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Yes, so I hope it was okay with him when Lloyd Alexander took LOTR, watered it down, combined it with everything he could profitably extract from Mabinogion, an
by macleginn 6y ago
Yes, so I hope it was okay with him when Lloyd Alexander took LOTR, watered it down, combined it with everything he could profitably extract from Mabinogion, and published the end result as the Chronicles of Prydain.
On a more serious note, I would suggest that Tolkien with his unabashed traditionalism was actually a major figure in the 20th c. postmodernist tradition. The "Cauldron of Story" is not very far removed from "Death of the Author" or "Primacy of Language". Tolkien was just peculiar in his choice of source material. He also managed to make his texts not look like romanticised folkloristic pseudomedieval fare of the early fantasy writers by adopting the technique of realist writers of the 19th century.
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoSo out of all the lousy ripoffs of Tolkien in the world you decide to beat up Lloyd Alexander?! on edit: obviously I ask because I find him miles better than some of the better known ones.
- macleginn 6y agoThe Chronicles started appearing less than 10 years after the Return of the King, so Tolkien could have actually read them. Perhaps there were other notable ripoffs in the 60s, but I am not aware of them; this is just what came to mind.
- zipwitch 6y agoWhen you say "ripoff of Tolkien" my mind immediately goes to The Sword of Shannara which even when I first read (and enjoyed) it in grade school had me constantly thinking how much it copied Lord of the Rings.
- ttctciyf 6y agoInteresting take on The Cauldron! I find it surprisingly Jungian, personally.