What do you think?
Rate this book
Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
“A superb collection, a splendid and much-needed book. Anderson has cleared away the dross and shown us the golden roots of fantasy before it became a genre.”
–Michael Moorcock, author of The Eternal Champion
Many of today’s top names in fantasy acknowledge J.R.R. Tolkien as the author whose work inspired them to create their own epics. But which writers influenced Tolkien himself? In a collection destined to become a classic in its own right, internationally recognized Tolkien expert Douglas A. Anderson, editor of The Annotated Hobbit, has gathered the fiction of the many gifted authors who sparked Tolkien’s imagination. Included are Andrew Lang’s romantic swashbuckler “The Story of Sigurd,” which features magic rings and a ferocious dragon; an excerpt from E. A. Wyke-Smith’s The Marvelous Land of Snergs, about creatures who were precursors to Tolkien’s hobbits; and a never-before-published gem by David Lindsay, author of A Voyage to Arcturus, a novel that Tolkien praised highly both as a thriller and as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.
In stories packed with magical journeys, conflicted heroes, and terrible beasts, this extraordinary volume is one that no fan of fantasy or Tolkien should be without. These tales just might inspire a new generation of creative writers.
–Michael Moorcock, author of The Eternal Champion
Many of today’s top names in fantasy acknowledge J.R.R. Tolkien as the author whose work inspired them to create their own epics. But which writers influenced Tolkien himself? In a collection destined to become a classic in its own right, internationally recognized Tolkien expert Douglas A. Anderson, editor of The Annotated Hobbit, has gathered the fiction of the many gifted authors who sparked Tolkien’s imagination. Included are Andrew Lang’s romantic swashbuckler “The Story of Sigurd,” which features magic rings and a ferocious dragon; an excerpt from E. A. Wyke-Smith’s The Marvelous Land of Snergs, about creatures who were precursors to Tolkien’s hobbits; and a never-before-published gem by David Lindsay, author of A Voyage to Arcturus, a novel that Tolkien praised highly both as a thriller and as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.
In stories packed with magical journeys, conflicted heroes, and terrible beasts, this extraordinary volume is one that no fan of fantasy or Tolkien should be without. These tales just might inspire a new generation of creative writers.
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
90 people are currently reading
2509 people want to read
About the author
Douglas A. Anderson
81 books59 followersDouglas Allen Anderson is an American writer and editor on the subjects of fantasy and medieval literature, specializing in textual analysis of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He is a winner of the Mythopoeic Award for scholarship.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
August 28, 2020
Note, Aug. 28, 2020: When I read short story collections intermittently over a long period of time, my reactions are similarly written piecemeal, while they're fresh in my mind. That gives the reviews a choppy, and often repetitive, quality. Recently, I had to condense and rearrange one of these into a unified whole because of Goodreads' length limit; and I was so pleased with the result that I decided to give every one of these a similar edit! Accordingly, I've now edited this one.
In all, editor Anderson has collected 21 stories here, mostly by British authors --though American fantasy is represented, and Ludwig Tieck was German. The arrangement of the stories here is chronological, and the editor contributes a brief introduction to the book and short historical/ contextual notes prefacing each story. An appendix gives mini-bio/ bibliographical notes for each contributor, and for a few other genre writers from that era.
It could be argued that a few of these stories are out of place in a fantasy collection. Hodgson's surprisingly Christ-centered "The Baumoff Explosive" is science fiction --soft SF, but the agency of the protagonist's experience (which proves that it isn't wise for ordinary humans to try to relive Christ's spiritual-psychic experience on the Cross) is clearly natural science, not magic. And there is no clearly speculative element in Haggard's "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll," except for the minor one of a Zulu witch-doctoress who seems to wield some real powers; it's essentially a straightforward, excellent morality tale of adventure, rooted in a solid this-world historical context. (This was my first introduction to Haggard's work, though his major novels have been on my to-read list for a long time; I greatly appreciated his realistic evocation of his setting and his willingness to judge people by their character, not their skin color --the highly admirable hero and heroine here are black and the villain white.) "The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman, though it's set in a historically and geographically unspecified ancient/medieval context, has no speculative element either; it's an emotionally harrowing tale of how absolute power and vanity can corrupt and warp a human being, but magic plays no part in the narrative. And some of the supernatural tales, like Richard Garnett's "The Demon Pope" and Lord Dunsany's "Chu-bu and Sheemish" are set entirely in this world. In fact, though, this isn't strictly a fantasy collection --it's a collection representing works/writers who influenced (or may have influenced) Tolkien, who happened to write fantasy but whose reading was broader, and who was influenced in some ways by writings outside his own preferred genre. Understood that way, the selections make more sense. (Also, while some of the stories, such as Stockton's, ostensibly take place in this world --or at least aren't explicitly set elsewhere-- they make their setting, in effect, a fantasy world, without a clear context in the real world, and with creatures like griffins, ogres and fairies treated as matter-of-fact parts of the fauna.
Only two of the stories here are ones I've read before: Frank Stockton's "The Griffin and the Minor Canon," which I heartily like --he's best known for "The Lady or the Tiger?" (which I view as a gyp of the readers), but deserves to be better known for this one-- and Tieck's "The Elves," which in its tone and treatment of the theme reflects the fact that it was intended for children, but can hold the interest of adult readers, too. I didn't read the selection by E. A. Wyke-Smith, which proved to be an excerpt from his 1927 novel The Marvellous Land of Snergs (I prefer to read novels whole, not excerpted).
Interestingly, Tolkien read MacDonald's "The Golden Key" at least twice in his life, with a very different reaction. In "On Fairy-stories," he praised the tale as one "of power and beauty" which "succeeded" in making the genre "a vehicle of Mystery." Rereading the work in 1964 as an elderly man, however, his critical judgment of it was the opposite; he now found it "ill-written, incoherent, and bad." (By 1965, he deemed MacDonald's whole corpus unreadable, and faulted the author for excessive preachiness.) Arguably, such a drastic 180-degree turnabout in Tolkien's reaction may say more about changes in his taste over time than about the story (and MacDonald, like E. H. Knatchbull-Huggessen in the following story, "Puss-cat Mew," was writing for children, not for adults in their 70s; both tales are British versions of the German idea of kunstmarchen). But my own judgment of this story would come closer to Tolkien's final opinion than his first. It certainly offers beautiful language and imagery, and originality; and the plot is clearly intended to embody a journey symbolism akin to that of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. But the metaphors are murky, we never get to know and feel the two main characters from inside as real people, and the telescoping of time in the fairy realm detracts from character development and ultimately (to this reader) makes the character's lives seem pointless. IMO, it is not the equal of the author's Phantastes (which I would exempt from Tolkien's harsh dismissal).
"Puss-cat Mew," on the other hand, struck me as quite an engaging and entertaining story. The idea was suggested by a 19th-century nursery rhyme (quoted at the outset), but the novel treatment was the author's own. There is definitely some mayhem here (and the hero doesn't object to dispatching man-eating ogres and dwarves while they're unconscious or otherwise helpless --in one case, by bashing the victim's brains out). If you can tolerate that, however, the story offers flashes of dry wit (the tone is firmly tongue-in-cheek --especially since the unnamed narrator supposedly overheard the tale being told to a kitten by an older cat; he speaks animal languages, a couple of generations before Dr. Doolittle. :-)), the triumph of pluck, loyalty and virtue over mean-spirited malevolence, and a chaste romance between a couple you can willingly root for. (Here, as often in the actual folklore of fairies, the latter can be romantically interested in humans, and vice versa.)
In fact, in their different ways, no less than three other stories all treat the theme of human man encountering female elf, with resultant romantic interest; but the authors' ways of handling this motif are very different. "The Thin Queen of Elfhame," by James Branch Cabell, is by far the least satisfactory of the trio; it's basically an expression of jaded total cynicism about the very possibility of fulfilling romantic or family relations, because it views the male nature as too inherently flawed to sustain them. But A. Merritt's "The Woman of the Wood" and the Appalachian-set "The Elf Trap" by Francis Stevens (whose real name was Gertrude Barrows Bennett, and whose work I encountered here for the very first time --hopefully not the last!) are powerful, beautiful, poignant and bittersweet masterpieces that fully realize the emotional possibilities of the motif.
Andrew Lang's re-telling of "The Story of Sigurd" in modern English follows the outlines of the plot which I had read elsewhere; William Morris' "The Folk of the Mountain Door" (which is actually more of a vivid vignette than a plotted story with conflict and resolution) also evokes an early medieval, pre-Christian atmosphere, with the Old English-infuenced diction that characterizes his fantasy writings. "The Demon Pope" and "The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris also have a medieval setting. (The latter, set in Sweden on the cusp of the transition from paganism to Christianity, treats the former respectfully and sympathetically, while not denying the truth claims of the latter, and conveys an understanding of the psychology of some of the pagans who resisted the change, not necessarily for perverse reasons; his treatment of the Norse gods as real persons and Valhalla as a real place isn't incompatible with a Christian world-view, either --though his portrayal of healthy wolves attacking a human is incompatible with what we know about actual lupine behavior. :-)) On the other hand, Baum's "The Enchanted Buffalo," like all his fantasy, has a distinctly American --here, Native American-- flavor, bringing us into a realm of the supposed early world where anthropomorphic animals could talk, creating a tale reminiscent of the Indian mythology on which its clearly modeled; and Lord Dunsany's story takes place in an unspecified Third World milieu, probably Asian. (That story, too, presents pagan gods as "real" in a sense; the idols are sentient, and wield some power --but their power is so minute, and used in the service of such petty jealousy, that they come across as pathetic and ridiculous; and that's quite probably the perspective with which many ancient Hebrews, faithful to Yahweh, would have viewed them.) Buchan's "The Far Islands" (my first introduction to his work, too!) is set in the author's own time --but it suggests that beyond our everyday world, there are other dimensions that only some people are favored to see.
"The Coming of the Terror" is actually a condensed version of Machen's novella The Terror (1916; original title, The Great Terror), the version Century Magazine created for the first American printing in 1917. Machen himself, however, allowed that their shortening of the original, which I haven't read, was done "with a skill that was really remarkable;" and I would say that for achieving the effect of concentrated terror (it's well-titled, believe me!), the length here is perfect. It's not really a work of fantasy (it's set in England, against the brooding, paranoid backdrop of World War I, mostly in the mountain-hemmed, lonely country valleys of a remote Welsh county), but since the lethal goings-on are never definitively explained --that's part of the horror, of course, as Machen well understood!-- it's hard to define the genre; the narrator's preferred psycho-spiritual explanation doesn't involve magic as such, but is so mystical that science-fiction purists wouldn't be apt to claim it either. (It's certainly not in the "hard" SF tradition.) What it is, though, is a very effective work (more effective, IMO, than the better-known "The Great God Pan," my only previous introduction to Machen's work) of mounting, claustrophobic horror, with a good philosophical point at the end.
