Who's a writer—past or present—you believe deserves more attention? What makes their work meaningful to you, and how has it influenced your own?
Rather than talk about contemporary published writers, I'm going to speak of two older writers, writers whose language entranced me, who made me fall in love with books when I was much younger. Both writers wrote prose that was like poetry, prose that transported me into worlds of romance and adventure, through tales of daring and intrigue. They are known even today, but less so than before - I worry that their memories are beginning to fade from our collective consciousness.
The first is George MacDonald, who lived between 1825 and 1905 - a Scottish priest, author and poet who wrote some absolutely lovely books. His influence on fantasy was tremendous - his works inspired the likes of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and Madeleine D'Engle. The Princess and the Goblin was an early childhood favourite. Now of course, I read it through adult eyes, using a 21st century moral standpoint and I am disturbed by the usual careless (and nasty) fantasy tropes - ugly and evil goblins, a fair and beautiful princess etc. But I still like the spunky princess. Curdy, her young miner friend, helps her escape - but she helps him escape too. And her great grandmother is as capable as she is old. So there's still a lot to love in the book. Most of all, I love the way MacDonald paints landscapes with words. There's an art there, and one that's not easy to achieve at all.
The second is Lewis Carroll, who continues to be hugely influential of course - so I can't say he lacks attention, though of course all writers deserve more readers and more attention. I used a section from Hunting of the Snark in my PhD thesis, which was on the topic of making maps from satellite images. I was so delighted when I found this excerpt - it was perfect!
(Lewis Clark, the Hunting of the Snark - Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carroll_-_The_Hunting_of_the_snark,_1876.djvu)
He had bought a large map representing the sea,
Without the least vestige of land:And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!
"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank"
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
A perfect and absolute blank!"
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