JRRT of course is quite famed for the depth and breadth of his subcreation.
It’s even more mind-boggling to me to consider the fact that most of his subcreation, on which he spent decades of his life, would never had been brought to light at all if it hadn’t been for his almost inadvertent penning of the Hobbit, which led to LOTR. Both of which were appended really very loosely to the core body of his work.
Now I’ve read tons of Fantasy and SF, and I’ve seen many authors make some effort towards creating a consistent universe of their own. But frankly, for most of them, dipping into their reality is more akin to wading in the shallow end of the pool, versus swimming in Tolkien’s Atlantic ocean. For me, anyway.
Are there any other authors out there who have labored so long and hard to create their own universe, with anything approaching the complexity of JRRT? Even very obscure ones, who are virtually unknown outside of a handful of scholars?
Remember, we’re talking real depth here. Languages, histories, geographies, religions, and legends all laboriously created, contributed to the whole. So comparing Asimov’s or Niven’s universes to his won’t fly in my book.
But I do look forward to learning about what else is out there in this vein.
Well, not on Tolkien’s scale, but when I read Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books I very much got the sense that there were stacks and stacks and stacks of notebooks somewhere that outlined the world they were set in, full of stuff that would never appear anywhere near the books.
I came to this thread to mention His Dark Materials, but I see Zsofia has already done it. In the trilogy, Pullman describes multiple universes, each of which is internally consistent. His imagination is quite astonishing.
Wheel of Time? I know most people slam on Robert Jordan’s writing ability, but I really enjoy the series for the world he created, and not so much for the actual plot.
As a fellow Tolkien fan, Qadgop, I want to really encourage you to do so. While Pullman isn’t quite the genius the master was, HDM is quite wonderful–well, at least in the first two volumes.
Roger Zelazny’s Amber series depicts intricately-detailed fantasy worlds that are described with wit and style. I suggest steering clear of the novels written by John Gregory Betancourt after Zelazny’s death. Betancourt is no Zelazny. Not even close, IMHO.
I’ve avidly read WOT (and suffered thru some terrible volumes in the series as a result) and while I enjoy the world he created, I don’t find his depth to be exceptional.
I think Islandia, by Austin Tappan Wright meets your qualifications. I’ve read it twice and enjoyed it. The Wikipedia link will tell you everything you need to know.
Agreed on all counts. He had some interesting ideas, but some so clearly ripped off from other fantasy (JRRT included) that I got annoyed very rapidly.
I still don’t think he has an entire universe, with mythology, cultures, languages, stories and legends, anywhere near as rich and detailed as Tolkien.
Come to think of it, I can’t really think of any other single author who does. The only thing that comes close is the mythology of an entire culture, which doesn’t count, of course. Perhaps that was Tolkien’s unique genius?
I know they’re basically girly-porn, but Jean Auel, while basing her books on archaeological finds, does essentially make up all the language, myths, histories, religions and even geographies, to some extent (as her stories take place when Europe looked quite different than it does now.) And she does this for a dozen different societies, not just one.
I mean, seeing as she generally gets blasted for “making shit up” and passing it off as (pre)history, we might as well give her credit when that’s a *good *thing, right?
Diane Duane’s Star Trek novels might fill the bill. She fills in a great deal of (non-canon) background on the Vulcans and the Romulans, including tying back to the female Romulan Commander from “The Enterprise Incident” and creates and sustains a number of interesting characters across the ones I’ve read. Nowhere near Tolkien’s depth of course.