David Lindsay's "A Christmas Play" is indeed a play (though not really about Christmas --that day just happens to provide the setting), but it can be read like fiction; written apparently in the 1930s but never published or performed before, it's printed here for the first time. It's a sweet, delightful modern literary fairy tale of moral testing and virtue rewarded, perfectly crafted by the author. (I never got far into his novel A Voyage to Arcturus, being completely unable to get into it; but this shows a whole different side to his creativity.
Altogether, this is an outstanding collection that I'd enthusiastically recommend! There's also a companion volume, Tales Before Narnia, which collects fantasy that may have influenced C. S. Lewis; I'm hoping eventually to read (and review) it as well.
In all, editor Anderson has collected 21 stories here, mostly by British authors --though American fantasy is represented, and Ludwig Tieck was German. The arrangement of the stories here is chronological, and the editor contributes a brief introduction to the book and short historical/ contextual notes prefacing each story. An appendix gives mini-bio/ bibliographical notes for each contributor, and for a few other genre writers from that era.
It could be argued that a few of these stories are out of place in a fantasy collection. Hodgson's surprisingly Christ-centered "The Baumoff Explosive" is science fiction --soft SF, but the agency of the protagonist's experience (which proves that it isn't wise for ordinary humans to try to relive Christ's spiritual-psychic experience on the Cross) is clearly natural science, not magic. And there is no clearly speculative element in Haggard's "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll," except for the minor one of a Zulu witch-doctoress who seems to wield some real powers; it's essentially a straightforward, excellent morality tale of adventure, rooted in a solid this-world historical context. (This was my first introduction to Haggard's work, though his major novels have been on my to-read list for a long time; I greatly appreciated his realistic evocation of his setting and his willingness to judge people by their character, not their skin color --the highly admirable hero and heroine here are black and the villain white.) "The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman, though it's set in a historically and geographically unspecified ancient/medieval context, has no speculative element either; it's an emotionally harrowing tale of how absolute power and vanity can corrupt and warp a human being, but magic plays no part in the narrative. And some of the supernatural tales, like Richard Garnett's "The Demon Pope" and Lord Dunsany's "Chu-bu and Sheemish" are set entirely in this world. In fact, though, this isn't strictly a fantasy collection --it's a collection representing works/writers who influenced (or may have influenced) Tolkien, who happened to write fantasy but whose reading was broader, and who was influenced in some ways by writings outside his own preferred genre. Understood that way, the selections make more sense. (Also, while some of the stories, such as Stockton's, ostensibly take place in this world --or at least aren't explicitly set elsewhere-- they make their setting, in effect, a fantasy world, without a clear context in the real world, and with creatures like griffins, ogres and fairies treated as matter-of-fact parts of the fauna.
Only two of the stories here are ones I've read before: Frank Stockton's "The Griffin and the Minor Canon," which I heartily like --he's best known for "The Lady or the Tiger?" (which I view as a gyp of the readers), but deserves to be better known for this one-- and Tieck's "The Elves," which in its tone and treatment of the theme reflects the fact that it was intended for children, but can hold the interest of adult readers, too. I didn't read the selection by E. A. Wyke-Smith, which proved to be an excerpt from his 1927 novel The Marvellous Land of Snergs (I prefer to read novels whole, not excerpted).
Interestingly, Tolkien read MacDonald's "The Golden Key" at least twice in his life, with a very different reaction. In "On Fairy-stories," he praised the tale as one "of power and beauty" which "succeeded" in making the genre "a vehicle of Mystery." Rereading the work in 1964 as an elderly man, however, his critical judgment of it was the opposite; he now found it "ill-written, incoherent, and bad." (By 1965, he deemed MacDonald's whole corpus unreadable, and faulted the author for excessive preachiness.) Arguably, such a drastic 180-degree turnabout in Tolkien's reaction may say more about changes in his taste over time than about the story (and MacDonald, like E. H. Knatchbull-Huggessen in the following story, "Puss-cat Mew," was writing for children, not for adults in their 70s; both tales are British versions of the German idea of kunstmarchen). But my own judgment of this story would come closer to Tolkien's final opinion than his first. It certainly offers beautiful language and imagery, and originality; and the plot is clearly intended to embody a journey symbolism akin to that of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. But the metaphors are murky, we never get to know and feel the two main characters from inside as real people, and the telescoping of time in the fairy realm detracts from character development and ultimately (to this reader) makes the character's lives seem pointless. IMO, it is not the equal of the author's Phantastes (which I would exempt from Tolkien's harsh dismissal).
"Puss-cat Mew," on the other hand, struck me as quite an engaging and entertaining story. The idea was suggested by a 19th-century nursery rhyme (quoted at the outset), but the novel treatment was the author's own. There is definitely some mayhem here (and the hero doesn't object to dispatching man-eating ogres and dwarves while they're unconscious or otherwise helpless --in one case, by bashing the victim's brains out). If you can tolerate that, however, the story offers flashes of dry wit (the tone is firmly tongue-in-cheek --especially since the unnamed narrator supposedly overheard the tale being told to a kitten by an older cat; he speaks animal languages, a couple of generations before Dr. Doolittle. :-)), the triumph of pluck, loyalty and virtue over mean-spirited malevolence, and a chaste romance between a couple you can willingly root for. (Here, as often in the actual folklore of fairies, the latter can be romantically interested in humans, and vice versa.)
In fact, in their different ways, no less than three other stories all treat the theme of human man encountering female elf, with resultant romantic interest; but the authors' ways of handling this motif are very different. "The Thin Queen of Elfhame," by James Branch Cabell, is by far the least satisfactory of the trio; it's basically an expression of jaded total cynicism about the very possibility of fulfilling romantic or family relations, because it views the male nature as too inherently flawed to sustain them. But A. Merritt's "The Woman of the Wood" and the Appalachian-set "The Elf Trap" by Francis Stevens (whose real name was Gertrude Barrows Bennett, and whose work I encountered here for the very first time --hopefully not the last!) are powerful, beautiful, poignant and bittersweet masterpieces that fully realize the emotional possibilities of the motif.
Andrew Lang's re-telling of "The Story of Sigurd" in modern English follows the outlines of the plot which I had read elsewhere; William Morris' "The Folk of the Mountain Door" (which is actually more of a vivid vignette than a plotted story with conflict and resolution) also evokes an early medieval, pre-Christian atmosphere, with the Old English-infuenced diction that characterizes his fantasy writings. "The Demon Pope" and "The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris also have a medieval setting. (The latter, set in Sweden on the cusp of the transition from paganism to Christianity, treats the former respectfully and sympathetically, while not denying the truth claims of the latter, and conveys an understanding of the psychology of some of the pagans who resisted the change, not necessarily for perverse reasons; his treatment of the Norse gods as real persons and Valhalla as a real place isn't incompatible with a Christian world-view, either --though his portrayal of healthy wolves attacking a human is incompatible with what we know about actual lupine behavior. :-)) On the other hand, Baum's "The Enchanted Buffalo," like all his fantasy, has a distinctly American --here, Native American-- flavor, bringing us into a realm of the supposed early world where anthropomorphic animals could talk, creating a tale reminiscent of the Indian mythology on which its clearly modeled; and Lord Dunsany's story takes place in an unspecified Third World milieu, probably Asian. (That story, too, presents pagan gods as "real" in a sense; the idols are sentient, and wield some power --but their power is so minute, and used in the service of such petty jealousy, that they come across as pathetic and ridiculous; and that's quite probably the perspective with which many ancient Hebrews, faithful to Yahweh, would have viewed them.) Buchan's "The Far Islands" (my first introduction to his work, too!) is set in the author's own time --but it suggests that beyond our everyday world, there are other dimensions that only some people are favored to see.
"The Coming of the Terror" is actually a condensed version of Machen's novella The Terror (1916; original title, The Great Terror), the version Century Magazine created for the first American printing in 1917. Machen himself, however, allowed that their shortening of the original, which I haven't read, was done "with a skill that was really remarkable;" and I would say that for achieving the effect of concentrated terror (it's well-titled, believe me!), the length here is perfect. It's not really a work of fantasy (it's set in England, against the brooding, paranoid backdrop of World War I, mostly in the mountain-hemmed, lonely country valleys of a remote Welsh county), but since the lethal goings-on are never definitively explained --that's part of the horror, of course, as Machen well understood!-- it's hard to define the genre; the narrator's preferred psycho-spiritual explanation doesn't involve magic as such, but is so mystical that science-fiction purists wouldn't be apt to claim it either. (It's certainly not in the "hard" SF tradition.) What it is, though, is a very effective work (more effective, IMO, than the better-known "The Great God Pan," my only previous introduction to Machen's work) of mounting, claustrophobic horror, with a good philosophical point at the end.
David Lindsay's "A Christmas Play" is indeed a play (though not really about Christmas --that day just happens to provide the setting), but it can be read like fiction; written apparently in the 1930s but never published or performed before, it's printed here for the first time. It's a sweet, delightful modern literary fairy tale of moral testing and virtue rewarded, perfectly crafted by the author. (I never got far into his novel A Voyage to Arcturus, being completely unable to get into it; but this shows a whole different side to his creativity.
Altogether, this is an outstanding collection that I'd enthusiastically recommend! There's also a companion volume, Tales Before Narnia, which collects fantasy that may have influenced C. S. Lewis; I'm hoping eventually to read (and review) it as well.
October 27, 2014
I really like this book. It is the sort where I don't feel I have to painstakingly read every story if one isn't the sort I like. A quick skimming is perfectly adequate to give me the gist.
I've been surprised at how many of the stories I have enjoyed and how many have a fresh, modern feel considering how old they are (most from 1919 and earlier).
I also enjoy the author's story introductions and the fact that he doesn't try to force the idea that Tolkien read each of these or that each influenced him. It is enough that this is the fantasy atmosphere which was floating around during his formative and reading years before he began writing.
I've been surprised at how many of the stories I have enjoyed and how many have a fresh, modern feel considering how old they are (most from 1919 and earlier).
I also enjoy the author's story introductions and the fact that he doesn't try to force the idea that Tolkien read each of these or that each influenced him. It is enough that this is the fantasy atmosphere which was floating around during his formative and reading years before he began writing.
April 25, 2009
This anthology pulls together 21 short stories and one short play to explore the wide variety of influences on the writer who has long been regarded as the father of modern fantasy. Authors range from the iconic (L. Frank Baum) to the virtually unknown (Clemence Housman). Anderson includes commentary for each piece, highlighting possible connections with Tolkien's work.
