An unnamed publication asked me to select what I considered the 6 greatest fantasy novels of all time. Because my hunger for money and fame cannot and will never be satisfied, I agreed. Feel free to weigh in if you have thoughts.
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I'm actually rereading Once & Future King right now (hence my weyve tweet today), and while it's really very good--quite impressive recreation of the world of medieval England--points off for the irritating & unnecessary anachronisms.
Two mainstream suggestions: Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony & Wilton Barnhardt's Gospel.
jessnevins
Oct. 16, 2009 19:02:pm
at 19:02:pm
"I'm not hearing Kelly Link, Fritz Leiber, TH White ..."
No. You're only asking for the top six.
Church
Oct. 16, 2009 20:48:pm
at 20:48:pm
Mine:
1. Lord of the Rings,
............which of course is just one book
2. The Lion The witch and the Wardrobe
............although to be the only Chronicle here is an
............injustice to Dawn treader and Silver Chair
3. A Wizard of Earthsea,
............but it only ranks here if counted as a saga
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. Dune
6. Alice in Wonderland
pinagbayanan
Oct. 17, 2009 02:25:am
at 02:25:am
Harry Potter, LOTR, His Dark Materials, Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, same ones that have already been suggested. Oh, and I'm glad someone suggested The Neverending Story! But it wouldn't be in my top six.
noconfusion
Oct. 17, 2009 10:04:am
at 10:04:am
Gulliver's Travels.
ckrisos
Oct. 17, 2009 11:26:am
at 11:26:am
I'd say Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, but I'm irrationally fond of it.
So, I'm just going to add The Last Unicorn. Which is everything fantasy *can* be.
nedlum
Oct. 17, 2009 23:52:pm
at 23:52:pm
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Swanwick
Last Call by Powers
both are excellent. Top 6? Maybe of the last 30 years.
rco012
Oct. 18, 2009 01:47:am
at 01:47:am
I agree that both LOTR and Narnia are probably obvious and compulsory. Beyond that, the only other one I feel passionately about is G.G. Kay's Tigana, which IMO is a towering achievement, far outstripping his other work and almost everything else I've read in the genre.
I'd second the Oz series, Neverending Story, Earthsea, Belgariad. I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Elric (about which I'm lukewarm) or Shannara (which I enjoyed as a youngling).
And I strongly dissent on Jordan. Please, no! While I realize that Martin's opus isn't done yet, A Game of Thrones as its own is a pretty amazing work, if we want to include something from the "wall of bricks" school of modern fantasy.
cjalexander
Oct. 18, 2009 01:48:am
at 01:48:am
Well besides the obvious choices such as LOTR, Narnia, Wheel of Time, I think that A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens could be considered a sort of fantasy. As far as dealing with the supernatural, I think it's one of the most effective and powerful in it's simplicity.
Maybe not, but I always find these lists to be more interesting when there's something unexpected.
bradt007
Oct. 18, 2009 02:14:am
at 02:14:am
@lev grossman: Good idea. I suppose "Paradise Lost" "Gawain" "Beowulf" etc, were already then "nostalgic", but fantasy somehow seems requires a response to the "disenchantment" of the world... hence, written in the modern era. Plus, you said "novel".
"Oz" is a great mythos conveyed in okay prose. The movie makes it the YA novel dispensable.
"Alice" belongs to dream-narrative more than fantasy. Carroll's wit is amusing but death to that tingle in the spine that good fantasy gives.
"Gulliver's Travels" not so much fantasy as satire.
"The Stand"?
ptallon
Oct. 18, 2009 16:19:pm
at 16:19:pm
I think we can call some of those, like Wizard of Oz, Alice, or Peter Pan "hugely influential" - but I wouldn't call them "greatest". Also, you have just too many options from Homer to Grimm that are going to sidetrack this train.
I think, Lev, I would suggest a definition of Fantasy for this context: Any book written by the author to actually go in the Fantasy section of a bookstore.
That automatically leaves out Wells, Odyssey, Milton, etc. because they were before the concept of the genre and Tolkien/Lewis because they were founding it. That really means "best Fantasy books since the 1960s" or whenever the genre really started. What's the point of including Tolkien on another list?
dennitzio
Oct. 18, 2009 18:40:pm
at 18:40:pm
I don't think anyone's said already, so...
I'd put Lord Dunsany's King of Elfland's Daughter and Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber on there.
cuchlann
Oct. 18, 2009 22:41:pm
at 22:41:pm
I must sound a voice for Terry Pratchett. Although he can't resist going for a gag in his stories, the world he has created is as real and enduring as Middle Earth or Lyra's England.
