Tales Before Tolkien
Page 53
Mirrlees, Hope (1887–1978)
British writer and poet. Mirrlees’s sole fantasy novel is the excellent Lud-in-the-Mist (1926), which tells of a town near the borders of Faerie and its problem with the illegal trafficking of fairy fruit.
Morris, Kenneth* (1879–1937)
Welsh writer and theosophist. Morris reworked stories from the Mabinogion into two companion novels, The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed (1914) and Book of the Three Dragons (1930). His supreme achievement lay in his short stories, ten of which were collected in The Secret Mountain and Other Tales (1926). His complete short stories can be found in The Dragon Path: Collected Tales of Kenneth Morris (1995). An excellent Toltec fantasy novel about the coming of the god Quetzalcoatl is The Chalchiuhite Dragon (1992).
Morris, William* (1834–96)
British writer, artist, and poet. Morris is perhaps best remembered for his association with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and for the textiles, furniture, and wallpaper he designed. Morris was also especially interested in medieval literature, translating Beowulf and various Icelandic sagas. Though he wrote some fantasy short stories when young, he returned to fantasy in the last decade of his life, writing seven prose romances with medieval settings: A Tale of the House of the Wolfings (1889), The Roots of the Mountain (1890), The Story of the Glittering Plain (1891), The Wood beyond the World (1894), The Well at the World’s End (1896), The Water of the Wondrous Isles (1897), and The Sundering Flood (1897). Some of these were printed in gorgeous editions at Morris’s own Kelmscott Press. Morris’s pioneering works had a profound influence on J. R. R. Tolkien and many other fantasy writers.
Nesbit, E[dith].* (1858–1924)
British writer. Nesbit was an extremely popular writer for children. Her first fantasy novel, Five Children and It (1902), concerns a “Psammead” or sand-fairy. Tolkien certainly knew this work, for he refers to Psammeads in the early drafts of Roverandom. Two sequels followed, The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) and The Story of the Amulet (1906), in which the Psammead returns. Another Nesbit title of special interest is The Book of Dragons (1900).
O’Brien, Fitz-James (1828–62)
Irish-born American writer and poet. O’Brien published no books during his lifetime, and the posthumous collections of his short stories were often severely edited. The authoritative two-volume edition The Supernatural Tales of Fitz-James O’Brien (1988), edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, restores the texts to their original versions. Volume 1 is subtitled Macabre Tales; and volume 2, Dream Stories and Fantasies.
Pain, Barry (1864–1928)
British writer and editor. Pain was one of the most popular humorists of his day, but his fantasy and supernatural stories, written throughout his lifetime and sprinkled through numerous volumes, are the basis for his reputation today. A collection of these stories, The Glass of Supreme Moments and Other Tales (2003), has recently appeared from the small Canadian publisher Ash-Tree Press.
Pyle, Howard (1853–1911)
American writer and illustrator. His most famous works are illustrated retellings of Arthurian legends, but his original fairy tale The Garden behind the Moon (1895) deserves to be better known.
Ruskin, John (1819–1900)
British writer and art critic. Ruskin’s The King of the Golden River, written in 1841 but published ten years later, is probably the first English fairy story written for children. Influenced by the German Kunstmärchen, it still manages to create an identity of its own and remains a supreme achievement in the literary fairy tale. The original illustrations by Richard Doyle are also very striking.
Stephens, James (1882–1950)
Irish writer, primarily remembered for The Crock of Gold (1912), about an Old Philosopher and his problems with leprechauns and Irish gods.
Stevens, Francis* [pseudonym of Gertrude Barrows Bennett] (1883–1948)
American writer. Stevens published only a small number of stories. Her The Heads of Cerberus (1919) is a pioneering work of alternate history. Many of her stories mix elements of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. A long overdue collection of her work is The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy (2003).
Stockton, Frank R[ichard].* (1834–1902)
American writer and editor. Stockton was a prolific writer of novels and short stories, but it is for his children’s stories that he is remembered. His collections The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales (1881), The Bee-Man of Orn and Other Fanciful Tales (1887), and The Queen’s Museum (1887) were very successful. A recent omnibus is The Fairy Tales of Frank Stockton (1990), edited by Jack Zipes.
Tieck, Ludwig* (1773–1853)
German writer. Tieck was one of the primary figures of Romanticism, and many of his best tales were collected in the three volumes of Phantasus (1812–16). Translations of Tieck’s stories have been widely anthologized, but only an incomplete translation of Phantasus has appeared in English, as Tales from the Phantasus (1845), translated by Julius C. Hare, James Anthony Froud, and others.
Wells, H[erbert]. G[eorge]. (1866–1946)
British writer, best remembered for his early scientific romances, including The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1898), and The First Men in the Moon (1901). Wells’s short stories include a number of fantasies. The best omnibus is The Complete Short Stories of H. G. Wells (1998), edited by John Hammond.
Wilde, Oscar (1854–1900)
Irish writer and dramatist. Wilde’s two volumes of fairy tales, The Happy Prince (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891), contain nine tales, two of which, “The Happy Prince” and “The Selfish Giant,” are considered classics.
Wright, Austin Tappan* (1883–1931)
American writer and professor of law. At his death in an automobile accident in 1931, Wright left behind the manuscript of a very large novel, along with various background and ancillary matter associated with the book. The novel, Islandia, was edited for publication in 1942 by Wright’s daughter.
Wyke-Smith, E[dward]. A[ugustine].* (1871–1935)
British writer and mining engineer. Wyke-Smith published eight novels, four of which were for children. Bill of the Bustingforths (1921) is, like The Marvellous Land of Snergs (1927), a delightful anti–fairy tale. Of Wyke-Smith’s adult novels, The Second Chance (1923) is science fiction, concerning an old man rejuvenated to his youth by a drug made from ape glands.
Young, Ella (1867–1956)
Irish writer and poet. Young published three volumes of stories retelling Irish folk tales, Celtic Wonder Tales (1910), The Wonder-Smith and His Son (1927), and The Tangle-Coated Horse (1929). Her Unicorn with Silver Shoes (1932) is an original children’s fantasy and probably her finest book.
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Introduction, headnotes, compilation and author notes © 2003 by Douglas A. Anderson
“Chu-bu and Sheemish” by Lord Dunsany. Copyright © Lord Dunsany. Reprinted by permission of Joe Doyle, Curator, on behalf of the present Lord and Lady Dunsany.
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“Golithos the Ogre” by E. A. Wyke-Smith,
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