"The Elves" by Ludwig Tieck >> A "literary fairy tale" in the German tradition and illustrates the dangers of visiting with fairies.
"The Golden Key" by George MacDonald >> A mystical tale of a boy and a girl who embark on a lifelong quest meeting several magical personages along the way.
"Puss-Cat Mew" by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen >> A story of a young man and a cat (in reality the favorite daughter of the Fairy Queen) against evil ogres and dwarves. An added bonus is when the fairies deign to speak in prose rather than verse.
"The Griffin and the Minor Canon" by Frank R. Stockton >> A delightful yarn about the friendship between a clergy man and a monster.
"The Demon Pope" by Richard Garnett >> A tongue-in-cheek story of Satan and the Sacred College. What would happen if the Wvil Prince becomes the Head of Vatican?
"The Story of Sigurd" retold by Andrew Lang >> An abbreviated version of the Nibelungenlied.
"The Folk of the Mountain Door" by William Morris >> A mystical tale of a god and goddess attending a naming rite of a newborn prince in a Norse-like kingdom.
"Black Heart and White Heart" by H. Rider Haggard >> A story of an English gentleman who tries to steal the lover of a Zulu woman.
"The Dragon Tamers" by E. Nesbit >> Describes the trials of a poor dragon who is always outwitted by one family.
"The Far Islands" by John Buchan >> Tells of a boy whose family is obsessed by the Western Isles and uses vivid descriptions of landscapes strikingly similar to that of Middle Earth.
"The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman >> A story of the gratitude of kings and the trials they delight in imposing upon others just to keep loyalty in check.
"The Enchanted Buffalo" by L. Frank Baum >> A yarn about treachery and revenge within the Royal Tribe of the buffaloes.
"Chu-bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany >> A fable about jealous petty gods.
"The Baumhoff Explosive" by William Hope Hodgson >> A cautionary tale about becoming too much like Christ.
"The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris >> A tale about a Viking who will not forswear his religion for Christianity.
"The Coming of the Terror" by Arthur Machen >> A suspense story about frightening events in England during World War I.
"The Elf Trap" by Francis Stevens >> Relates the strange experiences of a Professor of Biology who meets a beautiful young lady in the back woods.
"The Thin Queen of Elfhame" by James Branch Cabell >> The story of a man who unintentionally finds true love.
"The Woman of the Wood" by A. Merritt >> Discloses the murderous actions of a man who loved a coppice.
"Golithos the Ogre" by E. A. Wyke-Smith >> Tells of the vegetarian ogre who has two plump children as house guests.
"The Story of Alwina" by Austin Tappan Wright >> An excerpt about the history of Queen Alwina of Islandia.
"A Christmas Play" by David Lindsay >> Recounts the efforts of the fairy Emerald to find husbands for three sisters when there are only two princes available.
Some of these authors are known to have influenced Tolkien, but all wrote on themes which Tolkien would probably have admired. All the authors were chosen to be at least five years older than Tolkien. Others are not actually mentioned by Tolkien but possibly had an influence on him, while still others were probably not read by him but are indicative of the state of fantasy at the time he was active. None of these stories really measure up to Tolkien's standards (but then, what does?) but many are quite interesting and enjoyable to read.
Book Details:
Title Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
Author Edited by Douglas A. Anderson
Reviewed By Purplycookie
"The Elves" by Ludwig Tieck >> A "literary fairy tale" in the German tradition and illustrates the dangers of visiting with fairies.
"The Golden Key" by George MacDonald >> A mystical tale of a boy and a girl who embark on a lifelong quest meeting several magical personages along the way.
"Puss-Cat Mew" by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen >> A story of a young man and a cat (in reality the favorite daughter of the Fairy Queen) against evil ogres and dwarves. An added bonus is when the fairies deign to speak in prose rather than verse.
"The Griffin and the Minor Canon" by Frank R. Stockton >> A delightful yarn about the friendship between a clergy man and a monster.
"The Demon Pope" by Richard Garnett >> A tongue-in-cheek story of Satan and the Sacred College. What would happen if the Wvil Prince becomes the Head of Vatican?
"The Story of Sigurd" retold by Andrew Lang >> An abbreviated version of the Nibelungenlied.
"The Folk of the Mountain Door" by William Morris >> A mystical tale of a god and goddess attending a naming rite of a newborn prince in a Norse-like kingdom.
"Black Heart and White Heart" by H. Rider Haggard >> A story of an English gentleman who tries to steal the lover of a Zulu woman.
"The Dragon Tamers" by E. Nesbit >> Describes the trials of a poor dragon who is always outwitted by one family.
"The Far Islands" by John Buchan >> Tells of a boy whose family is obsessed by the Western Isles and uses vivid descriptions of landscapes strikingly similar to that of Middle Earth.
"The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman >> A story of the gratitude of kings and the trials they delight in imposing upon others just to keep loyalty in check.
"The Enchanted Buffalo" by L. Frank Baum >> A yarn about treachery and revenge within the Royal Tribe of the buffaloes.
"Chu-bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany >> A fable about jealous petty gods.
"The Baumhoff Explosive" by William Hope Hodgson >> A cautionary tale about becoming too much like Christ.
"The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris >> A tale about a Viking who will not forswear his religion for Christianity.
"The Coming of the Terror" by Arthur Machen >> A suspense story about frightening events in England during World War I.
"The Elf Trap" by Francis Stevens >> Relates the strange experiences of a Professor of Biology who meets a beautiful young lady in the back woods.
"The Thin Queen of Elfhame" by James Branch Cabell >> The story of a man who unintentionally finds true love.
"The Woman of the Wood" by A. Merritt >> Discloses the murderous actions of a man who loved a coppice.
"Golithos the Ogre" by E. A. Wyke-Smith >> Tells of the vegetarian ogre who has two plump children as house guests.
"The Story of Alwina" by Austin Tappan Wright >> An excerpt about the history of Queen Alwina of Islandia.
"A Christmas Play" by David Lindsay >> Recounts the efforts of the fairy Emerald to find husbands for three sisters when there are only two princes available.
Some of these authors are known to have influenced Tolkien, but all wrote on themes which Tolkien would probably have admired. All the authors were chosen to be at least five years older than Tolkien. Others are not actually mentioned by Tolkien but possibly had an influence on him, while still others were probably not read by him but are indicative of the state of fantasy at the time he was active. None of these stories really measure up to Tolkien's standards (but then, what does?) but many are quite interesting and enjoyable to read.
Book Details:
Title Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
Author Edited by Douglas A. Anderson
Reviewed By Purplycookie
August 23, 2021
Like most collections of stories, it is somewhat uneven. Some of the stories are very good, some are less good. Still, it is interesting to see which of these stories may have had an influence on Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings work.
March 19, 2015
This book was rather disappointing in many ways. For one, it didn't contain what it claims on the cover... "classic stories that inspired" Tolkien. In fact, the editor of the collection clearly states in the introduction to many of the pieces that there is no record of Tolkien ever reading such a story... but he might have, if he had known about it. Which is pure speculation at best.
However, that is not to say this collection is terrible. Far from it! There are at least three stories in the book that are must reads. But what this book does well is listing all the authors from before Tolkien's time which had influential and interesting stories - unfortunately, most of those stories are not in this volume, but are listed, if you want a supplemental reading list you will have to track down on your own.
Some of the tales within are excerpts from longer tales - so why weren't there excerpts from A Voyage to Arcturus or The Princess and the Goblin which were known books Tolkien praised? Yes, those authors are included in this collection, but with other works which are perhaps not quite up to the standard you would expect. And a few of the Finnish myths that so influenced Tolkien's work would have nicely gone along with the one mythic tale that was included.
All in all, I recommend reading this not for the tales, but for the list of authors at the front and back of the book.
However, that is not to say this collection is terrible. Far from it! There are at least three stories in the book that are must reads. But what this book does well is listing all the authors from before Tolkien's time which had influential and interesting stories - unfortunately, most of those stories are not in this volume, but are listed, if you want a supplemental reading list you will have to track down on your own.
Some of the tales within are excerpts from longer tales - so why weren't there excerpts from A Voyage to Arcturus or The Princess and the Goblin which were known books Tolkien praised? Yes, those authors are included in this collection, but with other works which are perhaps not quite up to the standard you would expect. And a few of the Finnish myths that so influenced Tolkien's work would have nicely gone along with the one mythic tale that was included.
All in all, I recommend reading this not for the tales, but for the list of authors at the front and back of the book.
September 6, 2021
This is an entertaining mix of fairy tales and fantasy stories. Some of them are known to have been read and enjoyed by Tolkien, others have were definitely not known to him but showcase elements of early 20th century fantasy that indicate how it was received in that time.
It is clear from research that the ones Tolkien read were ones mostly intended for children, and indeed there exist his references to the enjoyment of his children as he read to them. Consequently, the greatest influences appear to be on “The Hobbit”, his children's story, and very little on his more mature and in depth work, “The Lord of the Rings”. The influences on “The Hobbit” are so strong that entire scenes seem to have been imported into that book, or at least directly influential on it.
As with many older stories, some do not age well. Some, like the Haggard, would be considered racist today but normal for adventure stories of that period. Some stories, however, like E. Nesbit's delightful “The Dragon Tamers” have a tongue-in-cheek whimsey that still brings a smile to the face today.
It is clear from research that the ones Tolkien read were ones mostly intended for children, and indeed there exist his references to the enjoyment of his children as he read to them. Consequently, the greatest influences appear to be on “The Hobbit”, his children's story, and very little on his more mature and in depth work, “The Lord of the Rings”. The influences on “The Hobbit” are so strong that entire scenes seem to have been imported into that book, or at least directly influential on it.
As with many older stories, some do not age well. Some, like the Haggard, would be considered racist today but normal for adventure stories of that period. Some stories, however, like E. Nesbit's delightful “The Dragon Tamers” have a tongue-in-cheek whimsey that still brings a smile to the face today.
April 29, 2024
I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection. I was going to list them, but found another goodreads review that does that, and overall I agree with his comments on the stories.
I particularly liked the evocative language in "The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I particularly liked the evocative language in "The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read
June 21, 2021was a great teaching tool when i taught the history of w fantasy--the stand outs were the story of sigurd (lang), the folk of the mountain door (w morris), and the regent of the north (k morris).
March 2, 2024
The Elves fails to do anything interesting in the first half as Mary explores what should be the most intriguing part of the book: the magical exploration of fairyland. My primary cause of grievance here is the rapidity of events unfurling. Tieck wanted to showcase too much for the pages allotted to the story, causing it is feel rushed and insignificant, which is the opposite of anything faerie. The story somewhat redeems itself as the story returns to our plane of existence, and Mary has to navigate her knowledge of faerie with blatant discrimination in a pretty predictable turn of events when she finally succumbs. I did forget how brutal children’s stories were, and it is ironic, I guess, that the one big surprise The Elves managed was that it did exactly what I should have expected.
