being in general agreement with the "no new story under the sun" line, I nevertheless, would refute:
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it seems as if people view Tolkien as the king of all fantasy -- and that's simply not true
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With quite an opposite maxim (but for one word in it) as "Tolkien
is the king of all
modern fantasy". He gave the whole genre enormous push, pulling it out of oblivion or, rather, creating it and shaping it as a branch of modern literature. Prior to that, fantasy was the field of scholars, on one extreme (with Golden Bough and what not) and field of nurses and mentors of young children on another extreme, considered either very serious reasearch material or not serius read at all for people above ten. Abundant flow of yearly books (with boasty maxims of "as good as JRRT at his height" on the back of their covers) gives some nourishment for musing oupon him being the said royal person of fantasy...