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I don't know Stroud or 'fantasy', but I thought this might interest some. - Perdita
Jonathan Stroud's favourite fantasy books
Jonathan Stroud is the author of the bestselling Bartimaeus trilogy, a fast-paced fantasy series set in a modern-day London ruled by magicians and featuring an ambitious young apprentice magician and the djinni he summons.
1. Grettir's Saga by Anon, 1320s (trans. Fox and Palsson 1974)
Not a fantasy really, but the central encounter between Grettir and the monstrous blue-skinned revenant Glam is one of literature's most exciting and terrifying collisions of the fantastic with the human world. All the more effective because it is embedded in detailed realism. Also includes, as a side-show, a nasty barrow-wight: 600 years pre-Tolkien.
2. Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en, 16th century (trans. Arthur Waley 1942)
Hugely entertaining mix of demons, gods, saints and sages; part fairy tale, part allegory, part satire. A literary adaptation of existing legends in much the same way as Malory's Morte D'Arthur, but with far better jokes. Monkey is the personification of charismatic energy, protecting Tripitaka with the same brio he employs to duff up the pious minions of Heaven.
3. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, 1726
The archetypal narrative of extravagant far-flung societies, all of which reflect back the absurdities and follies of our own. Swift's humour and energy of invention allow him to smuggle coruscating satire past the gentle reader's guard: it is a mighty long stretch from the drolleries of Lilliputia to the bleak misanthropy of Gulliver's visit with the Houyhnhnms.
4. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908
Perfect fantasy of the small-scale, given shape by the author's mystical devotion to the English countryside. Shrugs off conventional analysis (NB Toad has hair ... ) by means of precise and witty characterisation and by the wistful, frost-sharp evocations of nature, through which the anarchic Toad streaks like an arrow.
5. War in Heaven by Charles Williams, 1930
Another English mystic, but infinitely more odd. Williams's occult novels are imbued with his vision of neo-Platonic Christianity. Higher beings appear on Earth in genteel 30s suburbia; the dead and living mingle on London streets; some very unpleasant magicians go hunting the Grail. For Williams, the spiritual is more concrete than the physical; magic is perilous and souls are at risk. If Blake had written thrillers, they'd have been like this.
6. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, 1937
Whereas the monolithic scale and sobriety of The Lord of the Rings ultimately led fantasy into bad habits, The Hobbit keeps the focus firmly on the blossoming of Bilbo, the timorous everyman. The result is the finest quest narrative in children's literature, speedy and light of foot, with a perfect two-stage climax: the elation of Bilbo's solo encounter with Smaug put in immediate perspective by the final battle, in which several central characters die.
7. Titus Groan/Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, 1946/1950
Much fantasy revolves ponderously around good v evil; Peake brings us stasis v change. The endless, ancient rituals of Gormenghast are stultifying and meaningless; the urchin Steerpike rebels against them, bringing energy, ingenuity and patience to work in an effort to achieve power. Yet Steerpike is bad, a multiple murderer. We should not sympathise with him, but we do: he is mercurial and creative, the outsider within the system. Ideal teenage reading.
8. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance, 1950
In the far future, the old red sun is failing and Earth's inhabitants (human and inhuman) wander amid the ruins of the past. Vance's style is rich and ornate; he conjures a profusion of odd cultures, decadent magicians, predatory creatures chopping logic and trading verbal flourishes with their victims. The collection includes Liane the Wayfarer, a short story with one of the finest endings in fantasy.
9. The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones, 1974
DWJ was brilliantly fusing magic and humour for children 20 years before the current wave began. Here, warring step-siblings experiment with wonder-working chemistry sets. The invasion of the fantastical into drably ordinary lives is liberating, but also deeply unsettling, as it should be. The living, breeding toffee bars are unforgettable.
10. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, 1979
Recent developments have seen the divisions between folk-tales, children's fiction and adult fantasy blur more than ever, but Carter's collection is an unashamed reappropriation of fairy stories for a specifically adult audience. She revels in the carnality of Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Bluebeard et al, re-energising the form, while doffing her cap to the traditions on which modern fantasy is based.
