Michael Moorcock: Encyclopedia II - Michael Moorcock - Views on other writers

Michael Moorcock - Views on other writers

Moorcock is a fervent supporter of the works of Mervyn Peake, and an almost equally fervent detractor of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. He met both Tolkien and C. S. Lewis in his teens, and claims to have liked them personally even though he does not admire them on artistic grounds. Some critics have accused Moorcock of condemning Tolkien for not writing like Peake, although this is disputed.

Moorcock criticises works like The Lord of the Rings for their Merry England point of view, famously equating Tolkien's trilogy to Winnie-the-Pooh in his essay "Epic Pooh" [1]. He cites as an example of an author who writes fantasy that is not escapist and contains meaningful themes, Fritz Leiber, one of the pioneers of sword and sorcery fiction. These views can be found in his study of epic fantasy Wizardry & Wild Romance, which was revised and reissued by MonkeyBrain Books in 2004.

Likewise, Moorcock has criticized writers who he perceives as having hidden political agendas. Among his targets are Robert A. Heinlein and H.P. Lovecraft, both of whom he attacked in a 1978 essay. In this essay (caustically entitled "Starship Stormtroopers"), he compared Heinlein's Starship Troopers, to Mein Kampf, calling it "xenophobic." Likewise, he attacked Lovecraft for having anti-semitic, misogynistic and extremely racist viewpoints, which he included in his short stories (while this criticism is true, Lovecraft later changed his opinions and actually married a Jewish woman).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Views on other writers", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki