Rereading Epic Pooh

I just reread Michael Moorcock’s 1978 polemic “Epic Pooh,” in which he excoriates JRR Tolkien and his contemporaries for sentimentalism.

(You can find the copy I read here, although I think this is updated since it references JK Rowling)

It is a rollicking read, and I always find myself chuckling as I go through it. Not that I agree with it 100% - I think Tolkien’s works are massive influences on fantasy in general and the human imaginarium in particular.

(But I would rather have my toenails pulled than reread LotR. Not so for Corum or Elric.)

Here is how Moorcock sees Tolkien and other works of ‘High fantasy’:

Prose of the nursery room

To soothe and console

Mouth music

Lacks tension

Coddles & befriends the reader

Tells comforting lies

Soft

Success due to its comforting tone

Sentimental, distanced

Avoids implications

Lauds the petit bourgeoise in the face of Chaos

Heroes accept the status quo

No symbols or allegories

Self-serving misanthropy

Sentimental myths to make war bearable

Anti-romance (ie no saga)

Use sentimentality and infantilism

Fearful, backward-yearning

Equate good taste with restraint

Civilized behaviour means conventional behaviour at all times

Happy ending as policy

Fantasy of escaping death

Satisfies ancient desires (ie cheat death, fly, use magic to fulfill wishes)

And since the majority of D&D’s DNA is from LotR, you can see how it has gradually come to take these faults as virtues - how kewl powerz and challenge ratings have nerfed any lethality, and thus tension, in D&D.

Although I think Moorocock gives Tolkien too much credit as an ideologue, he does have some points. LotR and connected books were always a slog, understandable considering Tolkien was a linguistics major, and not a creative writing or even a literature type. The prose and action falters often in LotR, but I give it a pass because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Conversely, Moorcock is both a literary type and a renaissance man with multiple interests - see Hawkwind and his contributions to music. After excoriating Tolkien, Moorcock goes on to describe his preferred type of fiction:

Epic, dignifies death

Vigorous and careful writing

Respects the reader’s intelligence

Large vocabulary, talented writing, good plot structure

Echoes greater writing

Clear & vibrant, with pace & verve

Style is robust, elegant, and considered

Whether you agree with his thesis or not, it is an interesting examination of the state of fantasy literature in the 20th century.

How does this reflect on Stormbringer?

As noted, Stormbringer has always kept a level of lethality. However, the published scenarios often fall short of the high criteria of writing Moorcock has set.

Basically, although D&D included Moorcock’s works in the original Deities & Demigods, D&D has since bought more into the high fantasy of LotR than the pulpy saga of Elric. And I would argue that this is partially because the storytelling standards are much lower.