The Beginnings of Fantasy │ Pre-Tolkien Recommendations

Some historical info on the fantasy genre and some books that I love.

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[jacksonvega]

I’ve been falling in love with REHs Conan and Moorcocks Elric series. Never would’ve guessed they’d be so completely my jam.

[RobertScottBannersglare]

I have been looking into Dunsany's work. He definitely has the atmospheric, fairy-tale aesthetics within his stories. Therein lies that connection to J. R. R. Tolkien and modern fantasy as a genre. My favorite Dunsanian stories are "The Sword of Welleran" and "The Fortress Unvanguished, Save For Sacnoth." There is so much uniqueness to fantasy work despite being more than a century old.

[JustEssayIt]

Very interesting video. I'd never heard of Lord Dunsany before, but I'm definitely intrigued!

[katehowereads]

I'm so enjoying your channel!!! You're making me add more books to my TBR. ☺

[majkus]

Jay Ward adapted 'The Princess and the Goblins' for laughs in a 'Fractured Fairy Tale' segment of 'Rocky and his Friends'. While it played up the comedic aspects (the goblins' tender feet and allergy to music), it was a surprisingly accurate summary of the story in a five-minute animation.

[ThunderCapM]

Wonderful choices. I would have liked to hear about John Ruskin's "The King of the Golden River" and William Morris' large(ish) Fantasy works like "The Well at the End of the World" - both predate Lord Dunsany's work. And if we're talking about pre-Tolkien era works of pure Fantasy (as an established genre unto itself, separate from older things like Folklore, Epics, Chivalric Romances or Fairy Tales) then the Pre-Historic world of Robert E. Howard's Kull and Conan stories is one of the most important for the evolution of the genre. Sure his work is less refined than guys like Tolkien, or Lewis, or Dunsany for that matter; and it is part of the specific sub-category "Sword and Sorcery" (wandering savage hero-type adventures) unrelated to Epic or "High" Fantasy; but it still pre-dates Tolkien, it was still instrumental in shaping various tropes and themes of general Fantasy literature, and the stories themselves are still incredibly rich, even if a bit repetitive.

[MrAelin]

Sad that you stopped recommending books. It was really interesting to hear about these books. Greetings from Spain.

[ZombieEatsBooks]

Very cool topic! I'm not very knowledgable about fantasy in general, but it's a genre that I do love when I get around to it every once in a while. I'm looking these up! Thanks!

[Kalanadi]

This was a fantastically informative video - thank you!! I definitely want to get to George MacDonald and Lord Dunsany. I first heard about Dunsany from Jo Walton and that's probably all I need to know - if he influenced her at all, I need more! I read Nesbitt when I was in middle grade and sadly don't remember any of her books well. The oldest non-Tolkien author I've started to read is Mervyn Peake, who was... I guess a contemporary? I want to finish the Gormenghast books. The first one was so amazingly written.

But yes - thanks for these recommendations, and I'd love it if you did more!

[lorenerocha]

That's a really informative video! I'm a big fan of CS Lewis and I also appreciate Tolkien a lot, but I'm only starting to read George MacDonald. I'm currently at Phantastes and now I want to read Lilith 😁

[booksandquestions]

This is such a strong, concise, and informative video, thank you! I've read MacDonald and Nesbit, although just their children's books, but I've never really thought about them as they relate to the history of fantasy as a genre. Amulet was my favorite, too.

[micah_mudflaps]

This video is great! I have a 1st edition of Lilith that I can’t wait to read. I love the darker works from this stage of fantasy in the early 20th century (big Gormenghast fan), so I’m sure I won’t be disappointed :)

[primus]

Great posting. Thank You ! The King of Elflands Daughter by LD is a beautiful book.

[LiterallyGraphic]

Very cool. My mom read us a lot of Nesbit growing up, including five children and it, but I never realized it was part of a series. I just downloaded Lilith and The Gods of Pegana off of Librivox and am pretty excited to dig into them. I listened to Phantasies a couple of years ago and was so completely entranced. I really need to reread that as well some time >.<

[TuDawid]

Do you have a follow up video post-Tolkien Recommendations?

[lukunurkka]

I actually have one Lord Dunsany book that i bought on a whim without any knowledge of his role in fantasy history. You are the second person to tell me about him. I really should get around to reading that one. Also i should check if my library has other ones.

I like this type of videos that are half enjoyment/educational. Great job.

[LetsReadSFF]

So strange but so necessary to think of pre-tolkien fantasy. These books are going on the list. Exploring this history will be fun.

[LuminousLibro]

Phantastes was a difficult read for me, because the plot is all over the place. (I had the same problem with Lilith too.) But I first read it because I had read that it influenced C. S. Lewis in his writing. I didn't know that it influenced Lewis Caroll too!
I think I need to re-read them though, since I think I would appreciate them more and understand more the second time.
I love love Princess and the Goblin, and MacDonald's other children's novels!
I adore Edith Nesbit!

[mbathrick]

Check out Macdonald's The Light Princess - it's quite entertaining.

[RSEFX]

I thought that maybe THE ODYSSEY was one of the first full-fledged fantasy novels. I don't now much about the genre, but when I read Homer's tale it read to me as pure fantasy. (n fact, the Old testament ---which I guess isn't really a novel----laid a lot of fantasy novel groundwork. To me, at least)