Jonathan Stroud's favourite fantasy books
Jonathan Stroud is the author of the bestselling Bartimaeus trilogy, a fast-paced fantasy series set in a modern-day London ruled by magicians and featuring an ambitious young apprentice magician and the djinni he summons.
1. Grettir's Saga by Anon, 1320s (trans. Fox and Palsson 1974)
Not a fantasy really, but the central encounter between Grettir and the monstrous blue-skinned revenant Glam is one of literature's most exciting and terrifying collisions of the fantastic with the human world. All the more effective because it is embedded in detailed realism. Also includes, as a side-show, a nasty barrow-wight: 600 years pre-Tolkien.
2. Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en, 16th century (trans. Arthur Waley 1942)
Hugely entertaining mix of demons, gods, saints and sages; part fairy tale, part allegory, part satire. A literary adaptation of existing legends in much the same way as Malory's Morte D'Arthur, but with far better jokes. Monkey is the personification of charismatic energy, protecting Tripitaka with the same brio he employs to duff up the pious minions of Heaven.
3. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, 1726
The archetypal narrative of extravagant far-flung societies, all of which reflect back the absurdities and follies of our own. Swift's humour and energy of invention allow him to smuggle coruscating satire past the gentle reader's guard: it is a mighty long stretch from the drolleries of Lilliputia to the bleak misanthropy of Gulliver's visit with the Houyhnhnms.
4. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908
Perfect fantasy of the small-scale, given shape by the author's mystical devotion to the English countryside. Shrugs off conventional analysis (NB Toad has hair ... ) by means of precise and witty characterisation and by the wistful, frost-sharp evocations of nature, through which the anarchic Toad streaks like an arrow.
5. War in Heaven by Charles Williams, 1930
Another English mystic, but infinitely more odd. Williams's occult novels are imbued with his vision of neo-Platonic Christianity. Higher beings appear on Earth in genteel 30s suburbia; the dead and living mingle on London streets; some very unpleasant magicians go hunting the Grail. For Williams, the spiritual is more concrete than the physical; magic is perilous and souls are at risk. If Blake had written thrillers, they'd have been like this.
6. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, 1937
Whereas the monolithic scale and sobriety of The Lord of the Rings ultimately led fantasy into bad habits, The Hobbit keeps the focus firmly on the blossoming of Bilbo, the timorous everyman. The result is the finest quest narrative in children's literature, speedy and light of foot, with a perfect two-stage climax: the elation of Bilbo's solo encounter with Smaug put in immediate perspective by the final battle, in which several central characters die.
7. Titus Groan/Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, 1946/1950
Much fantasy revolves ponderously around good v evil; Peake brings us stasis v change. The endless, ancient rituals of Gormenghast are stultifying and meaningless; the urchin Steerpike rebels against them, bringing energy, ingenuity and patience to work in an effort to achieve power. Yet Steerpike is bad, a multiple murderer. We should not sympathise with him, but we do: he is mercurial and creative, the outsider within the system. Ideal teenage reading.
8. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance, 1950
In the far future, the old red sun is failing and Earth's inhabitants (human and inhuman) wander amid the ruins of the past. Vance's style is rich and ornate; he conjures a profusion of odd cultures, decadent magicians, predatory creatures chopping logic and trading verbal flourishes with their victims. The collection includes Liane the Wayfarer, a short story with one of the finest endings in fantasy.
9. The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones, 1974
DWJ was brilliantly fusing magic and humour for children 20 years before the current wave began. Here, warring step-siblings experiment with wonder-working chemistry sets. The invasion of the fantastical into drably ordinary lives is liberating, but also deeply unsettling, as it should be. The living, breeding toffee bars are unforgettable.
10. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, 1979
Recent developments have seen the divisions between folk-tales, children's fiction and adult fantasy blur more than ever, but Carter's collection is an unashamed reappropriation of fairy stories for a specifically adult audience. She revels in the carnality of Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Bluebeard et al, re-energising the form, while doffing her cap to the traditions on which modern fantasy is based.
