An author renowned for his work The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski is known for not mincing his words. In an interview with our colleagues from the magazine Chimères, the Polish writer spoke about his relationship with the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, the father of modern fantasy.
Andrzej Sapkowski's opinion on J.R.R. Tolkien
While he is not the world's first fantasy author – William Morris is generally considered the forerunner of the genre with novels such as The Spring at World's End (1896) – the British writer J.R.R. Tolkien changed the game profoundly with the publication of the novels The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) and The Silmarillion (1977). A scholar with a passion for ancient languages and myths, J.R.R. Tolkien said he wanted to give England a mythology. Ultimately, he gave the world a world in which everyone could immerse themselves and marvel.
His work, which has been adapted for film and television, is among the most adored in pop culture. Above all, J.R.R. Tolkien has inspired so many fantasy writers, by Robin Hobb &àgrave; Guy Gavriel Kay, through Jean-Philippe Jaworski, who is considered to be under his influence even writers who break away from it like George R.R. Martin and Michael Moorcock.
In an interview published in the first issue of Chimeras – Brave New World, the new French fantasy magazine co-founded by academic Anne Besson and journalist Victor Battaggion of the magazine Historia, writer Andrzej Sapkowski spoke about his writing tricks. Explaining that he did everything to capture the reader's interest, he compared himself to the illustrious J.R.R. Tolkien:
I love Tolkien, but today when, at a convention, young readers come to me and tell me that reading Tolkien is boring, I have to admit that I understand.
While he fully recognizes the influence of the giant of modern fantasy, Andrzej Sapkowski seems to share the opinion of the brilliant Alexandre Astier (Kaamelott), who on the occasion of an interview for Konbini for the promotion of the film Kaamelott: Premier Volet had declared:
It's not with Jackson that I have a little problem, it's with Tolkien. I know that he gave birth to Medieval Fantasy, we're certainly not going to blame him for that, but it's a bit biblical: we start with names and places for a billion years. I also think that I have trouble with cohesion; I have trouble with people who swear loyalty to each other all the time.
And you, what do you think of these criticisms? Don't hesitate to tell us in the comments section. And to go further, we'll let you discover this great news that will delight fans of The Witcher that the writer Andrzej Sapkowski had revealed exclusively for Chimeras.