Dunsany created his own mythology in a narrative form before Tolkien put down the roots and seeds that would become the Silmarilian. Tolkien intended a modern English mythology, but clearly he used existing traditions. As a storyteller first of all, in the epic and fantastic mode, how much does Tolkien's cultural artifact differ from Homer's? Before Dunsany there were the penny dreadfuls such as Amadis of Gaul, and concurrent with these and pre-dating them there is oral folklore, which Homer drew from. Perhaps there is no first and original when it comes to story - perhaps it exists in a place removed from time, with ancient urges returning to manifest in the present, and present fabulations rooting down into the darkness of the collective mind.
|
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)