Douglas A. Anderson (1) (1959–)
Autor von Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
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Reihen
Werke von Douglas A. Anderson
Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction (2008) — Herausgeber — 114 Exemplare
Tom Shippey on J.R.R. Tolkien: A Checklist 1 Exemplar
Zugehörige Werke
Das große Hobbit-Buch: Der komplette Text mit Kommentaren und Bildern (1988) — Herausgeber — 1,891 Exemplare
Der Herr der Ringe - Erstes Buch: Der Ring wandert (1968) — Note on the Text, einige Ausgaben — 126 Exemplare
Adrift on The Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories of William Hope Hodgson (2005) — Herausgeber — 60 Exemplare
The Lord of the Rings 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder (2006) — Mitwirkender — 35 Exemplare
The Lyttleton Case: A Detective Story Club Classic Crime Novel (The Detective Club) (2017) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben — 17 Exemplare
Passing of a God and Other Stories: The Complete Fiction of Henry S. Whitehead, Volume 1 (2007) — Herausgeber, einige Ausgaben — 15 Exemplare
Wormwood, Issue 25 — Mitwirkender — 8 Exemplare
Wormwood, Issue 27 — Mitwirkender — 6 Exemplare
Rebellion Of The Beasts The: OR, THE ASS IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE ASS!! (2005) — Einführung, einige Ausgaben — 6 Exemplare
Wormwood, Issue 28 — Mitwirkender — 6 Exemplare
Wormwood 32 — Mitwirkender — 5 Exemplare
Lost Tales, Volume IV — Einführung — 3 Exemplare
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Wissenswertes
- Rechtmäßiger Name
- Anderson, Douglas Allen
- Geburtstag
- 1959-12-30
- Geschlecht
- male
- Nationalität
- United States of America
- Geburtsort
- Valparaiso, Indiana, USA
- Wohnorte
- Ithaca, New York, USA
Indiana, USA
Michigan, USA - Berufe
- bookseller
editor
author - Kurzbiographie
- Douglas A. Anderson is a renowned Tolkien scholar whose expertise in the complicated textual history and evolution of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has led to the inclusion of his essays on these topics in most editions of those work published in English since 1987. He collaborated with Wayne G. Hammond on J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography. With an expertise in the history of fantasy literature, he was instrumental in reintroducing the world to E. A. Wyke-Smith's The Marvelous Land of Snergs, a children's fantasy that Tolkien cited as an influence on The Hobbit, and to such neglected writers as Kenneth Morris, Clemence Houseman, and Leonard Cline. Anderson lives in southwestern Michigan. [from The Annotated Hobbit : rev. and exp. ed. (2002)
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New stuff from Douglas A. Anderson in Council of Elrond (Januar 2022)
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This is not for everyone, but for Tolkien fans it offers a wonderful glimpse into his background, his faith, and his abundant humor. I actually laughed out loud in several different places as I read his piercing insights. This piece of writing is an academic paper, really, not intended for a wide audience. But it delves into a subject dear to my heart and addresses any concerns that Faërie is not a place for adults. Tis indeed, the man says.
H. P. Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales, edited by Douglas A. Anderson, was a Christmas gift. I noted from the table of contents that only five of its eighteen stories were ones I knew I'd read before. Of those, only two were ones I've read many times. Good. I like Daniel Govar's cover with what appears to be Howard Philips Lovecraft himself making notes in a candlelit library. My copy has the shadow of a giant, reptilian tail on the wall instead of that of some probable devil.
The introduction explains how we know these eighteen stories were Lovecraft's favorites.
'The Fall of the House of Usher' by Edgar Allan Poe**** Still moody, still a good ending (not bad for a story I probably first read in high school), but I do wish we got to find out if the Ushers' servants made it out alive. Also, my pity is for Madeline Usher. I'd like to smack Roderick upside the head.
'The Suitable Surroundings' by Ambrose Bierce***½ It starts out in a promising way with the nameless farmer's boy in the scary woods after dark and the deserted house that isn't as deserted as it's supposed to be. Mr. Bierce lost me with the conversation between the author and his reader. It got interesting again in the last couple of pages, though. (I deny the rights of writers as declared by the fictional author. Furthermore, I remember being so terrified by H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Colour Out of Space' when I was 16 that the fact that there were plenty of lamps on in the living room, and my parents were reading their own books there couldn't keep me from closing my book and refusing to read it except by daylight.)
'The Death of Halpin Frayser' by Ambrose Bierce*** I suspect this story was much more frightening in 1891. As with the previous story, the ending is quite interesting. The relationship between young Halpin and his mother is a little too close for comfort. Yes, I'd be terrified if I had the same dream as Halpin, but my favorite urban fantasy heroines and heroes go through so much worse in their books that I'm not impressed.
