Lin Carter’s Imaginary Worlds

One of the last books published by the Ballantine Fantasy Series (BFS) was Imaginary Worlds (1973) by Lin Carter. I recently picked up a copy for $7 in a used bookstore. The first eight chapters are a history of Fantasy from William Morris to Evangeline Walton’s Mabinogeon series (so 1891 to 1973). The last three chapters are Carter’s rules on writing Fantasy. The whole thing is kind of a user’s guide for the BFS and I had two very strong reactions to some of the content:

First, each generation chooses its own classics. That seems obvious but I had it driven into my consciousness by two events. The first was my eldest son’s love of the works of Christopher Paolini, the Eragon series. I tried the first book and quickly arrived at (as my younger son is so apt to say) “meh”. I couldn’t find the enthusiasm for what seemed a naive and derivative book.

The second event was reading Imaginary Worlds, specifically the chapter on The Lord of the Rings called “The Inklings Produce a Classic”. I had read Carter’s previous book on the subject: Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings (1969). Carter’s opinion of JRRT had changed in 4 years. Carter quotes and agrees with Fritz Leiber:

There’s no arguing that a vast number of people — intelligent, educated, and sensitive people, I mean — young and old (but especially the former) — are tremendously and enduringly enthusiastic about Tolkien’s trilogy, yet I do meet quite a few whose reactions are much like my own. We almost always start with “The ents are great! Oh boy, yes. Andthat first part of the quest with the black riders in the distance and Strider a mystery–that’s great too. Oh and yes, the first appearance of the Nazgul and the Balrog…” At about which point the silence begins and we search our memories and look at each other rather guiltily–exciting things should spring to mind, but they don’t… (Pg. 116)

That’s Lin Carter and Fritz Leiber saying, “meh.” In fact Carter was a little mystified by young fans who have read and re-read the books twenty times (that might be me). I sat there and asked myself: how could two Fantasy greats (in their own way) not bow down and worship at the feet of John Ronald Raoul?

And then I remembered Eragon. Tolkien was their Paolini. Carter illuminates this by saying the trilogy breaks down into favorite scenes, many of which are not new to him who has read everything from Gilgamesh to John Ruskin. This is clear to me when I remember what I rather embarrassingly said to my son, when I returned the book unread. “I’ve read a lot of Fantasy and the book just didn’t seem new.” Now Carter (from the grave) has just handed me back my Lord of the Rings and said the same (take that, dad!)

The second reaction I had to Imaginary Worlds was in Chapters 9 and 10. Carter spends all his time doing two very dorky things. First off, he illustrates all his points with reference to his own fiction, published and unpublished. Very egocentric. But even worse, he pokes fellow writers in the eye throughout these chapters in regards to coining names. And look at who he targets: first off, one of two men he has pastiched as a career, Robert E. Howard (Edgar Rice Burroughs is the other), then John Jakes, then Leigh Brackett, then Gardner F. Fox, then Michael Moorcock, then Jane Gaskell, then Karl Edward Wagner, then Professor Tolkien himself!, then Ted White, then Dave Van Arnum, then Otis Adelbert Kline, then Fritz Leiber and himself. (He applauds L. Sprague de Camp, Jack Vance, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, and himself.)

What strikes me about this is what time has done for the reputations of the name listed. In the top tier: Tolkien and John Jakes have sold whole forests of books. Howard, Brackett, Moorcock, Leiber and Karl Edward Wagner have all written cornerstone works of Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Planet. Jane Gaskell holds an odd place as a Fantasy writer who is loved by non-genre readers. Only Kline, Fox, Van Arnum and White seem less likely to be remembered. They all wrote books of the moment, but no more so or less so than Thongor of Lemuria. In fact, in one example, Carter quotes his second novel in the The Black Star series, The White Throne. It never saw print since Dell never picked up the second two volumes. And this is a book that we are supposed to take as exemplary of the genre? Khymyrium is another.

Now I have to temper this with things that came later. I know Moorcock and Leiber were friends of Carter’s, all members of S. A. G. A. (Sword and Sorcerers’ Guild of America) and that Carter would select their works for the Years’ Best volumes in 1974 to 1979. He would select a story by Karl Edward Wagner and Gardner F. Fox too. So I think his words are tempered with the knowledge that the writers mentioned can disagree, argue and hold their own in the discussion of fantasy names. Fritz certainly did in his reviews for Fantasy & Science Fiction. Ted White was editor of Fantastic from October 1968 until October 1978 and published the deCamp/Carter Conan pastiches. The pages of Amra also hosted much of this discussion.

The mouse roaring at the lions. But that too is a matter of time. In 1973 Lin Carter was top of his game. He had another 15 years to slide to the bottom. One of his last books was called Found Wanting (DAW 1985). That could be an appropriate title for Carter’s reputation. Even in Imaginary Worlds he mentions his lack of reputation: (“… but I am always accused of being a rank imitator anyway, so it will be nothing new…”) (Pg. 230). Despite that, I have a fondness for Carter. I know his works aren’t brilliant. Certainly not original. I always approach an LC novel with the thought “What kind of a pastiche is this one? Burroughs? Howard? Brackett? Vance? Lovecraft? Dunsany? Doc Savage?” But I still approach him. I still read him. I still collect him. I even wrote an essay on the Thongor stories for Apostle of Letters (2006), so I have to concede that my attachment for Lin Carter is based in my youth, during my Eragon days. It works both ways. You love what you love. Time will tell just what that is….

For the counterpoint to this piece, see “Careful What You Wish For” where my children get their revenge.