A Requested Clarification for #Kzoo2024...and More Questions to Be Addressed

𝔄 member of the Society raised the question, in reference to the Society's offerings for the 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies, of what is meant by "the Tolkienian tradition." It's a good question, and one worth considering in this space (and possibly as a conference paper). While all such terms are nebulous in meaning--this very webspace acknowledges ambiguity in the terms upon which it relies early on in its existence--and will necessarily invite discussions along the margins, having some semblance of a solid sense of the term should be of some help. After all, one cannot move against a thing without knowing, at least in some way, what that thing is.

The answer returned to the member, with the acknowledgement that it was a first-pass answer, was (with some edits against late-night email typos)

The man, himself;
image here, asserted as public domain

[The] Tolkienian tradition of fantasy literature can be taken broadly as that emerging from the 1950s and later, published originally in English and working in a milieu predominantly derived from attested histories of what are now Germany, France, the Nordic countries, and the British Isles from roughly 450 to 1300 CE (so Tolkien, likely Katharine Kerr, arguably Robert Jordan and George RR Martin), or borrowing substantially and with little criticism or deviation from earlier-published works following that rubric (Feist's Riftwar novels, Brooks's Shannara works, Paolini's books). Reliance on simplified European feudalistic structures and the overt inclusion of magic deriving from inhered traits are typical features, but not sufficient in themselves to signal inclusion in the tradition. More or less satirical works may or may not be included.

Admittedly, there is some humor in calling a 128-word answer cursory, some joke about verbose academic text to be made. But it is a cursory answer, even if it gives some specifics and some few examples. (And those examples can, themselves, be questioned, severally. For instance, to what extent can Tolkien be considered to be part of a tradition that ostensibly derives from him? Also, considering the demographic breakdown of the authors listed, questions of inclusion and representation emerge, although it should be noted that the list of examples does not claim to be comprehensive--and, again, it's an initial answer that admits of a need for expansion.) More specifics and more examples will be helpful, and more detailed data would certainly be an asset.

Some of the initial answer seems apt to remain in place. It stands to reason that works in the Tolkienian tradition would necessarily need to follow the publication of the Legendarium (although Douglas A. Anderson's excellent work in identifying at least some of the underpinnings and precursors of Tolkien's works should be acknowledged). The initial publication of The Hobbit in 1937 might be taken as a start-date, although the publication of the Lord of the Rings, beginning in 1954, is probably more useful, as it is the latter that marked Tolkien off as the fantasy writer.

General subject matter would also seem to be something that would be like to remain in place. The focus on geographical and temporal sourcing appears as a commonplace, as has been identified even in the Society's own publications. It might be argued that some geographical expansion might be in order. (How much? Why to a given region and not to another?) Temporal expansion is probably less workable; the relative lack of current centralized authority against a history of having had it comes across as a typifying feature of Tolkienian tradition works (Does this make Asimov's Foundation novels part of the tradition?), as does the absence of gunpowder (yes, both Gandalf and Saruman might well make use of it, though their supernatural status means it might well not be gunpowder they are using, despite Jackson).

The employment of simplified European feudal structures deserves attention. It appears in Tolkien, both in the forms of competing and sometimes-subordinate kingships (there is a High King of the Eldar, for example, although there are many other kings among them) and in "more normal" hierarchical declensions (Gondor's Prince of Dol Amroth comes to mind). Kings, dukes, earls, and barons abound, yes, as do "lords" of indeterminate rank, but the overlapping of titles and remarkable fracturing of polities are rarely addressed--likely for good reason. (Is something part of the Tolkienian tradition that moves beyond three or four layers of titular nobility? That employs but one, or none?)

(Related, though not mentioned in the initial response, is the extent to which the narrative must center on those so ennobled to be considered part of the Tolkienian tradition. This does, however, seem to be fraught even in Tolkien; the Bagginses would seem to be gentry, rather than nobility, and Sam is neither until after the events of the War of the Ring, though Merry and Pippin come off as members of the landed aristocracy, for ill and for good. Most of the rest of the focal characters, however, are pretty clearly royals, nobles, or heirs thereof.)

