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> Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay, was a pretty decent read. Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness is good, although I don't know whether a book like that, more sci-fi than true fantasy, qualifies for your list. Dan Simmons' Hyperion is also excellent sci-fi with a touch of horror (again, if that's acceptable).

_Tigana_ was one of the first things that popped into my mind when considering a fantasy literature reading list. Actually, anything by Kay that's not the Fionavar Tapestry could qualify. I don't know if you want to include Tolkien, since your definition of "modern" may be only late 20th century, but there's a reason his books are classics.

Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are excellent, and also have a lot of qualities that make them more like literature than, say, anything in the Dragonlance series. I haven't read them in four or so years, so I can't say what I would think of the prose now, but the ideas are worthwhile. They deal, with some moral complexity, with the nature of heroism and guilt -- both central parts of the territory most fantasy novels cover.

Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea books should definitely be on your list somewhere. As long as we're on children's literature, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series is amazingly good, especially _The Grey King_. If you insist on reading Jordan (whom I enjoy, and whose books I find myself compelled to buy on the day they come out, but whom I wouldn't recommend for any literary study) I suggest you read Cooper, too, and maybe Stephen Lawhead's Arthurian books (starting with _Taliesin_, and moving into _Merlin_ and _Arthur_) and analyse how different modern fantasy authors use the same legends and folktales and arrive at amazingly different places.

Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books are excellent, although they're a bit heavy reading and they're sometimes difficult to find these days. My local library didn't stock any of them and I had to get them on inter-library loan. There'd be lots of stuff to write papers about in them.

Issachar's good to suggest the Alvin Maker books, which are definitely worth reading.

_Watership Down_ is a great fantasy book (which you've probably already read) and would give you a break from all the swords and sorcery in most of the stuff you're likely going to be reading.

You could give Stephen King a try. A lot of his horror books are fantasy, in a sense, and the Dark Tower books are closer to the rest of the genre.


While I'm breaking down those genre barriers, I highly, highly, highly recommend Tom Robbins, especially _Skinny Legs and All_, for hilarious, unpredictable, clever and fast writing. It's not fantasy in the conventional sense (no wizards, broadswords, or scantily-clad priestesses) but it's got magic, legend, and at least one Goddess.

BTW, on my list of people to stay away from are Piers Anthony, David Eddings, Terry Brooks (and Terry Goodkind), among others. I would also consider dropping the Dragonlance books.


Tom "Now I feel dirty and elitist" Schmidt
tmschm@wm.edu