'Novel of the Black Seal' by Arthur Machen***½ This time our narrator is a young woman, Miss Lally. She's a governess for Professor Gregg, our designated searcher into secrets best left secret. I wish that were the case, because Mr. Machen has Miss Lally tell this story after it happened. This robs us of some of the suspense from the start. The black seal itself, with its unknown characters carved on it, is interesting. Our heroine isn't stupid, just lacking in sufficient background knowledge and horror story reading to put the pieces together. There's some effective writing, but Gregg utterly infuriates me because he's not willing to wait for his children to be grown before he risks making them orphans. On the other hand, the ending suggests Miss Lally may not be a reliable narrator. The implication about what happened to a minor character, Mrs. Cradock, horrified me.
'Novel of the White Powder' by Arthur Machen***½ A young man, Francis Leicester, is studying too hard and it's ruining his health. Helen, his loving sister, makes him see a doctor. All might have been well had the brother not chosen to go to a particular apothecary -- at least not with that particular prescription. What happens is all the more terrible because absolutely no one in this story had bad intentions. Miss Leicester is the narrator.
'The Yellow Sign' by Robert W. Chambers***½ I read The King in Yellow decades ago. I hadn't remembered this story. It's set in New York City. Our nameless narrator is an artist whose One True Love, Sylvia, died some years ago. The artist lives next to a Catholic church. The church watchman is very creepy-looking. After seeing his face, our artist spoils the painting he's working on and can't understand why. His model is a sweet young girl named Tessie. What a pity they ever encountered the Yellow Sign.
'Count Magnus' by M. R. [Montague Rhodes] James**** I'll give the story its due even though it annoys me that this is the M. R. James story I've most often encountered in anthologies. It was never my favorite. Our nameless narrator has obtained the notes and log of a Mr. Wraxall, and turned them into a non-fictional account. Mr. Wraxall visited Sweden in 1863. It is there he learns about Count Magnus. Sadly for our traveler, not even his landlord's story about what happened to an Anders Bjornsen and Hans Thorbjorn 92 years ago isn't enough to make Mr. Wraxall pack his bag and leave in time. I don't care how well educated Mr. Wraxall was -- he had all the good sense of your average slasher flick character.
'The White People' by Arthur Machen**** The four stars is for the story that unfolds in the pages of a nameless 16-year-old girl's journal. If you are also a former victim of someone's evil, I would suggest skipping the drivel spouted by a man named Ambrose and start reading at 'The Green Book'. The girl had an interesting nurse who told her stories which I found enjoyable: the girl who entered the hollow pit, the hunter who followed a white stag, the strange gentleman
who tried to gate-crash a party in a hill, and the beautiful Lady Avelin versus the crafty Sir Simon. The girl takes a strange journey. The ending infuriated me, thanks to that twit, Ambrose.
'The Willows' by Algernon Blackwood***** I read this online only a few months ago because it was on the National Public Radio's 'Click if You Dare: 100 Favorite Horror Stories' by Petra Mayer. Rereading it so soon didn't blind me to the beauty of its words. Mr. Blackwood wrote so that I could almost imagine myself one of the two nameless friends canoeing down the Danube River. They picked the wrong island of willow bushes to camp on. We don't find out for sure what lives there, but that it is deadly we are left in no doubt.
'The House of Sounds' by M. P. Shiel**** Lovecraft himself compared this story to Poe's 'Fall of the House of Usher,' but there are plenty of differences. Haco Harfager has the Usher role. He shows his friend, the narrator, a printed story about his ancestors. The story shows a family so dysfunctional that they would be welcomed by any tabloid. Of course our narrator comes to Harfager's mansion on the island of Rayba.in the Zetlands. Harfager lives there with his mother, his aunt, Lady Swertha, and a mysterious servant named Aith. The building itself has a worse setting than the Usher mansion. It's also made very oddly. I wouldn't recommend staying there without serious ear protection. Why does Harfager periodically shout 'Hark!'? We do get the answer eventually and it's strange. I kept wishing for the narrator to get his old friend near the front door, knock him unconscious, and drag him out of the house. The author goes so far as to have the narrator do something that would have been indefensible if something else hadn't happened first.
**
''The Moon Pool' by A. Merritt***½ I'm docking half a star because of the racism. The cover of my girlhood ACE paperback of Andre Norton's Victory on Janus quotes the 'Chicago Tribune' as declaring the book to be 'In the tradition of A. Merritt,' so it's nice to finally read something by Merritt. I can see why Mr. Lovecraft liked it. This 1918 novelette uses words that remind me of Lovecraft's writing. We have a framing story involving a Dr. Walter Goodwin passing on what he knows about the ill-fated expedition of Dr. David Throckmartin, his wife, Edith, his associate, Dr. Charles Stanton, and Edith's childhood nurse, Thora Helversen. The natives Throckmartin hired to dig at an ancient island site made one stipulation that the scientists assumed was mere superstition. Too bad for them. The horror is nicely done. I wouldn't hold out any hope for rescue.