I love the His Dark Materials trilogy and would definitely put it up there.
Haven't read a huge volume of other fantasy (although I am enjoying The Magicians) but Terry Pratchett's discworld is my favourite place to visit.
I would go for Thud, Night Watch or Going Postal as outstanding examples of the series.
I disagree on Narnia. If any, The Magician's Nephew or The Horse and His Boy should be the Narnia example. I read the series a number of times as a kid without getting the religious overtones (grew up in an atheist household), but as an adult, they don't have the same pull they used to have; partly because I now understand the religion stuff, and partly because it just doesn't feel as....well constructed as other worlds. It feels as though Lewis just carried on adding bits as and when he felt like it.
BTW: Thanks for all the reading suggestions guys!
)
geekygirluk
Oct. 19, 2009 07:13:am
at 07:13:am
Well, I can't say top six until he finishes his trilogy, but Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece.
aseus
Oct. 19, 2009 08:39:am
at 08:39:am
I will follow up with my list, plus inadequate justifications for same, when the piece actually runs (it'll be in The Week of all places) ...
Lev Grossman
Oct. 19, 2009 11:20:am
at 11:20:am
ooh, my list, in no particular order
1) LOTR
2) Wizard of Earthsea
3) Chronicles of Amber
4) Gormenghast
5) Alice in Wonderland
6) Watership Down
runners-up:
Chronicles of Narnia
His Dark Materials
Mary Stewart's The Hollow Hills (like it better than T.H.White)
Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword
John Gardner's Grendel
Would love to include Game of Thrones, but it's a work in progress.
profdante
Oct. 19, 2009 11:31:am
at 11:31:am
Top six? Tidiculous to limit yourself...But if you had to...
The Once and Future King, The Lord of the Rings, The Book of the New Sun, The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Earthsea Cycle, The Chronicles of Narnia.
Honorable mention:
Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria, Volumes 1 and 2, Fritz Lieber's The First and Second Books of Lankhmar.
Not sure if they qualify as fantasy or horror or sci-fi:
Frankenstein, Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, Dracula, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
More recently:
Pratchett's Discworld series, Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials series, Sergei Lukyaneko's Night Watch series...'tho you pretty much won't go wrong with other titles by the same authors.
Oh; and this is an incomplete list; no offense meant to others.
grape_crush
Oct. 19, 2009 12:17:pm
at 12:17:pm
Forget false modesty and put The Magicians at #1.
Kemper
Oct. 19, 2009 13:48:pm
at 13:48:pm
LOTR, obviously. Too bad A Song of Fire and Ice is still in-progress. It ranks for me. Memory, Sorrow & Thorn is also an amazing series. As a kid I was enthralled by the Shanarra & Dragonlance books, but they haven't stood the test of time for me. Wheel of Time I completely fell out of love with.
nerdyengineer
Oct. 19, 2009 15:26:pm
at 15:26:pm
Concurring with several others - my top 6 include
1. LOTR
2. Dune (the first 4)
3. Belgariad/Mallorean series (although Elenium was pretty good too)
4. The Dark Is Rising series
5. The Hythrun Chronicles
6. Shadow Moon/Dawn/Star - by Claremont & Lucas.
paschendale1917
Oct. 19, 2009 17:46:pm
at 17:46:pm
In no particular order:
T.H. White, _Mistress Masham's Repose_,
C. S. Lewis, _Till We Have Faces_ . . .
And, yeah, Alice.
pittsburghpoet
Oct. 20, 2009 07:54:am
at 07:54:am
I'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I also second the votes for The Neverending Story (international classic, first written in German), The Belgariad/Mallorean, and the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
aleriya
Oct. 20, 2009 19:37:pm
at 19:37:pm
Slightly surpised there's been no love for Clive Barker's Weaveworld or Imagica.
Those were the books that started my particular fantastic voyage.
mrleeward
Oct. 21, 2009 07:24:am
at 07:24:am
All time?
The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer, (ca. 700 BC)
The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1321)
Le Morte d'Arthur, Thomas Malory (1485)
Utopia by Sir Thomas More (1516)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare (1596)
Paradise Lost, John Milton (1667)
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (1889)
Nothing written in the 20th or 21st centuries can touch the lasting legacy and influence of books like these.
wheat3
Oct. 21, 2009 12:40:pm
at 12:40:pm
Lev, I think that political, social, and religious satire, allegory and morality tales are the heart of most good fantasy novels, and that includes epic poetry, ancient fairy tales, and all of it. So I think the Gulliver's Travels and Alice in Wonderland category is not just valid; it is essential to this list.
tiedyefor
Oct. 22, 2009 12:49:pm
at 12:49:pm