Friday, January 29, 2010

"Tales Before Narnia" edited by Douglas A. Anderson

"Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction" edited by Douglas A. Anderson (2008)

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are two of my favorite authors.  A few years ago I read "Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy", also edited by Douglas A. Anderson.  Both books are collections of short stories by authors that Lewis and Tolkien enjoyed and drew inspiration from.   These books offer insights into the literary world in which these authors lived.

I was a little disappointed with the selection of short stories in this collection.  Most were classic fantasy tales whose influence can be clearly seen in "The Chronicles of Narnia" books.  I found the title to be a bit of a misnomer since there was only one story related to science fiction.  This tale, however, was a gem; "The Man Who Lived Backwards" by Charles F. Hall, published in "Tales of Wonder" #3, Summer 1938.  Anderson's introduction to this story says that this author published two short stories and then disappeared; nothing else is known about him.  Now I am searching for the other story by Charles Hall, "The Time-Drug", published in "Tales of Wonder" #5, Winter 1938.

The included fantasy tales were interesting.  For example, I was unaware that "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame came out of the letters he wrote to his son and also that these letters are available in print as "First Whisper of 'The Wind in the Willows'" by Kenneth Grahame and Elspeth Grahame.

Many of the other stories were similarly for children and Lewis makes a good case for appreciating them an adult.  In his essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" he wrote "I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children's story which is only enjoyed by children is a bad children's story.  The good ones last." I have to agree; I still have books on my shelf that I read when I was in elementary school that regularly return to, such  "The Tripods" trilogy by John Christopher, the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques and of course "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Hobbit".

To be fair, science fiction and fantasy aren't terribly different; the both ask imaginative 'what if?' questions, though the settings and the specifics of the questions between them differ.  Both transport the reader to a new world where the rules are different from the world we live in.  Maybe interstellar travel is common or some people are gifted in magic. Even in bookstores are these genres rarely separated. I have heard the term speculative fiction used as a meta-genre for these kinds of science fiction and fantasy.

This book has broadened my knowledge of classical fantasy.  I'm currently reading "The Well and the World's End" by William Morris and have bought a copy "A Voyage to Arcturus" by David Lindsay (of which I hoped an excerpt or similar would be included), which I will try write about soon.

Next: "The Big U" by Neal Stephenson.