'Seaton's Aunt' by Walter de la Mare**** Withers is our narrator. For a time, he and Arthur Seaton attended the same school. Seaton wasn't popular, but Withers promised to spend a half-holiday at Seaton's house after Seaton gave him a present. Withers keeps his promise. Seaton's aunt is a rather strange lady who treats the guest well, but makes unpleasant remarks to and about her nephew. That night, Seaton tells Withers some peculiar things about his aunt. They move around in the hope of catching the aunt in the act. Years later, they run into each other. There's another visit. The third visit is not the charm.
The previous stories were grouped as literary weird tales. The last six are grouped as popular weird tales.… (mehr)
The introduction explains how we know these eighteen stories were Lovecraft's favorites.
'The Fall of the House of Usher' by Edgar Allan Poe**** Still moody, still a good ending (not bad for a story I probably first read in high school), but I do wish we got to find out if the Ushers' servants made it out alive. Also, my pity is for Madeline Usher. I'd like to smack Roderick upside the head.
'The Suitable Surroundings' by Ambrose Bierce***½ It starts out in a promising way with the nameless farmer's boy in the scary woods after dark and the deserted house that isn't as deserted as it's supposed to be. Mr. Bierce lost me with the conversation between the author and his reader. It got interesting again in the last couple of pages, though. (I deny the rights of writers as declared by the fictional author. Furthermore, I remember being so terrified by H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Colour Out of Space' when I was 16 that the fact that there were plenty of lamps on in the living room, and my parents were reading their own books there couldn't keep me from closing my book and refusing to read it except by daylight.)
'The Death of Halpin Frayser' by Ambrose Bierce*** I suspect this story was much more frightening in 1891. As with the previous story, the ending is quite interesting. The relationship between young Halpin and his mother is a little too close for comfort. Yes, I'd be terrified if I had the same dream as Halpin, but my favorite urban fantasy heroines and heroes go through so much worse in their books that I'm not impressed.
'Novel of the Black Seal' by Arthur Machen***½ This time our narrator is a young woman, Miss Lally. She's a governess for Professor Gregg, our designated searcher into secrets best left secret. I wish that were the case, because Mr. Machen has Miss Lally tell this story after it happened. This robs us of some of the suspense from the start. The black seal itself, with its unknown characters carved on it, is interesting. Our heroine isn't stupid, just lacking in sufficient background knowledge and horror story reading to put the pieces together. There's some effective writing, but Gregg utterly infuriates me because he's not willing to wait for his children to be grown before he risks making them orphans. On the other hand, the ending suggests Miss Lally may not be a reliable narrator. The implication about what happened to a minor character, Mrs. Cradock, horrified me.
'Novel of the White Powder' by Arthur Machen***½ A young man, Francis Leicester, is studying too hard and it's ruining his health. Helen, his loving sister, makes him see a doctor. All might have been well had the brother not chosen to go to a particular apothecary -- at least not with that particular prescription. What happens is all the more terrible because absolutely no one in this story had bad intentions. Miss Leicester is the narrator.
'The Yellow Sign' by Robert W. Chambers***½ I read The King in Yellow decades ago. I hadn't remembered this story. It's set in New York City. Our nameless narrator is an artist whose One True Love, Sylvia, died some years ago. The artist lives next to a Catholic church. The church watchman is very creepy-looking. After seeing his face, our artist spoils the painting he's working on and can't understand why. His model is a sweet young girl named Tessie. What a pity they ever encountered the Yellow Sign.
'Count Magnus' by M. R. [Montague Rhodes] James**** I'll give the story its due even though it annoys me that this is the M. R. James story I've most often encountered in anthologies. It was never my favorite. Our nameless narrator has obtained the notes and log of a Mr. Wraxall, and turned them into a non-fictional account. Mr. Wraxall visited Sweden in 1863. It is there he learns about Count Magnus. Sadly for our traveler, not even his landlord's story about what happened to an Anders Bjornsen and Hans Thorbjorn 92 years ago isn't enough to make Mr. Wraxall pack his bag and leave in time. I don't care how well educated Mr. Wraxall was -- he had all the good sense of your average slasher flick character.
'The White People' by Arthur Machen**** The four stars is for the story that unfolds in the pages of a nameless 16-year-old girl's journal. If you are also a former victim of someone's evil, I would suggest skipping the drivel spouted by a man named Ambrose and start reading at 'The Green Book'. The girl had an interesting nurse who told her stories which I found enjoyable: the girl who entered the hollow pit, the hunter who followed a white stag, the strange gentleman
who tried to gate-crash a party in a hill, and the beautiful Lady Avelin versus the crafty Sir Simon. The girl takes a strange journey. The ending infuriated me, thanks to that twit, Ambrose.
