Tolkien the Sword & Sorcery Fan

[davem]

Found this on the Tolkien Library site - a book owned by Tolkien: Swords & Sorcery.

Poul Anderson HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard, Lord Dunsany, Fritz Lieber - all the 'greats'. What I was wondering was if Tolkien was influenced in any way by this kind of fantasy. Now, I'm only familiar with the writings of Lovecraft, Howard & Dunsany, but the thing that struck me instantly was the incident in Rivers & Beacon Hills of Gondor (written circa 1968), where Baldor enters the Paths of the Dead, has his legs Broken & left to die in the dark has a very 'Lovecraftian' feel to it.

I wonder if anyone else is surprised that Tolkien would have been familiar with Conan & Cthulhu?

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I sometimes wonder what Tolkien's published fiction would have been like had Lovecraft been more widely published during his lifetime. Tolkien and Lovecraft were exact contemporaries (Lovecraft was born in 1890), but the American writer died in 1937, when Tolkien still had his best work ahead of him. The likelihood of Tolkien reading a copy of Weird Tales, where most of Lovecraft's work appeared at some time or another, is extremely slight, so it could well be that the first he heard of Lovecraft would have been during the revival of interest in his writings during the late 1950s, possibly even from the very volume offered for sale here.

The most concrete connection I can see here is Dunsany, with whom we know Tolkien was familiar from references in his published letters. It seems that Tolkien was fond of his work, but on at least one occasion he declares a preference for his own fictional names:

[My names] are coherent and consistent and made upon two related linguistic formulae, so that they achieve a reality not fully achieved to my feeling by other name-inventors (say Swift or Dunsany!).

I think that the common influence might have come through strongly enough in Lovecraft's work for it to appeal to Tolkien, although the polytheistic and senseless universe of the Old Ones could well have offended his religious sensibilities.

I find it amusing to think of Tolkien, the inspiration for so many writers of fantasy, sitting down in the morning room of the Miramar Hotel to read the classics of 1960s sword and sorcery. It suggests that he was interested in any fantasy fiction, not just that of the middle ages or the nineteenth century. I would give a lot to know what he made of Conan, though: Dunsany Tolkien could have read in his youth, but I'd like very much to know what he thought of the rising stars of the genre he did so much to expand.

[Kuruharan]

I would give a lot to know what he made of Conan

I remember reading somewhere that Tolkien liked the work of Howard.

Alas, I cannot for the life of me remember where I read it or if the source was credible.

Also, seeing as how I am currently misusing my office computer for frivolous amusement, I am not at home to do a check in my books of Tolkien lore to see if there is anything relevant there...

[pigstaub]

I believe he corresponded with Lin Carter. I recently heard something about a postcard being found behind a fireplace in Tolkiens old residence.