Anodyne
Thursday, August 13, 2009
 

ART (Aesthetically Rejected Thing): Seven Essential Fantasy Reads

One of the worst articles ever printed by the New Yorker -- if a long email list from a friend can even really be considered an "article" -- with a number of tart rejoinders from readers, including me. Best line goes to contributor Jacob Corbin: "I have a fantasy of my own; it involves the ghost of William Shawn slapping the people involved in writing and printing such a singularly useless list."

Here's my version of the same list:

Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea (& sequels)
George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (& sequels)
Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast trilogy
M. John Harrison, Viriconium trilogy
Diana Wynne-Jones, A Tough Guide to Fantasyland
Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker
Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer (& sequels)

and three extras, for good measure:

Tove Jansson, Comet in Moominland
Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora
Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs

Update, 8/14/9: as of 930am Pacific time, the New Yorker has silently removed a number of reader comments critical of the article, including mine.

- posted by cjb @ 4:45 PM


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