'The Willows' by Algernon Blackwood***** I read this online only a few months ago because it was on the National Public Radio's 'Click if You Dare: 100 Favorite Horror Stories' by Petra Mayer. Rereading it so soon didn't blind me to the beauty of its words. Mr. Blackwood wrote so that I could almost imagine myself one of the two nameless friends canoeing down the Danube River. They picked the wrong island of willow bushes to camp on. We don't find out for sure what lives there, but that it is deadly we are left in no doubt.
'The House of Sounds' by M. P. Shiel**** Lovecraft himself compared this story to Poe's 'Fall of the House of Usher,' but there are plenty of differences. Haco Harfager has the Usher role. He shows his friend, the narrator, a printed story about his ancestors. The story shows a family so dysfunctional that they would be welcomed by any tabloid. Of course our narrator comes to Harfager's mansion on the island of Rayba.in the Zetlands. Harfager lives there with his mother, his aunt, Lady Swertha, and a mysterious servant named Aith. The building itself has a worse setting than the Usher mansion. It's also made very oddly. I wouldn't recommend staying there without serious ear protection. Why does Harfager periodically shout 'Hark!'? We do get the answer eventually and it's strange. I kept wishing for the narrator to get his old friend near the front door, knock him unconscious, and drag him out of the house. The author goes so far as to have the narrator do something that would have been indefensible if something else hadn't happened first.
**
''The Moon Pool' by A. Merritt***½ I'm docking half a star because of the racism. The cover of my girlhood ACE paperback of Andre Norton's Victory on Janus quotes the 'Chicago Tribune' as declaring the book to be 'In the tradition of A. Merritt,' so it's nice to finally read something by Merritt. I can see why Mr. Lovecraft liked it. This 1918 novelette uses words that remind me of Lovecraft's writing. We have a framing story involving a Dr. Walter Goodwin passing on what he knows about the ill-fated expedition of Dr. David Throckmartin, his wife, Edith, his associate, Dr. Charles Stanton, and Edith's childhood nurse, Thora Helversen. The natives Throckmartin hired to dig at an ancient island site made one stipulation that the scientists assumed was mere superstition. Too bad for them. The horror is nicely done. I wouldn't hold out any hope for rescue.
'Seaton's Aunt' by Walter de la Mare**** Withers is our narrator. For a time, he and Arthur Seaton attended the same school. Seaton wasn't popular, but Withers promised to spend a half-holiday at Seaton's house after Seaton gave him a present. Withers keeps his promise. Seaton's aunt is a rather strange lady who treats the guest well, but makes unpleasant remarks to and about her nephew. That night, Seaton tells Withers some peculiar things about his aunt. They move around in the hope of catching the aunt in the act. Years later, they run into each other. There's another visit. The third visit is not the charm.
The previous stories were grouped as literary weird tales. The last six are grouped as popular weird tales.… (mehr)
I read J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories” in preparation for teaching a class on Tolkien. Originally written as a lecture in 1939 and first published in 1945, this essay gives a sense for why Tolkien valued fantasy, fairy-story, myth and legend. So, if you’ve ever wondered what was behind Tolkien’s fantasy fiction, this is the book for you! In it Tolkien argues that fairy-stories and fantasy are not just for children--in fact, adults need them more, and get more out of them. He also objects to the notion that fairy-stories are at the bottom rung of evolution from myth to heroic legend to fairy-story. For him, the world of myth and legend and fantasy is a “cauldron” that has been bubbling for centuries, with bits added into the stew over time. He himself draws from this cauldron--and adds to it--in his own fantasy-writing. What does this type of fantasy literature have to offer? His answer is: escape from some of the ugliness and violence of this world; consolation for some of our profoundest desires, such as the desire to communicate with other living creatures, or the desire to escape death; the experience of “eucatastrophe” (“the good catastrophe”)--or “the sudden joyous ‘turn’” of events; and the resultant feelings of joy. And indeed, as I reread The Lord of the Rings, I find myself experiencing some of these very feelings. It is a great wonder to talk with trees and elves. There is a great sadness to mortality--and loss of things past. And, in the face of great threat, there is a sense of the joy of deliverance. Remember, Tolkien lived and wrote through two World Wars, and had a rightful horror of “the ugliness of our works, and of their evil” (On Fairy-Stories). His fiction is steeped in the sense of cosmic battle between forces of good and evil, forces of life and forces of destruction. His works, fantasy though they are, confront some of the most profound questions of his generation--and continue to speak to ours.… (mehr)
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I admit that I did not read through the two manuscript versions in detail, nor their commentary, which combined consists of about 1/3 of the book. Even so, I'm marking this one done, as for all practical purposes, I have read everything I intended to.… (mehr)