The Golden Key manages much of the same pseudo-world-building as The Elves, with as little depth as well. Where it differentiates from the prior story is that it fails to make the story of any significance. I understand that the reader is not supposed to know what the land darkness is, just like Grandmother and more, but the level of vapidness is detrimental to the enjoyment. We need more synonyms for moss if the below can be approved for publishing: “Through this archway Tangle fell exhausted into a cool mossy cave. The floor and walls were covered with moss-green, soft, and damp. A little stream spouted from a rent in the rock and fell into a basin of moss.” (40)
Out of the fires of inadequate, or at least aged, stories comes our saviour in Puss-Cat MewThis fairytale has the adventuring of the previous story but also a narrative! In this story, we can see clear parallels to Tolkien’s The Hobbit. (1937) a magic weapon, invisibility, the confustication of hungry ogres/trolls, and a hubristic protagonist taunting his opponents whilst invisible. This story was delightful and, in contrast to the two previous ages, significantly better. The descriptive mutilation of magical creations is a bit much, but maybe we as a society have just gone soft, and we should introduce more pecking-out eyes in children’s literature. All in all, the indefinable tone and feel of Puss-Cat Mew, especially the witty narration, is remarkably reminiscent of The Hobbit.
The Griffin and the Minor Cannon and The Demon Pope are both perfectly fine short stories that neither do anything remarkably well nor disappointingly bad. The stories are better and more coherent than The Elves and The Golden Key, and more importantly, they are shorter.
The Story of Sigurd was a pleasant return to the Völsunga Saga, which I got familiar with when I read Shippey’s Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings, and while Shippey talked much of the sagas’ influence on Tolkien, it becomes more apparent once you dive into (a version of) one.
This story has quite a few similarities to themes found in Tolkien’s legendarium. We find a broken sword that must be reforged. Grani is a horse of exceptional heritage and a magic item that grants invisibility. This story was excellent, albeit at times it became too much of this person did this, so that person did that back-and-forth, but I imagine that is near impossible to avoid if you do not wish to go rogue from the source material.
I fail to understand the purpose or reason for The Folk of the Mountain Door. It feebly attempts to have a plot and even antagonism but ultimately decides to have neither.
While Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll thankfully was compelling me to read one like a Wilbur Smith novel, with plenty of action and little content. For a story from that time, I guess I should not be surprised by the “N-word,” but here I am surprised to see that word in a book focusing on Tolkien. Except for the vague resemblance between the Home of the Dead and Mirkwood with the canopy closing in, this story feels weirdly out of place in this collection.
The Dragon Tamers was a fun little whimsical story that felt very similar to the tone of The Hobbit, albeit the dragon in this story is significantly nicer than Smaug.
Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll, and The Far Islands have little to do with Tolkien, except for vague similarities to Valinor. Unlike Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll, it just was not a very interesting read.
The Drawn Arrow, Chu-bu and Sheemish, The Baumhoff Explosive, and The Regent of the North were all slow-paced, seemingly irrelevant to Tolkien, and just not my thing.
The Coming of the Terror feels like a more approachable Lovecraftian tale, less eldritch horror, less archaic, but still fascinating.
The Elf Trap coming out of a series of less-than-exciting stories, I had low expectations for this one, but it proved me wrong. The book returned to the perilousness of the elves and the dealing with them. The obvious and nonchalant discrimination and racism are tough to overcome, but underneath is a fascinating tale.
The Thin Queen of Elfhame introduces unnecessary whimsical creatures to explore the otherworldliness of the fae, and it becomes an amputated non-quest of little consequence, that would have been better should Cabell had put more focus on the final encounter to better explore the beforementioned ethereal fairy beings.
The Woman in the Wood was fine, not much more than that, not any less either.
Golithos the Ogre was interesting, albeit the idea that vegetarianism makes you dim-witted is not one I am particularly happy with, but maybe it is only the case with ogres.
The Story of Alwina feels displaced and requires a larger understanding of Islandia to appreciate the world-already-built.
General:
These stories are written for another world, another time (in the Age of Wonder, for my Dark Crystal friends), and they don't hold up for a millennial spoiled by Disney and other culture makers. Even I find that occasionally Tolkien can go a bit long in establishing settings or diving down the family trees. Still, the major difference between his work and some of the stories in this book is that eventually Tolkien’s narrative detours always reach their destination. The journey we took to reach those destinations helps build up a fictional world and history we care for, and about.
Maybe we, meaning I, have been spoiled by faster-paced stories that focused on reaching a story beat before running head first after the next beat that I simply cannot enjoy the wanderlust of some of these stories.
On one hand, I am pleased to have been presented with several of these tales I am confident I would otherwise never have encountered, on the other hand, the book ultimately fails to deliver on the promise made on the cover of the book, being that the book contains “Classic stories that inspired the author of The Lord of the Rings” when Anderson in most of these stories say that there is no proof of Tolkien ever having read that particular tale, furthermore in several instances Anderson says that Tolkien was unlikely to have known, but would have liked the story which is a weird and unfounded claim to make.
The Golden Key manages much of the same pseudo-world-building as The Elves, with as little depth as well. Where it differentiates from the prior story is that it fails to make the story of any significance. I understand that the reader is not supposed to know what the land darkness is, just like Grandmother and more, but the level of vapidness is detrimental to the enjoyment. We need more synonyms for moss if the below can be approved for publishing: “Through this archway Tangle fell exhausted into a cool mossy cave. The floor and walls were covered with moss-green, soft, and damp. A little stream spouted from a rent in the rock and fell into a basin of moss.” (40)
Out of the fires of inadequate, or at least aged, stories comes our saviour in Puss-Cat MewThis fairytale has the adventuring of the previous story but also a narrative! In this story, we can see clear parallels to Tolkien’s The Hobbit. (1937) a magic weapon, invisibility, the confustication of hungry ogres/trolls, and a hubristic protagonist taunting his opponents whilst invisible. This story was delightful and, in contrast to the two previous ages, significantly better. The descriptive mutilation of magical creations is a bit much, but maybe we as a society have just gone soft, and we should introduce more pecking-out eyes in children’s literature. All in all, the indefinable tone and feel of Puss-Cat Mew, especially the witty narration, is remarkably reminiscent of The Hobbit.
The Griffin and the Minor Cannon and The Demon Pope are both perfectly fine short stories that neither do anything remarkably well nor disappointingly bad. The stories are better and more coherent than The Elves and The Golden Key, and more importantly, they are shorter.
The Story of Sigurd was a pleasant return to the Völsunga Saga, which I got familiar with when I read Shippey’s Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings, and while Shippey talked much of the sagas’ influence on Tolkien, it becomes more apparent once you dive into (a version of) one.
This story has quite a few similarities to themes found in Tolkien’s legendarium. We find a broken sword that must be reforged. Grani is a horse of exceptional heritage and a magic item that grants invisibility. This story was excellent, albeit at times it became too much of this person did this, so that person did that back-and-forth, but I imagine that is near impossible to avoid if you do not wish to go rogue from the source material.
I fail to understand the purpose or reason for The Folk of the Mountain Door. It feebly attempts to have a plot and even antagonism but ultimately decides to have neither.
While Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll thankfully was compelling me to read one like a Wilbur Smith novel, with plenty of action and little content. For a story from that time, I guess I should not be surprised by the “N-word,” but here I am surprised to see that word in a book focusing on Tolkien. Except for the vague resemblance between the Home of the Dead and Mirkwood with the canopy closing in, this story feels weirdly out of place in this collection.
The Dragon Tamers was a fun little whimsical story that felt very similar to the tone of The Hobbit, albeit the dragon in this story is significantly nicer than Smaug.
Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll, and The Far Islands have little to do with Tolkien, except for vague similarities to Valinor. Unlike Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll, it just was not a very interesting read.
The Drawn Arrow, Chu-bu and Sheemish, The Baumhoff Explosive, and The Regent of the North were all slow-paced, seemingly irrelevant to Tolkien, and just not my thing.
The Coming of the Terror feels like a more approachable Lovecraftian tale, less eldritch horror, less archaic, but still fascinating.
The Elf Trap coming out of a series of less-than-exciting stories, I had low expectations for this one, but it proved me wrong. The book returned to the perilousness of the elves and the dealing with them. The obvious and nonchalant discrimination and racism are tough to overcome, but underneath is a fascinating tale.
The Thin Queen of Elfhame introduces unnecessary whimsical creatures to explore the otherworldliness of the fae, and it becomes an amputated non-quest of little consequence, that would have been better should Cabell had put more focus on the final encounter to better explore the beforementioned ethereal fairy beings.
The Woman in the Wood was fine, not much more than that, not any less either.
Golithos the Ogre was interesting, albeit the idea that vegetarianism makes you dim-witted is not one I am particularly happy with, but maybe it is only the case with ogres.
The Story of Alwina feels displaced and requires a larger understanding of Islandia to appreciate the world-already-built.
General:
These stories are written for another world, another time (in the Age of Wonder, for my Dark Crystal friends), and they don't hold up for a millennial spoiled by Disney and other culture makers. Even I find that occasionally Tolkien can go a bit long in establishing settings or diving down the family trees. Still, the major difference between his work and some of the stories in this book is that eventually Tolkien’s narrative detours always reach their destination. The journey we took to reach those destinations helps build up a fictional world and history we care for, and about.
Maybe we, meaning I, have been spoiled by faster-paced stories that focused on reaching a story beat before running head first after the next beat that I simply cannot enjoy the wanderlust of some of these stories.
On one hand, I am pleased to have been presented with several of these tales I am confident I would otherwise never have encountered, on the other hand, the book ultimately fails to deliver on the promise made on the cover of the book, being that the book contains “Classic stories that inspired the author of The Lord of the Rings” when Anderson in most of these stories say that there is no proof of Tolkien ever having read that particular tale, furthermore in several instances Anderson says that Tolkien was unlikely to have known, but would have liked the story which is a weird and unfounded claim to make.
August 2, 2023
Tolkien expert Douglas A. Anderson has assembled a collection of 22 stories representing a bibliography of magic and fantasy tales written before publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's stories of Middle Earth. Modern fantasy authors have Tolkien as a model however earlier works from mythology, folklore, and medieval literature would have influenced Tolkien himself.
Although the stories varied in style and theme, I felt Anderson's curation was excellent, resulting in many enjoyable examples of older fiction.
Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson
Tolkien’s greatness lies in how he brought together the various existing strands of fantasy—heroic romance, folklore, fairy tales, and adult fantasy—and extended the scope of fantasy across the board in a historical as well as novelistic manner.
