,
6 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
The canon is still the canon. It includes H. Rider Haggard, Clark Ashton Smith, E. E. "Doc" Smith, C. L. Moore, and Jack Vance. You can't change that. You can whine and sneer all you want, but you will not change Lovecraft or R. E. Howard's position in that canon, either.
If you have the misfortune of writing sff novels after 1980, you have a slim chance of someday writing something that is recognized as being part of that canon. That is the best you can do. In any case, you will be unable to rewrite the canon, overwrite it, or even prune it down.
Incidentally, it only takes a few weeks for someone to read a handful of novels that fairly represent sff's true foundations and history. It's actually pretty enjoyable, far better than what will happen to someone picking up a random sff magazine off the newsstand today.
But if the prospects of exposing yourself to the canonical works are anathema to you, honestly... maybe you aren't the discerning sff fan you posture as. And if think you have somehow evolved beyond the need for timeless works there is something genuinely wrong with you.
Have you ever met a jazz aficionado that had disdain for the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, or Miles Davis? Never happened! Even if they prefer contemporary styles, they would have nothing but respect for the pioneers of the field. That's just how it is.
Science fiction and fantasy really is no different. Its giants are just as awe inspiring today as they were almost a hundred years ago-- Lovecraft! Howard! Moore! It _hurts_ how good they were. It's astonishing, really. It is humbling how effective their prose is to this day.
