It seems to me that the Covenant books have been a subtle inspiration to a small number of subsequent fantasies. I'm thinking of darker, more complex work with a deep sense of morality, such as various series by Daniel Abraham, Patrick Ness, Patrick Rothfuss, and John Wright. Do you see your books reflected in a new generation of fantasy writers? Ultimately, what would you like your legacy to be?
I'm not qualified to comment on whatever has or has not influenced writers who are younger than I am. In any case, if a writer has nothing more to offer than a sum of influences, then he or she is probably not worth reading. However, on this subject I can speak for Steven Erikson -- but only because I've heard him speak for himself. I've often said that Tolkien made my work possible: he opened a door that I could walk through. Well, Erikson says the same about my books: they made his possible. For that I am both proud and grateful.
Asking me about the legacy I desire for myself is rather like asking me to remove all my clothes in front of a crowd of strangers. How much intimate exposure can I stand? Well, as it happens, I can stand quite a lot. So I'll say this: the legacy I crave for myself is to break down the absolutely artificial and arbitrary barricade which has been erected to separate "fantasy" from "literature." After all, all of the oldest and most enduring literature in every language on the planet is fantasy. That can't be an accident. And it can't be because our ancestors (however distant) were stupid: they were not. Why, then, is it considered somehow less than admirable or worthwhile -- or necessary -- for an ambitious modern man or woman to write fantasy?
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1 commentaires:
why bother mentioning rothfuss ? the guy will write a boo per 5 years.
he may be a decent author (although i have a lot to say about the bs on his books) but he is not worthy of mention, imo.
my code for this post was :
wspecum 6249.
that's right.
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