1. The Elves by Ludwig Tieck (1812) — A German literary fairy tale (kunstmärchen) about a young girl Mary and her experiences with the Elves in their hidden world.
2. The Golden Key by George MacDonald (1867) — A fairytale about a boy living on the borders of fairyland who finds a magical golden key, and a girl who follows a flying fish into a fairy's cottage. Tolkien found many faults in this story and was inspired to write a better one, Smith of Wootton Major.
3. Puss-cat Mew by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen (1869) — A miller's son Joe Brown sets out to see the world and enters an enchanted wood which is the home of fairies, ogres and dwarfs. He and the fairies are in danger from the ogres and dwarfs but together they oppose the forces of evil to free the forest.
4. The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton (1885) — A griffin travels to a church where a sculptor has carved his likeness. The Minor Canon is sent by town residents to placate the monster however the griffin grows attached to the young priest and won't leave.
5. The Demon Pope by Richard Garnett (1888) — The demon agrees to aid the success of a student named Gerbert for forty years. However when the demon comes to collect Gerbert's soul, he realizes that Gerbert is too virtuous to enter hell.
6. The Story of Sigurd retold by Andrew Lang (1890) — A curse on a dwarf's golden horde dooms anyone who possesses it; it comes to Sigurd when he slays the dragon Fafnir. Sigurd rides through flames to rescue the beautiful warrior maiden Brynhild and pledges his troth to her. However a witch causes Sigurd to forget Brynhild and marry the witch's daughter Gudrun instead. The witch also tricks Brynhild into marrying her son Gunnar. When Brynhild discovers the deceit, she takes her revenge causing death to all, fulfilling the dwarf's curse.
7. The Folk of the Mountain Door by William Morris (1914) — A regal but ancient stranger and his wife join the celebration for the name-day of the king's son whom was called Host-lord. On his name-day, the king marks his son's face with a spear in honor of the god Odin, the baby is cheered, and the strangers give him gifts. As the strangers are leaving, they give the king a prophetical but abstruse warning about his son.
8. Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll by H. Rider Haggard (1896) — Phillip Hadden is a dishonest rogue who causes trouble and leaves behind debts wherever he goes. To escape the law, he crosses into Zulu country and asks permission from the king (Cetywayo) to hunt on his land. The king agrees and sends Captain Nanoon (who is morose because his betrothal has just been denied by the king) with Hadden; they are both to return within a month.
9. The Dragon Tamers by E. Nesbit (1899) — John the blacksmith encounters a dragon in the dungeon of the old castle where he has his forge. The dragon must be tamed but first he must be tricked into a collar and chained.
10. The Far Islands by John Buchan (1899) — The chronicle of the family Raden who were descendents of the famous warrior-bard Colin the Red. The Radens inhabited the western shore for many generations but were always drawn to the island of Cuna and beyond, far to the west. The last Colin of the line is haunted by his quest for this unreachable land.
11. The Drawn Arrow by Clemence Housman (1923) — Delirious from thirst, a king lies hidden in the desert, the target of a coup by his malicious half-brother. A lone hillman gives him water, saving his life.
12. The Enchanted Buffalo by L. Frank Baum (1905) — Barrag the Bull, King of the Okolom and aided by Pagshat, Evil Genius of the Prairie, attempts to defeat the calf Oknu with an enchantment.
13. Chu-bu and Sheemish by Lord Dunsany (1911) — The jealous rival gods Chu-bu and Sheemish vie for supremacy.
14. The Baumoff Explosive by William Hope Hodgson (1919) — A colleague of the celebrated chemist Baumoff explains the chemist's discovery of dark energy in the Aether, its explosive potential, and Baumoff's incredible final experiment.
15. The Regent of the North by Kenneth Morris (1915) — The icy wilderness of the far north is the home of the Frost Giants and the gods of the Vikings. Disgusted with the encroachment of Christianity, aged Halfdan goes a-viking, sailing out in pursuit of his ancient gods and dreams of Valhalla. His journey takes him to the villages of Lapland and far beyond.
16. The Coming of the Terror by Arthur Machen (1917) — An unnatural series of calamities and plagues causes terror in the English countryside.
17. The Elf Trap by Francis Stevens (1919) — Theron Tademus, professor at a NC college, is prescribed a summer rest in a remote Blue Ridge cabin by his doctor. During his stay in the mountains, he goes missing for a week. The explanation for his disappearance is only revealed after his sudden death on the first day of fall classes.
18. The Thin Queen of Elfhame by James Branch Cabell (1922) — The court lothario Anavalt journeys to the Wood of Elfhame to behold his former wife and lover.
19. The Woman of the Wood by A. Merritt (1926) — A retired pilot senses a great fear and disturbance from the trees. His protective and sympathetic response allows him to perceive the numinous world of the forest and its ancient feud.
20. Golithos the Ogre by E. A. Wyke-Smith (1927) — Here is an excerpt from The Marvelous Land of Snergs, a favorite story of Tolkien's children and features a vegetarian ogre.
21. The Story of Alwina by Austin Tappan Wright (1981) — Alwina, a girl of twenty, was first in line to succeed her father's throne in Islandia, but was opposed by factions who deemed her youth and sex an impediment. However she wins the acclaim of the people and displays her fitness as queen by recruiting strong allies and rousing the population in defense against their enemies.
22. A Christmas Play by David Lindsay (1930s) — Tolkien read and enjoyed Lindsay's debut novel A Voyage to Arcturus but this play is first published in this collection. The fairy Emerald wants to bestow princes on three deserving girls but Queen Titania writes her a letter saying only two princes are available.
Although the stories varied in style and theme, I felt Anderson's curation was excellent, resulting in many enjoyable examples of older fiction.
Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson
Tolkien’s greatness lies in how he brought together the various existing strands of fantasy—heroic romance, folklore, fairy tales, and adult fantasy—and extended the scope of fantasy across the board in a historical as well as novelistic manner.
1. The Elves by Ludwig Tieck (1812) — A German literary fairy tale (kunstmärchen) about a young girl Mary and her experiences with the Elves in their hidden world.
2. The Golden Key by George MacDonald (1867) — A fairytale about a boy living on the borders of fairyland who finds a magical golden key, and a girl who follows a flying fish into a fairy's cottage. Tolkien found many faults in this story and was inspired to write a better one, Smith of Wootton Major.
3. Puss-cat Mew by E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen (1869) — A miller's son Joe Brown sets out to see the world and enters an enchanted wood which is the home of fairies, ogres and dwarfs. He and the fairies are in danger from the ogres and dwarfs but together they oppose the forces of evil to free the forest.
4. The Griffin and the Minor Canon by Frank R. Stockton (1885) — A griffin travels to a church where a sculptor has carved his likeness. The Minor Canon is sent by town residents to placate the monster however the griffin grows attached to the young priest and won't leave.
5. The Demon Pope by Richard Garnett (1888) — The demon agrees to aid the success of a student named Gerbert for forty years. However when the demon comes to collect Gerbert's soul, he realizes that Gerbert is too virtuous to enter hell.
6. The Story of Sigurd retold by Andrew Lang (1890) — A curse on a dwarf's golden horde dooms anyone who possesses it; it comes to Sigurd when he slays the dragon Fafnir. Sigurd rides through flames to rescue the beautiful warrior maiden Brynhild and pledges his troth to her. However a witch causes Sigurd to forget Brynhild and marry the witch's daughter Gudrun instead. The witch also tricks Brynhild into marrying her son Gunnar. When Brynhild discovers the deceit, she takes her revenge causing death to all, fulfilling the dwarf's curse.
7. The Folk of the Mountain Door by William Morris (1914) — A regal but ancient stranger and his wife join the celebration for the name-day of the king's son whom was called Host-lord. On his name-day, the king marks his son's face with a spear in honor of the god Odin, the baby is cheered, and the strangers give him gifts. As the strangers are leaving, they give the king a prophetical but abstruse warning about his son.
8. Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll by H. Rider Haggard (1896) — Phillip Hadden is a dishonest rogue who causes trouble and leaves behind debts wherever he goes. To escape the law, he crosses into Zulu country and asks permission from the king (Cetywayo) to hunt on his land. The king agrees and sends Captain Nanoon (who is morose because his betrothal has just been denied by the king) with Hadden; they are both to return within a month.
9. The Dragon Tamers by E. Nesbit (1899) — John the blacksmith encounters a dragon in the dungeon of the old castle where he has his forge. The dragon must be tamed but first he must be tricked into a collar and chained.
10. The Far Islands by John Buchan (1899) — The chronicle of the family Raden who were descendents of the famous warrior-bard Colin the Red. The Radens inhabited the western shore for many generations but were always drawn to the island of Cuna and beyond, far to the west. The last Colin of the line is haunted by his quest for this unreachable land.
11. The Drawn Arrow by Clemence Housman (1923) — Delirious from thirst, a king lies hidden in the desert, the target of a coup by his malicious half-brother. A lone hillman gives him water, saving his life.
12. The Enchanted Buffalo by L. Frank Baum (1905) — Barrag the Bull, King of the Okolom and aided by Pagshat, Evil Genius of the Prairie, attempts to defeat the calf Oknu with an enchantment.
13. Chu-bu and Sheemish by Lord Dunsany (1911) — The jealous rival gods Chu-bu and Sheemish vie for supremacy.
14. The Baumoff Explosive by William Hope Hodgson (1919) — A colleague of the celebrated chemist Baumoff explains the chemist's discovery of dark energy in the Aether, its explosive potential, and Baumoff's incredible final experiment.
15. The Regent of the North by Kenneth Morris (1915) — The icy wilderness of the far north is the home of the Frost Giants and the gods of the Vikings. Disgusted with the encroachment of Christianity, aged Halfdan goes a-viking, sailing out in pursuit of his ancient gods and dreams of Valhalla. His journey takes him to the villages of Lapland and far beyond.
16. The Coming of the Terror by Arthur Machen (1917) — An unnatural series of calamities and plagues causes terror in the English countryside.
17. The Elf Trap by Francis Stevens (1919) — Theron Tademus, professor at a NC college, is prescribed a summer rest in a remote Blue Ridge cabin by his doctor. During his stay in the mountains, he goes missing for a week. The explanation for his disappearance is only revealed after his sudden death on the first day of fall classes.
18. The Thin Queen of Elfhame by James Branch Cabell (1922) — The court lothario Anavalt journeys to the Wood of Elfhame to behold his former wife and lover.
19. The Woman of the Wood by A. Merritt (1926) — A retired pilot senses a great fear and disturbance from the trees. His protective and sympathetic response allows him to perceive the numinous world of the forest and its ancient feud.