Similarly, the involvement of the supernatural merits attention. While it is clear that access to some power that cannot necessarily be explained by readers'-world physics more or less has to be at play in works in the Tolkienian tradition, the nature of that power is less clear. Does its exercise require that the one so doing have an innate nature that transcends physical boundaries? (There's a case for this, given how often a magic-user has to have "a gift" to be able to use magic.) Is it an issue of study? Are both possibilities? To what extent? Can a work, in fact, be part of the Tolkienian tradition if it does not involve magic of some kind or another?

A useful next step would be to develop what can be taken as a usefully representative set of examples of Tolkienian tradition works, and hopefully a more inclusive one than given in the initial answer. From such a set, more detailed information can be extracted, not only such concerns as are noted above, but also patterns of language use (corpus linguists, take note!). That more detailed data would allow for more exacting answers, clearer definitions, and, it is to be hoped, richer and fuller analyses. But for that, more will be needed than one person's musings; comments from members of the Society and other interested parties will be welcomed. Please, feel free to contribute below!

Author Interview - Kate Schumacher

Hello and welcome to our latest author interview with fantasy author, Kate Schumacher!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing.

Hi and thanks for having me. I’m an indie author from Australia, and I’ve been writing my whole life. I’ve just published my third novel, the first in a new fantasy series. My three published books are all fantasy/epic fantasy and while I’ve written contemporary fiction as well, there is something about the fantasy genre that speaks to me – perhaps it’s the freedom to create a world and everything in it, and to use that world and the characters to explore real-world issues like power, and the corrupting influence of power.

Who would you say your biggest literary influences are?

There are a few that make it onto this list, but once I sat down to think about it, not as many as I thought. I’ll start with the women, because as a female author, I’m greatly influenced by women who write within the same genre. One of the first fantasy series I ever read as a teenager was the Obernewtyn Chronicles by Australia author Isobelle Carmody. I had the absolute privilege of meeting Isobelle when I was fourteen, and even though it was during a school workshop, listening to her talk about her author journey and about writing really made little me think, yeah, I can do this. The next are two other Australian authors, Kate Forsyth and Cecilia Dart-Thornton, who both write beautiful poetic prose, grand sweeping sagas filled with faeries from Celtic myth. I still return to their books when I’m stuck – when I need a little writing inspiration, because the way both of these authors use language really resonates with me. I tend to write poetically, and I think it’s due to their influence and also my own love of playing with language, of being able to twist and manipulate it into what I want the reader to see. Beyond fantasy, Mary Shelley and the Bronte sisters are an inspiration, again for their skill with language. Tolkien has, of course, been a huge influence, not so much for the writing style but for the mastery of world building. I mean, who else has done what he did on such a scale? It's difficult not to be impressed and not to be influenced by that.

How has the history of the middle ages impacted/influenced your work?

How long do we have? I love history but I will try and be brief. I’m a History, English and Geography teacher and when I’m conceptualising a new world for a new story, I start with history. But onto the Middle Ages. There’s ten centuries of history to play with there, and it was such an interesting period. When you break it up into the Early, High and Late medieval periods, there is such a wealth of events and their impacts to draw on, from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, which moved then into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The chain of events and the impacts from those events is huge. If we look at the Early period probably the biggest thing was the collapse of a central authority when Rome left England so we had a period of ‘darkness’ combined with invasions, migration of the Germanic peoples, the lingering power and presence of the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world, and a pattern of conquest and colonisation, from the Vikings to the Magyars and the Saracens. Then the High Middle Ages period, from 1000AD, we have increased population, agricultural and technological advancements, manorialism and feudalism, knights, royalty, courtly intrigue and drama, power and the spread of Christianity and the idea of nation states. Move into the relatively short Late Middle Ages we have the plague, feminine, war, population decline, heresy, peasant revolts and rebellion and a slow shift in power. What’s not to be influenced and inspired by? I think a lot of fantasy tends to have that Middle Ages vibe because it was still a period of what if? What if Rome was never sacked by the Vandals, for instance? But I think we are still mostly intrigued by the world of knights and princesses, of castle and royalty and a world that doesn’t exist anymore except for in literature, film and TV and, of course, fairy tales. I also believe that this period in time is an easier one for us to suspend our disbelief and imagine that magic and dragons and faeries are real. For instance, I’m not a fan or Urban fantasy for that reason – for me, the inclusion of modern tech alongside magic just doesn’t work. But that is me personally. So, to answer the original question, I will often ask myself the What If? of the Middle Ages and let my imagination go and see where we end up. 

