“J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”
I think pretty much the same can be said for Herbert (and before him Asimov) when it comes to science-fiction…
(Reading the article, though, it seems Herbert might have been a bit more of an arse about other authors being influenced by him than Tolkien or Asimov ever were…)
Sir Terry Pratchett said, regarding fantasy:
“J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”
I think pretty much the same can be said for Herbert (and before him Asimov) when it comes to science-fiction…
(Reading the article, though, it seems Herbert might have been a bit more of an arse about other authors being influenced by him than Tolkien or Asimov ever were…)
GNU Terry Pratchett
I was never a giant fan of the Lensmen books, but there’s a lot of Doc Smith’s story in Star Wars.
A multi species police force with telepathic powers and a symbol known and respected on all worlds?
For the uninitiated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series
We are standing on the shoulders of giants.