20. Golithos the Ogre by E. A. Wyke-Smith (1927) — Here is an excerpt from The Marvelous Land of Snergs, a favorite story of Tolkien's children and features a vegetarian ogre.
21. The Story of Alwina by Austin Tappan Wright (1981) — Alwina, a girl of twenty, was first in line to succeed her father's throne in Islandia, but was opposed by factions who deemed her youth and sex an impediment. However she wins the acclaim of the people and displays her fitness as queen by recruiting strong allies and rousing the population in defense against their enemies.
22. A Christmas Play by David Lindsay (1930s) — Tolkien read and enjoyed Lindsay's debut novel A Voyage to Arcturus but this play is first published in this collection. The fairy Emerald wants to bestow princes on three deserving girls but Queen Titania writes her a letter saying only two princes are available.
August 1, 2008
The introduction explaining how stories were chosen is excellent in itself, and both satisfying and liberating to Tolkien scholars. (Iliad, Odyssey, and Beowulf are in the first sentence of the second paragraph.) "Liberating" because it does such a good job of expressing purpose of choice, Tolkienites are totally freed from continuing to mull it and so can simply read and enjoy the selected stories regardless of their degree of relation to LotR.
Stories themselves are magnificent. Favorites are probably "The Griffin and Minor Canon" (Frank R. Stockton), "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" (H. Rider Haggard), "The Far Islands" (John Buchan), "The Coming of Terror" (Arthur Machen—and I must wonder if M. Night Shyamalan has read this story) and particularly "Chu-bu and Sheemish" (Lord Dunsany). Though there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy reading, and I should also mention "The Golden Key" (George MacDonald), "The Thin Queen of Elfhame" (James Branch Cabell) and "A Christmas Play" (David Lindsay) for sticking very much in the mind and continuing to thought-evoke. ...And I've just named just about every story in the book, so there you have it.
Stories themselves are magnificent. Favorites are probably "The Griffin and Minor Canon" (Frank R. Stockton), "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" (H. Rider Haggard), "The Far Islands" (John Buchan), "The Coming of Terror" (Arthur Machen—and I must wonder if M. Night Shyamalan has read this story) and particularly "Chu-bu and Sheemish" (Lord Dunsany). Though there wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy reading, and I should also mention "The Golden Key" (George MacDonald), "The Thin Queen of Elfhame" (James Branch Cabell) and "A Christmas Play" (David Lindsay) for sticking very much in the mind and continuing to thought-evoke. ...And I've just named just about every story in the book, so there you have it.
March 19, 2012
An interesting collection of mostly 19th Century fairy stories with a few "weird" tales of the era thrown in, but for the most part this anthology is only enjoyable from an academic perspective.
These stories have not aged well. Most are trite, precious, wooden, and overly moralistic. Only a handful are genuinely good ("Black Heart and White Heart" by H. Rider Haggard and "Chu-bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany are the best) but several are completely unreadable.
These stories have not aged well. Most are trite, precious, wooden, and overly moralistic. Only a handful are genuinely good ("Black Heart and White Heart" by H. Rider Haggard and "Chu-bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany are the best) but several are completely unreadable.
Read
July 31, 2010I really enjoyed this book. It really gave me the perspective that Tolkine had when he was a young writers as myself. I will continue to cherish the old tales even more now. Tokien remains to be one of my admired authors.
Read
May 24, 2012I learnt that dragons are covered in soft fur underneath their hard scales, and too much bread and milk has caused the species to evolve into cats. Most enlightening. Also, some cats are fairies. Keep this in mind.
April 7, 2013
Tolkien is often considered to be the father of modern fantasy, but it's not like he woke up one morning and thought, "I'm going to write this crazy story that takes place in a world that may or may not be our own and features Elves and Dwarves and wizards!" This anthology, compiled by Tolkien scholar Douglas Anderson, is a collection of stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries that either are known to have inspired Tolkien or are representative of the kind of (what we would consider) fantasy fiction from that period.
The problem with this anthology is that, while most of these stories are decent, none are very memorable. I've only disliked one or two of the stories, but I can't say that 6 months from now I'm going to remember the plot of any of these tales. Another reviewer noted that these are worth reading only from an academic standpoint - that is, they don't have a lot of merit outside of reading them through the lens of Tolkien's influences - and I have to agree with this statement.
(Starred stories are the cream of the crop in this collection.)
"The Elves" by Ludwig Tieck - 4/5. A fairly traditional story in which a young girl spends what she perceives to be a few hours with some elves and then returns to her family, only to discover that many years have passed.
"The Golden Key" by George MacDonald - 4/5. A boy is given a key and spends a lifetime searching for the door it opens. A bit overly allegorical, but I enjoyed it.
"Puss-cat Mew" by EH Knatchbull-Hugessen - 3/5. A man wanders into a forest with fairies, trolls, and goblins. This story would have worked better if it wasn't so long.
* "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" by Frank R. Stockton - 4/5. A griffin comes to town and befriends one of the townsmen without realizing that he is feared by everyone else.
"The Demon Pope" by Richard Garnett - 1/5. Awful. I don't know why this was included. The devil makes a deal with the pope to be pope for a day.
"The Story of Sigurd" by Andrew Lang - 4/5. A Danish folk tale about a man who slays a dragon, rescues an enchanted maiden, etc etc.
"The Folk of the Mountain Door" by William Morris - 2/5. I really liked this one until the ending, which is abrupt and inconclusive. It left me wondering what the point of this story is. Basically two figures wander into the hall of a king and chat with him for a while. Then they go away.
"Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" by H. Rider Haggard - 2/5. Set in what is today South Africa, an English trader is hiding out from the government among the Zulu. This is an interesting story from the perspective of 19th century colonization and has an interesting message - the white man in the story has the black heart and the Zulu native has a white heart - but otherwise I found it a bit dull.
"The Dragon Tamers" by E. Nesbit - 3/5. A dragon is captured by a blacksmith and confined to a castle. I liked this story at first, but now I just feel sorry for the dragon.
* "The Far Islands" by John Buchan - 5/5. Easily the best story in this collection. A young boy living on the Scottish coast strives to see an island in the distance. As he gets older, the island becomes clearer until his death, when he is able to travel to the island and beyond. Allusions to Middle Earth are obvious here, and I was absolutely spellbound by this tale.
"The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman - 1/5. Like "The Demon Pope," I hated this story.
"The Enchanted Buffalo" by L. Frank Baum - 2/5. This is basically Hamlet/The Lion King, but with buffalos.
"Chu-Bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany - 2/5. An idol name Chu-Bu becomes jealous when a new idol, Sheemish, is placed in the same temple. I didn't like this story but I enjoyed a few others from "The Book of Wonders," the collection that includes "Chu-Bu and Sheemish." I figure this particular story was included because it's known that Tolkien read it, although some of the other stories by Lord Dunsany might have been better choices for this anthology.
"The Baumoff Explosive" by William Hope Hodgson - 4/5. A bizarre and downright eerie story about a man who performs an experiment to simulate the exact physical and environmental conditions that Jesus experienced when he died on the cross. In other words, Baumoff crucifies himself. As a work of horror fiction, this story works extremely well (I found it quite visually disturbing), but it feels out of place in this collection.
"The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris - 4/5. A Swedish man becomes upset when Christianity comes to the land and replaces the old gods.
"The Coming of the Terror" by Arthur Machen - 3/5. A condensed version of Machen's novel "The Terror," this story describes a series of unexplained events that happen across Britain during the summer of 1915. "The Coming of the Terror" has an Interesting premise with a weak pay-off; the explanation of the terror was a bit too illogical and boring for my tastes.
"The Elf-Trap" by Francis Stevens - 4/5. This is similar to "The Elves," the first story in this collection, though set in Appalachia.
* "The Thin Queen of Elfhame" by James Branch Cabell - 4/5. A renowned man leaves his home behind in search of an elf queen. This would have been an unremarkable story if not for the dash of irony at the end - the elf queen has no heart and love cannot exist in her wood, which means that no one can get hurt.
* "The Woman of the Wood" by A. Merritt - 5/5. Although the introduction to this story notes that Tolkien probably had never read this story, the similarities between Tolkien's Ents and the trees in this story are eerily similar. This is one of the better stories in the collection - I was riveted the entire time.
"Golithos the Ogre" by EA Wyke-Smith - 3/5. This is a chapter from Wyke-Smith's novel "Marvellous Land of Snergs," which directly influenced Tolkien's Hobbits. This particular except is weak, though; it doesn't focus on the Snergs (Hobbits) or their habits, but instead shows an ogre who has turned vegetarian. Fascinating.
"The Story of Alwina" by Austin Tappan Wright - 3/5. Set in the fictional country of Islandia, this is the story of the land's first female ruler. Not a bad story, but it was written as too much of a history for my liking. No background was provided for any of the fictional names and places in the story and I found myself thinking, "What's the point?"
"A Christmas Play" by David Lindsay - 2/5. I might have liked this one better if it wasn't written as a play; I've never been fond of reading plays. A fairy wants to grant three sisters each a prince, but her queen will only allow her to give two of the sisters princes. A bit too philosophical and preachy for my tastes.
The problem with this anthology is that, while most of these stories are decent, none are very memorable. I've only disliked one or two of the stories, but I can't say that 6 months from now I'm going to remember the plot of any of these tales. Another reviewer noted that these are worth reading only from an academic standpoint - that is, they don't have a lot of merit outside of reading them through the lens of Tolkien's influences - and I have to agree with this statement.
(Starred stories are the cream of the crop in this collection.)
"The Elves" by Ludwig Tieck - 4/5. A fairly traditional story in which a young girl spends what she perceives to be a few hours with some elves and then returns to her family, only to discover that many years have passed.
"The Golden Key" by George MacDonald - 4/5. A boy is given a key and spends a lifetime searching for the door it opens. A bit overly allegorical, but I enjoyed it.
"Puss-cat Mew" by EH Knatchbull-Hugessen - 3/5. A man wanders into a forest with fairies, trolls, and goblins. This story would have worked better if it wasn't so long.
* "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" by Frank R. Stockton - 4/5. A griffin comes to town and befriends one of the townsmen without realizing that he is feared by everyone else.
"The Demon Pope" by Richard Garnett - 1/5. Awful. I don't know why this was included. The devil makes a deal with the pope to be pope for a day.
"The Story of Sigurd" by Andrew Lang - 4/5. A Danish folk tale about a man who slays a dragon, rescues an enchanted maiden, etc etc.
"The Folk of the Mountain Door" by William Morris - 2/5. I really liked this one until the ending, which is abrupt and inconclusive. It left me wondering what the point of this story is. Basically two figures wander into the hall of a king and chat with him for a while. Then they go away.
"Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" by H. Rider Haggard - 2/5. Set in what is today South Africa, an English trader is hiding out from the government among the Zulu. This is an interesting story from the perspective of 19th century colonization and has an interesting message - the white man in the story has the black heart and the Zulu native has a white heart - but otherwise I found it a bit dull.
"The Dragon Tamers" by E. Nesbit - 3/5. A dragon is captured by a blacksmith and confined to a castle. I liked this story at first, but now I just feel sorry for the dragon.
* "The Far Islands" by John Buchan - 5/5. Easily the best story in this collection. A young boy living on the Scottish coast strives to see an island in the distance. As he gets older, the island becomes clearer until his death, when he is able to travel to the island and beyond. Allusions to Middle Earth are obvious here, and I was absolutely spellbound by this tale.
"The Drawn Arrow" by Clemence Housman - 1/5. Like "The Demon Pope," I hated this story.
"The Enchanted Buffalo" by L. Frank Baum - 2/5. This is basically Hamlet/The Lion King, but with buffalos.
"Chu-Bu and Sheemish" by Lord Dunsany - 2/5. An idol name Chu-Bu becomes jealous when a new idol, Sheemish, is placed in the same temple. I didn't like this story but I enjoyed a few others from "The Book of Wonders," the collection that includes "Chu-Bu and Sheemish." I figure this particular story was included because it's known that Tolkien read it, although some of the other stories by Lord Dunsany might have been better choices for this anthology.
"The Baumoff Explosive" by William Hope Hodgson - 4/5. A bizarre and downright eerie story about a man who performs an experiment to simulate the exact physical and environmental conditions that Jesus experienced when he died on the cross. In other words, Baumoff crucifies himself. As a work of horror fiction, this story works extremely well (I found it quite visually disturbing), but it feels out of place in this collection.
"The Regent of the North" by Kenneth Morris - 4/5. A Swedish man becomes upset when Christianity comes to the land and replaces the old gods.
"The Coming of the Terror" by Arthur Machen - 3/5. A condensed version of Machen's novel "The Terror," this story describes a series of unexplained events that happen across Britain during the summer of 1915. "The Coming of the Terror" has an Interesting premise with a weak pay-off; the explanation of the terror was a bit too illogical and boring for my tastes.
"The Elf-Trap" by Francis Stevens - 4/5. This is similar to "The Elves," the first story in this collection, though set in Appalachia.
* "The Thin Queen of Elfhame" by James Branch Cabell - 4/5. A renowned man leaves his home behind in search of an elf queen. This would have been an unremarkable story if not for the dash of irony at the end - the elf queen has no heart and love cannot exist in her wood, which means that no one can get hurt.
* "The Woman of the Wood" by A. Merritt - 5/5. Although the introduction to this story notes that Tolkien probably had never read this story, the similarities between Tolkien's Ents and the trees in this story are eerily similar. This is one of the better stories in the collection - I was riveted the entire time.
"Golithos the Ogre" by EA Wyke-Smith - 3/5. This is a chapter from Wyke-Smith's novel "Marvellous Land of Snergs," which directly influenced Tolkien's Hobbits. This particular except is weak, though; it doesn't focus on the Snergs (Hobbits) or their habits, but instead shows an ogre who has turned vegetarian. Fascinating.
"The Story of Alwina" by Austin Tappan Wright - 3/5. Set in the fictional country of Islandia, this is the story of the land's first female ruler. Not a bad story, but it was written as too much of a history for my liking. No background was provided for any of the fictional names and places in the story and I found myself thinking, "What's the point?"
"A Christmas Play" by David Lindsay - 2/5. I might have liked this one better if it wasn't written as a play; I've never been fond of reading plays. A fairy wants to grant three sisters each a prince, but her queen will only allow her to give two of the sisters princes. A bit too philosophical and preachy for my tastes.
April 14, 2020
Well, we've finally come to it. The pre-Tolkien half of my year of fantasy has concluded, and the only works left before moving on to the post-Tolkien era are two anthologies edited by Douglas A. Anderson: "Tales Before Tolkien" and "Tales Before Narnia". Both of these books aim to present, through a collection of chronologically placed short stories, a view of what the fantasy genre was like before Tolkien and C.S. Lewis came onto the scene. This is the review of "Tales Before Tolkien".
Overall, this is a good book, and it achieves what it sets out to do very well. Douglas A. Anderson's reason for placing each story in here is clearly defined and understandable. Each story serves a purpose of presenting a new angle or view on the genre (a lot of them directly influenced Tolkien) even if they're not all stellar in quality. I came away from this book with a clear picture of Pre-Tolkien fantasy, and I think it serves as a really nice summary on everything I've read up to this point. I can't give a commentary for each individual story in here, as their are far too many, but just know that I wouldn't call any of them "bad". The best are really good, the worst ones decent.
It's tough when doing this review to not make it about Pre-Tolkien fantasy as a whole. I feel myself wanting to do that, but I'm trying to hold back. I could drone on and on about what I think of how the genre has changed and all that; however, I want to keep this brief, and just about this anthology.
It's a good book. As a (relatively) brief introduction to the world of fantasy before Tolkien's massive influence, you can really do no better. Tolkien fans will delight at seeing some of the inspirations for the professor's work, and even Tolkien naysayers will get enjoyment out of this.
And now, on to "Tales Before Narnia"
Overall, this is a good book, and it achieves what it sets out to do very well. Douglas A. Anderson's reason for placing each story in here is clearly defined and understandable. Each story serves a purpose of presenting a new angle or view on the genre (a lot of them directly influenced Tolkien) even if they're not all stellar in quality. I came away from this book with a clear picture of Pre-Tolkien fantasy, and I think it serves as a really nice summary on everything I've read up to this point. I can't give a commentary for each individual story in here, as their are far too many, but just know that I wouldn't call any of them "bad". The best are really good, the worst ones decent.
It's tough when doing this review to not make it about Pre-Tolkien fantasy as a whole. I feel myself wanting to do that, but I'm trying to hold back. I could drone on and on about what I think of how the genre has changed and all that; however, I want to keep this brief, and just about this anthology.
It's a good book. As a (relatively) brief introduction to the world of fantasy before Tolkien's massive influence, you can really do no better. Tolkien fans will delight at seeing some of the inspirations for the professor's work, and even Tolkien naysayers will get enjoyment out of this.
And now, on to "Tales Before Narnia"
August 23, 2023
This is a collection of 22 short stories that the author has selected to exemplify modern fantasy prior to the publication of The Hobbit. These stories represent a transitional phase—a time after the fairy tales and romances of the Middle Ages through early modern era, but before the changed landscape of fantasy after the middle of the twentieth century.
As a whole, I greatly appreciate this collection—the stories are delightful and, in some cases, terrifying, and provide a fascinating launching point to understanding the origin of modern fantasy. However, while I understand the author's desire to not provide too much of his own commentary and influence the reader with that, I wish that he had provide more reflection and thoughts as to the details of each of the stories that makes them influential, the common threads among them, and how we can still see those influences in modern fantasy. This would've been nicely accomplished in an afterword that tied all the works together.
The stories themselves are varied and fascinating—though, as with many historical stories, must be viewed through the lens of the time they were written (and the prejudices that the authors had—some of which can make the reading quite uncomfortable for modern readers.) Still, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the origin of modern fantasy, and the influence of pre-Tolkien writers.
As a whole, I greatly appreciate this collection—the stories are delightful and, in some cases, terrifying, and provide a fascinating launching point to understanding the origin of modern fantasy. However, while I understand the author's desire to not provide too much of his own commentary and influence the reader with that, I wish that he had provide more reflection and thoughts as to the details of each of the stories that makes them influential, the common threads among them, and how we can still see those influences in modern fantasy. This would've been nicely accomplished in an afterword that tied all the works together.
The stories themselves are varied and fascinating—though, as with many historical stories, must be viewed through the lens of the time they were written (and the prejudices that the authors had—some of which can make the reading quite uncomfortable for modern readers.) Still, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the origin of modern fantasy, and the influence of pre-Tolkien writers.
July 25, 2017
Perfect for anyone who enjoys fantasy or fairy tale, this book really can be read without any serious connection to Tolkien. I can see how many of the stories were influential to him, but the bigger idea is that Fantasy existed before Tolkien and that he launched tales like these to the next level. Anderson included stories from all across the world, which makes an interesting compilation, but may or may not make the case that the tales were the kind that would influence Tolkien.
In any compilation like this, some of the stories will be 5 star, and others will definitely not be. In this collection, the best tales were "The Coming of the Terror," a story of the disturbance of the natural order--FANTASTIC!!!; "Golithos the Ogre," which was influential on Tolkien's tone/voice, as well as being hilarious in and of itself; "The Baumhoff Explosive," on the essence of light and darkness; "The Golden Key," the journey of life and death; "Black Heart and White Heart," a story of greed and goodness, "The Demon Pope," and "The Griffin and the Minor Canon."
Duds in the collection include "Puss-Cat Mew," which just dragged on too long, though the idea was a good one (retelling a nursery rhyme); "The Story of Alwina," though it does sound a lot like the Silmarillion, in density and tone.
The others are all good fantasy stories, so if you are in the mood for a wide range of fantasy, this book is for you.
In any compilation like this, some of the stories will be 5 star, and others will definitely not be. In this collection, the best tales were "The Coming of the Terror," a story of the disturbance of the natural order--FANTASTIC!!!; "Golithos the Ogre," which was influential on Tolkien's tone/voice, as well as being hilarious in and of itself; "The Baumhoff Explosive," on the essence of light and darkness; "The Golden Key," the journey of life and death; "Black Heart and White Heart," a story of greed and goodness, "The Demon Pope," and "The Griffin and the Minor Canon."
Duds in the collection include "Puss-Cat Mew," which just dragged on too long, though the idea was a good one (retelling a nursery rhyme); "The Story of Alwina," though it does sound a lot like the Silmarillion, in density and tone.
The others are all good fantasy stories, so if you are in the mood for a wide range of fantasy, this book is for you.
November 14, 2021
FINALLY I am done with this one!
The major problem I have with this is that what the editor has done is essentially taken a short story that Tolkien has talked about in a letter or someone else remembers Tolkien talking about it, and then pointed at some similarities between this book and The Lord of the Rings or The hobbit.
"This short story which is about a miner, is reminiscent of Moria! Tolkien talks about this story in his letters! So this story probably inspired Moria!"
And I feel that sort of misses the mark. Because old man Tolkien wasn't just inspired by earlier fantasy stories he had read, he was also inspired by his work as an english professor, by his friendships with C.S Lewis and other people, by events happening in the world around him, by his catholic faith... The list can be made long!
