Has it all been said? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 06-20-2006, 05:37 AM

I've found myself wondering whether the series of collected Myths & Legends published by Gresham in the first two decades of the 20th century, by writers like Donald Mackenzie & Lewis Spence were read by Tolkien. Don't know if anyone knows? Many of them were reprinted in p/b about 10 years ago (I have about 20 volumes - plus one original - Mackenzies Teutonic Myth & Legend - from around 1910). There was a massive surge of interest in myth & legend around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

Its easy to get the idea that Tolkien had wandered into some old library & pulled down original medieval texts of the shelves which no-one had looked at for centuries. Not the case at all. Fantastic literature drawing on ancient myths was a well established genre pre-Tolkien. Morris, MacDonald, Eddison, Dunsany, Howard, Lovecraft & Mirlees (along with Haggard & Buchan), among others, were/had been producing 'fantasy' for a good while & reviewers were able to place Mr Baggins comfortably into the genre of 'children's fantasy along with Alice, Wind in the Willows, the Snergs, etc.

In other words, we should not be surprised at discovering books which 'inspired' Tolkien. Effectively, we've been mislead by the emphasis placed on early sources.

06-20-2006, 05:37 AM	#11
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	I've found myself wondering whether the series of collected Myths & Legends published by Gresham in the first two decades of the 20th century, by writers like Donald Mackenzie & Lewis Spence were read by Tolkien. Don't know if anyone knows? Many of them were reprinted in p/b about 10 years ago (I have about 20 volumes - plus one original - Mackenzies Teutonic Myth & Legend - from around 1910). There was a massive surge of interest in myth & legend around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Its easy to get the idea that Tolkien had wandered into some old library & pulled down original medieval texts of the shelves which no-one had looked at for centuries. Not the case at all. Fantastic literature drawing on ancient myths was a well established genre pre-Tolkien. Morris, MacDonald, Eddison, Dunsany, Howard, Lovecraft & Mirlees (along with Haggard & Buchan), among others, were/had been producing 'fantasy' for a good while & reviewers were able to place Mr Baggins comfortably into the genre of 'children's fantasy along with Alice, Wind in the Willows, the Snergs, etc. In other words, we should not be surprised at discovering books which 'inspired' Tolkien. Effectively, we've been mislead by the emphasis placed on early sources. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."