Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy

Once upon a time, fantasy writers were looked down upon by the literary mainstream as purveyors of mere escapism or, at best, as producers of bedtime tales fit only for children. Today fantasy novels stand atop the bestseller lists, while fantasy films smash box office records. Fantasy dominates the role-playing and computer gaming industries, and classic works in the genre are taught in school and universities throughout the world. Credit for this amazing turn-around belongs to one man more than any other: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the beloved author of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Terry Brooks, David Eddings, George R. Martin, Robin Hobb. The top names in modern fantasy all acknowledge J.R.R. Tolkien as their model and master, the author whose work first fired their imaginations and inspired them to create their own epics. But what writers influenced Tolkien himself? Sir Isaac Newton once write, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” As with the scientific genius of Newton, so, too, with the literary genius of Tolkien. Now internationally recognized Tolkien expert Douglas Anderson has gathered the fiction of some of those giants togethers for the first time in a collection destined to become a classic in its own right.