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starofdunedain
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Post Tolkien-esque books
on: June 06, 2015 11:09
I was thinking of making a list of books similar to Tolkien's style of writing or his topics. A few come to mind.

Wind in the Willows-Kenneth Grahame
The way the characters appreciate nature and the simple life and have a dislike for things like cars or new fads reminds me of the hobbit's lifestyle. I feel that the writing style is also similar.

The King of Elfland's Daughter-Lord Dunsany

The Once and Future King-T.H. White
Gandolorin
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on: June 23, 2015 05:15
I'll go out on a limb (OK, I consider it to be very stout!) and say that JRRT was in so many ways unique that I'm not surprised at the lack of comment so far.
To paraphrase Tom Shippey, who had parallels in his academic career (Oxford / Leeds) with JRRT, JRRT could easily have published theoretical philological papers on a par with his paradigm-changing "The Monsters And The Critics" (1938?) on Beowulf.
Instead, he became the 20th century's equivalent of the Beowulf poet - he showed by doing, instead of theorizing.
As Shippey writes, his theoretical philological papers would have been written for a tiny group of philological experts; this audience has practically become extinct the odd decade or three ago.
Instead, we have his unique book (a "trilogy" only by the need to split it into three parts for financial reasons in the England of the 1950s), going strong in sales after 60 years, and only Charles Dickens's book "A Tale of Two Cities", which has a head start of 96 years, is still ahead of it in the sales category.

btw, have you seen this smiley yet? Image

[Edited on 06/24/2015 by Gandolorin]
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PSK
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on: June 30, 2015 07:32
Gando teach me.

I must say that I agree though. I have read quite a lot of fantasy, stuff where people dislike machines, stuff with big adventures, stuff with friendship, stuff with definitely no allegory ...

It's not just a theme or an idea or a genre that makes Tolkien's works so good. It's the whole universe and line of thought that makes it what it is. I tried to look for things like Tolkien but gave up quickly because there is nothing.

I don't mean to offend you starofdunedain but the Wind in the Willows is nothing like Tolkiens writing whatsoever. Narnia is similar because of the genre and the scale and stuff, but still hugely different. There is nothing that comes close in my opinion.

"Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains." ~ The Doom of Mandos
starofdunedain
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on: July 06, 2015 05:54
I'm not offended. I guess every person sees something different when they read. I was strongly reminded of the Hobbit's way of life while reading it. You're right when you say there's nothing like Tolkien's works anywhere but I think there are books that follow similar themes such as simple country living or going on adventures and holidays.
Neenime
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on: August 11, 2015 10:35
There is a Canadian author, Guy Gavriel Kay, whose fantasy writing bears some similarity to Tolkien's. There is a fair bit of magic involved, sometimes different races/cultures, and plot elements of good/evil, sacrifice, being called to duty unexpectedly and working for the greater good. He has not created complex worlds or languages but has put more emphasis on emotional content and character development. He was co-editor of The Silmarillion with Christopher Tolkien.

Robert Jordan's 12 or 13-part Wheel of Time series is a bit in the Tolkien tradition. He set up a complex world of races (or at least cultures), magical abilities and ultimate evil in an Armageddon-like showdown with common folk joining specialists (warriors and magic-wielders) to save the world.
“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. " Gandalf
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