Uhoh, Monday again! That snuck up on me. Once more it’s time for a Fantasy With Friends discussion post! The prompts are hosted at Pages Unbound, and this week’s is about contemporary fantasies that might be set to become classics:
What contemporary fantasy works do you think could become future classics?
Aaaand I’m pretty stumped. I feel like I have a better handle on it for SF, where e.g. Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch books and Martha Wells’ Murderbot seem likely to stick in people’s minds. But though I read more fantasy than SF, I’m not sure — maybe it’s because I read more fantasy, and not just the standouts? And also maybe because I’m often running a little behind: due to mood reading, I’m not always reading the latest, though I’ve improved on that in the last year and a half.
But really, looking at my shelves at fantasy from the last decade or so, some of the books I thought were really great have already dipped well out of sight into backlists. I suspect as well as quality, there’ll be a degree of visibility required: books that have been pushed hard and made it onto a lot of shelves might have the sticking power in people’s brains because of the saturation of them. Maybe that means the early cosy fantasies like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes will be considered the classics of the current time? Some of the romantasies?
My tongue’s a little bit in my cheek here, but given these books spurred a change in the genre/the solidification of a subgenre, that’s a reason they might genuinely survive, if the subgenre stays strong (even if it fades back into the background as other trends come along).
If I could pick what will become a classic, I think Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons and sequels would be good choices, Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills novellas, some of T. Kingfisher’s (maybe Clockwork Boys?)… but sadly, I don’t get to pick. Which is probably good, because I know I must be forgetting many absolutely wonderful books that I’d absolutely endorse.
Still, I kinda like that question. If you could pick a contemporary fantasy to become a classic, just based on your own fondness for it, what would you pick?
ETA: Made slight updates to the wording to make it clear where I’m not entirely serious.
I’m always interested in the difference between being historically significant and being a classic. Like The Mystery of Udolpho was important for starting interest in the Gothic, and obviously you can still read it today, but I don’t know that many people consider it good. Same with The Octopus by Frank Norris. I remember reading about it in a history textbook maybe in high school as a book that was historically significant, but I don’t see anyone actually reading it today outside of like PhD students who study that time period. I wonder if Legends & Lattes will end up more as a historical note for starting a trend.
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I think I see the distinction you mean, though The Mysteries of Udolpho is definitely considered a classic of gothic literature (e.g. was set as such in one of the undergraduate electives in my first degree — not one of the ones I took, though it was a popular course). I can’t comment on Frank Norris’ book, though, as that’s American, and we mostly studied the British canon.
I was mostly being a bit tongue in cheek about Legends & Lattes, but I think there is a genuine possibility that some of the formational cosy fantasies will generate enough nostalgia, at least within the genre, to stick. Looking at both mystery fiction and children’s fiction (both of which I studied), there are some objectively bad books hailed as classics of their respective genres, even while people who are thinking about “classics” in the sense of the literary canon would turn their noses up at it.
I agree some visibility is required! I find sometimes people get upset when I say this because classics are supposed to be “timeless,” but it’s rather hard for people to recognize a timeless quality in a book that’s out of print. Of course, some books get “rediscovered,” but it’s hard to count on that!
The question of trendy titles right now is interesting! I somehow don’t see cozies and romantasies really becoming classics, unless people are specifically studying/into those types of books. Classics are so often supposed to be “serious,” to the point where I still see people arguing Jane Austen shouldn’t be in the canon. Because, you know, romances aren’t serious. And, to convince people she should be, the argument of course then goes, “Oh, but she IS serious! She talks about class and social issues! She’s not writing JUST a romance!” So I do think there’s a barrier there that certain subgenres/genres need to cross, unfortunately. But, for sure, I could see these titles coming up in academic papers if people are studying those specific topics.
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I think on that metric, any fantasy book would struggle to be considered a classic, as genre is considered inherently unserious by some — the classics of fantasy literature like The Lord of the Rings or of crime fiction like Whose Body are argued about in university courses constantly.
For something like Legends & Lattes, it’s way too recent to tell how quickly it will fade (though quite possibly very quickly indeed), and my suggestion was mostly tongue-in-cheek. It really depends on how well the subgenre maintains itself; if it happens to do so, then in 30 years people may well be arguing that L&L is a classic because it was part of the foundation.
I definitely agree that books that are in still in print are more likely to become classics. One of my predictions would agree with yours, The Goblin Emperor seems to retain its popularity really well and is just brilliant.
The Goblin Emperor has so much world-building, I think it has a good chance at longevity because it’s something you can reread and see deeper into.
T. Kingfisher is a great shout, especially with her self-published work getting trad published and ever growing in popularity. I went with a more serious, classic style fantasy rec I guess, but I do think cozy fantasy is having it’s moment, and maybe that will help it stand the test of time. You’ve also reminded me that I really need to pick up The Goblin Emperor. Great post 🙂
The Goblin Emperor is so lovely!
I absolutely agree that T. Kingfisher’s books could become classics. I’m also thinking Sanderson probably. I haven’t read a lot of Sanderson’s books but he’s so popular and his books seem to be epic fantasy series type. Also, I might be biased but I feel like the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is a definite possibility!
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Hmm, yeah, maybe some of Sanderson’s — the popularity definitely helps there, and he does have some pretty solid worldbuilding skills that help to make his work satisfying and memorable.