……永远不要误用它……但是这种知识的宝藏可能会让我们自欺欺人：托尔金当年可能根本没读过那本书（年轻的 JRR 能有多早熟？），而且理查德·瓦格纳写出带有类似腐蚀性魔戒的《尼伯龙根的指环》（Der Ring des Nibelungen）时，《绿仙子之书》（Green Fairy Book）都还没出版呢。托尔金非常鄙视瓦格纳，他们很可能都是从更早的某个地方取材神话的。
…never make bad use of it ... But such treasures of knowledge can lead us to trick ourselves: Tolkien probably didn't read the book that year (how precocious was the young JRR?) and Richard Wagner wrote Der Ring des Nibelungen - featuring a similar corrupting magic ring - before the Green Fairy Book came out. Tolkien despised Wagner, and likely all got their myths from somewhere prior.
…you take with you on a vacation?". A good X for banishment might even be an X that has never been a favorite of yours. For example if I had one musical work and one book I'd seriously consider Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and a German to English dictionary. Neither of those is anywhere near a favorite of mine--I do own a copy of Der Ring des Nibelungen but only occasionally listen and then only to the famous parts, and…
…the genres we recognize today. Did Lester play a part in shaping fantasy fiction? Of course. Did he "invent fantasy fiction as we know it"? Come on. If you trace things back arguably something like "Der Ring des Nibelungen" is the invention of the fantasy genre, but is even that it!? It's perhaps not even a modern opera since it's from 1869. If you had to point to only one author it would certainly be Tolkien, but he didn't…
……永远不要误用它……但是这种知识的宝藏可能会让我们自欺欺人：托尔金当年可能根本没读过那本书（年轻的 JRR 能有多早熟？），而且理查德·瓦格纳写出带有类似腐蚀性魔戒的《尼伯龙根的指环》（Der Ring des Nibelungen）时，《绿仙子之书》（Green Fairy Book）都还没出版呢。托尔金非常鄙视瓦格纳，他们很可能都是从更早的某个地方取材神话的。
…never make bad use of it ... But such treasures of knowledge can lead us to trick ourselves: Tolkien probably didn't read the book that year (how precocious was the young JRR?) and Richard Wagner wrote Der Ring des Nibelungen - featuring a similar corrupting magic ring - before the Green Fairy Book came out. Tolkien despised Wagner, and likely all got their myths from somewhere prior.
……你会带哪一个去度假？”。一个适合流放时带的“某物”，甚至可能从来都不是你的心头好。比如说，如果我只能带一部音乐作品和一本书，我会认真考虑瓦格纳的《尼伯龙根的指环》和一本德英词典。这两样东西都绝不是我最喜欢的——我确实有一套《尼伯龙根的指环》，但也只是偶尔听听，而且只听那些著名的唱段，并且……
…you take with you on a vacation?". A good X for banishment might even be an X that has never been a favorite of yours. For example if I had one musical work and one book I'd seriously consider Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and a German to English dictionary. Neither of those is anywhere near a favorite of mine--I do own a copy of Der Ring des Nibelungen but only occasionally listen and then only to the famous parts, and…
……我们今天所熟知的类型。Lester 在塑造奇幻小说方面起到了作用吗？当然。但他“发明了我们所知道的奇幻小说”？算了吧。如果你要追根溯源，可以说像《尼伯龙根的指环》这样的作品才是奇幻类型的开山鼻祖，但即便是它就算吗！？它甚至可能都不算现代歌剧，毕竟那是 1869 年的作品了。如果你非要只挑一个作者，那肯定是托尔金，但他并不是……
…the genres we recognize today. Did Lester play a part in shaping fantasy fiction? Of course. Did he "invent fantasy fiction as we know it"? Come on. If you trace things back arguably something like "Der Ring des Nibelungen" is the invention of the fantasy genre, but is even that it!? It's perhaps not even a modern opera since it's from 1869. If you had to point to only one author it would certainly be Tolkien, but he didn't…