OK, so I'm not a huge fan of reading Tolkien because I think his characters are as boring as watching paint dry, but one thing that he did that was really cool was create a... mythos (though that may not be the right word) that united the U.K. At least, that's how I see it: Men = English, Elves = Welsh, Dwarfs = Scots, Hobbits = Irish. Obviously these are metaphors (I don't want to offend any U.K. folk!), but how I see it is that he basically took these different cultures and created parallels for them within the framework of their own folklore and history. Genius. Personally, I think that's why his work is so resonant and used as a framework for so much fantasy since. And I think that George R.R. Martin does much of the same thing in ASOIAF, same culture (U.K., plus Targaryens = Normans), though totally inventive (and much darker). And, actually, Susanna Clark may have done the same thing, but for a different era and with humor... Anyway.
I don't want to start an argument about this because this is just the way I see it, perhaps due to the fact that what I find most interesting and engaging about the fantasy genre is its historical folklorism (yeah, I just made up a word). And if you don't see it that way, that's totally fine.
Sooo, are there seminal works like this, but for France instead of the U.K.? If so I want to read them; I need the background.
I'd been trying to write a novel that had a WW1 analogue as a narrative framework, but I keep making all my characters French-ish, and loosely basing characters on, like, Marie Antoinette and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and basing cultures on those of the Langue d'oc and, okay, you get the idea. The plot is swiftly becoming, ah, not a WW1 analogue at all, but rather something like a combo of the French Revolution and the French medieval period and, well, some other things.
Oh, and since Spain may feature as well, same goes for fantasy with Spanish culture/history/folklore/etc. as narrative framework/inspiration/etc. You guys know of any fantasy based on that?
This post was far longer than it had to be, but I've had a long day, lol.
I don't want to start an argument about this because this is just the way I see it, perhaps due to the fact that what I find most interesting and engaging about the fantasy genre is its historical folklorism (yeah, I just made up a word). And if you don't see it that way, that's totally fine.
Sooo, are there seminal works like this, but for France instead of the U.K.? If so I want to read them; I need the background.
I'd been trying to write a novel that had a WW1 analogue as a narrative framework, but I keep making all my characters French-ish, and loosely basing characters on, like, Marie Antoinette and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and basing cultures on those of the Langue d'oc and, okay, you get the idea. The plot is swiftly becoming, ah, not a WW1 analogue at all, but rather something like a combo of the French Revolution and the French medieval period and, well, some other things.
Oh, and since Spain may feature as well, same goes for fantasy with Spanish culture/history/folklore/etc. as narrative framework/inspiration/etc. You guys know of any fantasy based on that?
This post was far longer than it had to be, but I've had a long day, lol.