Do you feel like your writing has been impacted/influenced by Tolkien? If so, in what way(s)?

The biggest influence Tolkien has had on my writing is within the world building aspect. When I first read his work, I was completely blown away by the level of detail included. His was a world with its own history, and not just recent history, but thousands of years of history. It has its own creation myths! The depth of Middle Earth is just staggering and I remember sitting there, putting the book aside, and it was a mind-blown moment. It still amazes me, that this world, so rich and vibrant and there, came from a man’s mind. Yes we can say he was influenced by certain things and certain folkloric elements but the way it all comes together is uniquely his I think. And that’s inspiring. Possibly too much! I’m onto my second series now and a second world, and with this one and the first, I never set out to make them as broad and complex as they are, but honestly, real life and the real world is complex and fiction is a reflection of reality. My worlds are political. I have folklore and mythology, drawn from Celtic myths and legends. As I was creating these worlds, I needed them to have a rich history, and then came the geographic elements, because people and cultures and societies are heavily influenced by geography. I draw maps of my worlds (so I don’t get lost as well as the reader) but it was important to me that everything just worked, and that is a Tolkien influence, because love or hate it, Middle Earth works. It’s immersive and amazing.

What do you think the current innovations in your genre(s) are?

I am really liking the shift towards female characters as lead characters. Women who don’t need a man to save them, who are powerful in their own right, however that might look. As a kid, most fantasy stories that I encountered, whether it be books or film and TV, focused on male characters and the hero’s journey archetype, and I think that was primarily due to the setting and the influence of medieval history and social structure on the fantasy genre. Women’s roles were very restricted. We see that in classic fairy tales, which is not a criticism, but an acknowledgment of social constructs and norms on storytelling in that time period. In the modern world, and in modern storytelling, we are moving away from that – female characters have changed as society has changed, particularly in the Young Adult category, which is fabulous, because like I mentioned, most of the stories I had access to as a child were male-centric ones. We are also seeing a shift in representation – there are so many novels now that feature diversity representation within the main character/s. Queer characters, characters of colour, characters with a disability, characters who are battling mental health issues – and this is fabulous, because if we have more hero’s with anxiety, or more queer hero’s, it’s a step towards normalising and another way readers can see something of themselves and make those deeper connections with their literary hero’s. 

What is something in your genre(s) you'd like to see more of?

This is a difficult one because reading as a process is completely subjective. What I might want will not be what others want, but I can tell you why I put a book down. World building, or lack thereof. I want to know everything. I want to know the history, the political structure, the geographic regions, how society works, government, who holds power, who takes power, the influence of that and how difference cultures interact and come into contact with one another because these are the things that will underpin a character’s motivations. If we start a book with a war, I need to know things about this war and who is in control. I’ve put a lot of books aside recently because I haven’t felt that connection with the worlds, and therefore, the characters. A Tolkien hangover? Maybe! 

What is something in your genre(s) you'd like to see less of?

I don’t think there is anything I’d like to see less of really – what one person enjoys in regards to storytelling and character archetypes does not have to be what everyone else enjoys or looks for. Readers will take what they wish from each story they read – they will apply their own personal context in order to make meaning – so I think it’s not up to anyone to gatekeep what others read and enjoy. If I pick up a book with tropes I don’t like, or writing that doesn’t sit with me, I simply put it down and move on. I think the fantasy genre has the space for everything really – all tastes and interests can be accommodated.

Where online can our readers find you and your work?

You can find me on social media, Instagram and TikTok @kateschumacherwriter and my website at www.kateschumacherauthor.com. I have an author facebook page as well. You can find my books on Goodreads, Bookbub and Storygraph. As far as where to buy my books – ebooks are Amazon only, plus they are in Kindle Unlimited. Paperbacks are pretty much anywhere in online book stores, places like Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, World of Books. If in Australia I stock them at some small indie bookstores so please check out the linktree on my social media if you wanted to support these wonderful people. 

Kate, thank you so much for the interview and sharing your thoughtful answers with us!