Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
There might have been a bit of rivalry as well. Here Tolkien had read selections of his writings to the Inklings. Writings that had taken yrs to develop and then C.S. Lewis just seemed to sit down and 'have a go at it' one day and came up with his books.
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The experience of reading them is similar--Tolkien takes years and years to read but you can zip through a Lewis book in an afternoon.
FWIW I would say that Tolkien is hugely influential, especially in epic/heroic fantasy, but there are plenty of other influences and subgenres in fantasy. I'm particularly fond of mannerpunk, and Austen (and some other classic writers) are far more influential in that subgenre than Tolkien is.