES to lin carter! you’re probably thinking of Imaginary Worlds??— what a weird and wonderful little map of the genre’s early weirdos. I love that it was your gateway. more people should get handed that in 8th grade tbh.
That was probably it! I just remember the silver paperback w/a s&s style cover but inside it introduced me to all those guys you mentioned plus the elder edda. Probably a more accurate view of Beowulf than Grendel's mom looking like naked Angelina Jolie in high high heels (wtf?). Not thst I'm complaining about that image for any reason whatsoever EXCEPT the anachronistic high heels!
There’s certainly something to reflect on about the way myth has been co-opted and compressed into marketable genre boxes.
I think the commoditication of fantasy speaks to a larger cultural wave. Stories in general used to be a much rarer and more sacred thing for us as people to experience. They were passed down verbally and in written fragments.
The rapid, always-on, always available nature of modern technology has led to the current state of things as an inevitability. We have all the freedom of choice and cultivation, but rarely the incentive to do anything with it.
yes yes yes—exactly. myth used to be ambient, inherited, full of gaps you were meant to live inside for a while. now it’s something you can pre-order with a sprayed edge and a bookclub sticker. the shift from sacred inheritance to genre commodity is wild, but also… kind of inevitable, like you said. infinite access, zero friction—and somehow we still end up reading the same three chosen one arcs in different hats.
wild how many of the early post-tolkien writers were secretly writing horror stories wearing fantasy’s clothes. and yeah...no surprise some of those works will never make it past the disneyfication filter. they’re way too thorny & bleak, for the current franchise machine....unless they get Boys-ized I guess?
I am interested to see where you go with this. As (I hope) a friendly suggestion, you may want to fix the typo in the title of "Lud-in-the-Mist."
fixed, thank you Greg!
Reading this I couldn't help but think how much you would like John Crowley's masterpiece "Little, Big" (1981), one of the great (if sadly obscure) fantasy novels. Give it a try, you won't regret it. But I warn you: it's not written for the modern world: beautiful, slow, stately, haunting—it repays what you give it but you have to give it your time & attention.
I dooo like it, you're right!
Should have known you'd already know it! 😊
This was so wonderful thank you!
Thank you for reading Kirstie!
Wow, wow, wow. This was a sprawling meditation on fantasy. A battle cry and love letter in one. Framing fantasy not as a modern genre but as the original storytelling mode is ingenious. Why have I never thought of it that way? Myth as memory, sacred weirdness, cultural infrastructure… Wonderful! In the truest sense of the word. Thank you for such a refreshing and inspiring piece. (My TBR may never recover.)
Thank you, Nadezh! This means the world to me. So glad the “myth as memory” framing resonated...it’s wild how something so ancient can feel like a revelation when recontextualized.
Thanks for writing an instructional post for those of us who have only dipped our toes in fantasy. I have a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on my shelf I've lent out and can appreciate. You've convinced me I need to read LOTR.
JSMN is SO SO SO good!!!
What is JSMN again?
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 💙
I feel like so many genres are getting the "stripped of their lament." Great phrase.
thanks Em! and sadly, yes....
Enshitification is perhaps my favorite modern word.
it's a pretty sweet word for sure
I both agree with you thus far and am a fan of asoiaf & wot. Especially w/regards to the latter I shudder at your upcoming take (coz seriously, that first book is totally beat for beat plotwise, even whilst changing enough & having compelling enough characters to make it worthwhile. At least for me.)
And shout out to the Lin Carter reference! He wrote a great book about historical precedents to Tolkien which im guessing you're already familiar with (clearly, you're familiar w/the historical precedents, which I only learned of coz of reading his book in the 8th grade, ive forgotten the title).
I enjoy both too haha, and like alongside that there are THINGS that ought to be thought more about lol
and YES to lin carter! you’re probably thinking of Imaginary Worlds??— what a weird and wonderful little map of the genre’s early weirdos. I love that it was your gateway. more people should get handed that in 8th grade tbh.
That was probably it! I just remember the silver paperback w/a s&s style cover but inside it introduced me to all those guys you mentioned plus the elder edda. Probably a more accurate view of Beowulf than Grendel's mom looking like naked Angelina Jolie in high high heels (wtf?). Not thst I'm complaining about that image for any reason whatsoever EXCEPT the anachronistic high heels!
& totally looking forward to the follow ups!
You had me at “enshitification.” Shannan, this world, any world, would not be the same without you
Hahaha gosh thank you Tara! you're so encouraging and sweet
There’s certainly something to reflect on about the way myth has been co-opted and compressed into marketable genre boxes.
I think the commoditication of fantasy speaks to a larger cultural wave. Stories in general used to be a much rarer and more sacred thing for us as people to experience. They were passed down verbally and in written fragments.
The rapid, always-on, always available nature of modern technology has led to the current state of things as an inevitability. We have all the freedom of choice and cultivation, but rarely the incentive to do anything with it.
yes yes yes—exactly. myth used to be ambient, inherited, full of gaps you were meant to live inside for a while. now it’s something you can pre-order with a sprayed edge and a bookclub sticker. the shift from sacred inheritance to genre commodity is wild, but also… kind of inevitable, like you said. infinite access, zero friction—and somehow we still end up reading the same three chosen one arcs in different hats.
wild how many of the early post-tolkien writers were secretly writing horror stories wearing fantasy’s clothes. and yeah...no surprise some of those works will never make it past the disneyfication filter. they’re way too thorny & bleak, for the current franchise machine....unless they get Boys-ized I guess?