- Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus MARY SHELLEY 1818
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination EDGAR ALLAN POE 1838
- A Christmas Carol CHARLES DICKENS 1843
- Jane Eyre CHARLOTTE BRONTE 1847
- The Hunting of the Snark LEWIS CARROLL 1876
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ROBERT LOUIS STEPHENSON 1886
- The Well At The World's End WILLIAM MORRIS 1896
- Dracula BRAM STOKER 1897
- Ghost Stories of an Antiquary MR JAMES 1904
- Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things LAFCADIO HEARN 1904
- The Wind in the Willows KENNETH GRAHAME 1908
- Jurgen JAMES BRANCH CABELL 1919
- A Voyage to Arcturus DAVID LINDSAY 1920
- The King of Elfland's Daughter LORD DUNSANY 1924
- The Trial FRANZ KAFKA 1925
- Lud-in-the-Mist HOPE MIRRLEES 1926
- Orlando VIRGINIA WOOLF 1928
- The Big Sleep RAYMOND CHANDLER 1939
- The Outsider and Others HP LOVECRAFT 1939
- Gormenghast MERVYN PEAKE 1946
- Night's Black Agents FRITZ LEIBER JR 1947
- The Sword of Rhiannon LEIGH BRACKETT 1953
- Conan the Barbarian ROBERT E HOWARD collected 1954
- The Lord of the Rings JRR TOLKEIN 1954-5
- The Once and Future King TH WHITE 1958
- The Haunting of Hill House SHIRLEY JACKSON 1959
- The Wierdstone of Brinsingamen ALAN GARNER 1960
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase JOAN AIKEN 1962
- Something Wicked This Way Comes RAY BRADBURY 1963
- The Book of Imaginary Beings JORGE LUIS BORGES 1967
- Ice ANA CAVAN 1967
- One Hundred Years of Solitude GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ 1967
- Earthsea URSULA LE GUIN 1968-1972
- Jirel of Joiry CL MOORE collected 1969
- Grendel JOHN GARDNER 1971
- The Pastel City M JOHN HARRISON 1971
- Carrie STEPHEN KING 1974
- Peace GENE WOLFE 1975
- Gloriana, or the Unfulfill'd Queen MICHAEL MOORCOCK 1978
- The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories ANGELA CARTER 1979
- Little, Big JOHN CROWLEY 1981
- The Anubis Gates TIM POWERS 1983
- The Colour of Magic TERRY PRATCHETT 1983
- Mythago Wood ROBERT HOLDSTOCK 1984
Thursday, April 9, 2009
...And, Just for Completeness' Sake
The other half of Paul McAuley's "Essential Books" meme, this one dealing with Fantasy & Horror. Same rules as before. Again, thanks to SFSignal for the link.
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4 comments:
Is Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" fantasy or horror?
I mean, I enjoyed the novel, but putting it in any of those genres might be stretching it too far...
Andrew Wheeler had the same complaint, I think. I'd argue that while it may not be a genre work, it was *really* influential on a lot of genre stuff that came later. "Yiddish Policeman's Union" anyone?
And really, is anything written before 1920 really in any of our modern genres? Things used to be much more jumbled back then. (I know "Big Sleep" is from 1936, but just making the point that its odd non-genre placement shouldn't ipso facto rule it out.)
I agree that it was an influential novel. Both Chandler and Hammett have been a big influence, not only to writers of fantasy or horror, but to writers in general -even to writers writing in Spanish.
However, I tend to think of that as a rather formal influence, in the sense that the structure and style of the hard-boiled detective novel is often appropriated by writers in other genres because it's such an effective way of telling a story. Having said that, I'm sure some readers may be able to read "The Big Sleep" as a rather realistic horror novel.
I've noticed that the detective plot is a natural fit, especially for sf. I think it's because it comes with a built in plot that lets a sharp-eyed observer wander around the world that the author has created--lots of advantages to show off world-building.
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