Lets say we were to do the same thing by a living author like Brandon Sanderson. Let us say we decide to create a book of short stories that we believed inspired Brandon Sanderson.
In his podcasts he mentions he has been influenced by Robert Jordan and Barbara Hambly. He also mentions he loves movies as well as video games. Well then we must include a short story by Tolkien because he has probably seen the Lord of the Rings-movies. And he has mentioned in a video he liked Halo, so naturally must we put in a short piece of Halo-fanfic and say "This is what inspired Brandon!"
You see my problem here?
The major problem I have with this is that what the editor has done is essentially taken a short story that Tolkien has talked about in a letter or someone else remembers Tolkien talking about it, and then pointed at some similarities between this book and The Lord of the Rings or The hobbit.
"This short story which is about a miner, is reminiscent of Moria! Tolkien talks about this story in his letters! So this story probably inspired Moria!"
And I feel that sort of misses the mark. Because old man Tolkien wasn't just inspired by earlier fantasy stories he had read, he was also inspired by his work as an english professor, by his friendships with C.S Lewis and other people, by events happening in the world around him, by his catholic faith... The list can be made long!
Lets say we were to do the same thing by a living author like Brandon Sanderson. Let us say we decide to create a book of short stories that we believed inspired Brandon Sanderson.
In his podcasts he mentions he has been influenced by Robert Jordan and Barbara Hambly. He also mentions he loves movies as well as video games. Well then we must include a short story by Tolkien because he has probably seen the Lord of the Rings-movies. And he has mentioned in a video he liked Halo, so naturally must we put in a short piece of Halo-fanfic and say "This is what inspired Brandon!"
You see my problem here?
March 28, 2019
There are quite a variety of tales in this book, ranging from Tolkienesque stories of elves and dragons to horror “The Baumoff Explosive”, comedy “The Dragon Tamers”, satire “Chu-Bu and Sheemish”, paradoxically violent children’s folktales in the Brothers Grimm mode “Puss-Cat Mew “, mythology “The Golden Key”, imaginary histories “The Story or Alwina”, strange little existential gems “The Thin Queen of Elfhame”, as well as a rather unsuccessful attempt to shed fantasy of its European roots “A Zulu Idyll” (which is nonetheless told from the view of a European). Many of them combine two or more of these ideas. Some of them ring with the type of epic grandeur and deliberately archaic language that characterize Tolkien’s “High Style”.
Every reader will probably like one or two of these stories and despise one or two others. I found the first several to be disappointing but began to like the ones near the end (I don’t know if this has anything to do with the chronological order in which the tales are presented). Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy writing, and specifically anyone interested in the roots of Tolkien’s ideas, though the editor leaves out that other epic about a magic (and cursed) ring, that one by Richard Wagner…
--Steven E. Scribner, author of the "Tond" series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Every reader will probably like one or two of these stories and despise one or two others. I found the first several to be disappointing but began to like the ones near the end (I don’t know if this has anything to do with the chronological order in which the tales are presented). Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy writing, and specifically anyone interested in the roots of Tolkien’s ideas, though the editor leaves out that other epic about a magic (and cursed) ring, that one by Richard Wagner…
--Steven E. Scribner, author of the "Tond" series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
December 28, 2024
This book wasn't quite what I expected. I thought based on the title that it was stories that directly influenced the characters and world of Narnia. Mostly this was a book of short, curious, fun, weird stories that influenced how C.S. Lewis thought about fantasy and story writing. Which is great, just not at all what I expected based on the title and the cover.
Certainly still a good read if you like short stories, if you enjoy reading early fantasy, and if you are interested in learning more about the writers that influenced C.S. Lewis and the fantasy of his day. For me, it was a bit of a slog and the stories were a little bit too curious for my tastes. Still worth finishing, just not my favorite.
Certainly still a good read if you like short stories, if you enjoy reading early fantasy, and if you are interested in learning more about the writers that influenced C.S. Lewis and the fantasy of his day. For me, it was a bit of a slog and the stories were a little bit too curious for my tastes. Still worth finishing, just not my favorite.
March 2, 2023
I really enjoyed the stories which we know influenced Tolkien and the author's prefaces on them. I don't really understand why the others were included, as they don't fit under the title. If I had just wanted a smorgasbord of short stories and fairy tales of this era, I would have picked up a book with a title indicating such a swath of literature. However, the author has nicely done the groundwork for us on the influences of Tolkien and he doesn't pretend that stories he liked and selected here which didn't influence Tolkien were otherwise, an honesty that is refreshing in these days when it is often said that the writer's intention doesn't matter.
March 21, 2018
As usual with collections like this there are a few stories I have read in the past and many new ones. Also we have so much dated material that some selections, while being called classics or best examples of their period, or just poor reads. And others are only okay. Despite a lot of misses in my opinion, the selection was a good cross section of material in print before JRRT and other of his writing circle raised the modern level of fantasy fiction. How much it really influenced Tolkien is just conjecture on the part of the editor.
July 13, 2020
I think the main point of this collection is that you won't have read most of these anywhere else, and may want to use it as a reference list for authors you want to look up; fantasy from this time period can be heavy going, and this selection nicely highlights just how different and how accessible (and sadly, how crap, sometimes) fantasy IS, post-Tolkien.
I think the book is worth owning just for the lovely little 'A Christmas Play' by David Lindsay that rounds it out, which at the time this book was published couldn't be found elsewhere, and is still probably hard to come by.
I think the book is worth owning just for the lovely little 'A Christmas Play' by David Lindsay that rounds it out, which at the time this book was published couldn't be found elsewhere, and is still probably hard to come by.
May 30, 2018
I read this book in hopes of discovering some of the things Tolkien had read and how it might have influenced his writing. I was disappointed by how many of these stories were qualified with statements like “there is no reason to suppose Tolkien ever read this,” or “when asked about this author’s book, Tolkien said he’d never heard of it.”
April 19, 2021
A nice treasury of Tolkien-adjacent fiction that informs the curious Tolkien addict of the various fairtale literature and sensibilities of his time. Some of the stories were long and dull, but others I was glad to have discovered.
May 26, 2021
This book was actually somewhat of a disappointment. A collection of pre-Tolkien stories that are alleged to have influenced him and C.S. Lewis. Some of the stories were pretty good, but more than not, the stories were a slog.
April 5, 2020
An interesting group of stories by different authors. Some were more enjoyable than others and some were very good.
May 10, 2020
Just like many books that compile short stories, about 60% of them are good, with most of the bad ones being put in the middle.
April 17, 2013
I enjoyed many of the stories in this collection, though "The Elves" was not one of them. It was really strange and rather boring. However, many of these stories were really good. The title of this collection is kind of self-explanatory; it purports to include many stories that may have influenced J.R.R. Tolkien. I've had this one on my shelf for a long time, but since I just re(read) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I figured now would be the time to actually finish it. Many of the stories one can see how Tolkien would directly draw from, but there were some that he never even read, which makes the collection's description slightly misleading.
There are a wide variety of stories in this collection; some are like fairy tales, others classic fantasy and fantasy. One, "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" is set in Africa, and most of the others ones are set in fantasy lands.
The first two stories, "The Elves" and "The Golden Key" are about the perils of Fairyland, and how the mortal can easily get lost and spend what seems like days there while years pass outside. It's a fascinating concept, yet these two stories were really strange and the most boring in the whole collection. So don't get turned off from reading this by the first rather uninteresting couple of stories.
The third story, "Puss-Cat Mew", is much better. It's a rather violent tale, but it's really entertaining, and was certainly a welcome relief after the dullness of "The Elves" and "The Golden Key". The next story, "The Griffin in the Minor Canon", tells of a kind-hearted griffin who shows up at a village when he hears that there's a statue of him in front of the church. This story is really thought-provoking, because when the griffin takes over some of the town's duties, everything runs very smoothly because everyone is so afraid of him that they do their job well. "The Demon Pope" was rather confusing, but good. I loved "The Story of Sigurd"; it's one of the stories that Wagner drew off of to great the Ring cycle, which bears a lot of similarity to the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien definitely drew off of Wagner too.
"The Folk of the Mountain-Door" was another dud; it made no impression on me whatsoever, and I confess to skimming through parts of it. "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" was an interesting story which I enjoyed. "The Dragon-Tamers" was funny in a British sort of way. "The Far Islands", about a man who hallucinates about a fantasy land, was rather depressing but good. "The Drawn Arrow" was just kind of stupid and annoying, though it started out promisingly enough. "The Enchanted Buffalo", written by L. Frank Baum, is one of a series of animal tales, and was a fairly good story.
There are many more stories, but I'm not going to go into them. Suffice to say, that this collection was pretty good, though as in most short story collections, there were some good and some bad. Still, I would recommend this book, and I may try Tales Before Narnia, edited by the same person.
www.novareviews.blogspot.com
There are a wide variety of stories in this collection; some are like fairy tales, others classic fantasy and fantasy. One, "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" is set in Africa, and most of the others ones are set in fantasy lands.
The first two stories, "The Elves" and "The Golden Key" are about the perils of Fairyland, and how the mortal can easily get lost and spend what seems like days there while years pass outside. It's a fascinating concept, yet these two stories were really strange and the most boring in the whole collection. So don't get turned off from reading this by the first rather uninteresting couple of stories.
The third story, "Puss-Cat Mew", is much better. It's a rather violent tale, but it's really entertaining, and was certainly a welcome relief after the dullness of "The Elves" and "The Golden Key". The next story, "The Griffin in the Minor Canon", tells of a kind-hearted griffin who shows up at a village when he hears that there's a statue of him in front of the church. This story is really thought-provoking, because when the griffin takes over some of the town's duties, everything runs very smoothly because everyone is so afraid of him that they do their job well. "The Demon Pope" was rather confusing, but good. I loved "The Story of Sigurd"; it's one of the stories that Wagner drew off of to great the Ring cycle, which bears a lot of similarity to the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien definitely drew off of Wagner too.
"The Folk of the Mountain-Door" was another dud; it made no impression on me whatsoever, and I confess to skimming through parts of it. "Black Heart and White Heart: A Zulu Idyll" was an interesting story which I enjoyed. "The Dragon-Tamers" was funny in a British sort of way. "The Far Islands", about a man who hallucinates about a fantasy land, was rather depressing but good. "The Drawn Arrow" was just kind of stupid and annoying, though it started out promisingly enough. "The Enchanted Buffalo", written by L. Frank Baum, is one of a series of animal tales, and was a fairly good story.
There are many more stories, but I'm not going to go into them. Suffice to say, that this collection was pretty good, though as in most short story collections, there were some good and some bad. Still, I would recommend this book, and I may try Tales Before Narnia, edited by the same person.
www.novareviews.blogspot.com
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews