[Iv]

I used to think that but was surprised to discover that Tolkien was actually a revival of the fantasy genre that had declined.

The Conan series, for instance, predates Tolkien by a decade.

[walshemj]

Tolkien defined the ur heroic fantasy genre influenced by by lord Dunsanny and others and of course actual myths - until recently Tolkien's translation of Beowulf was the standard text at uni.

Howard is more pulpy swords and sorcery with some horror he actually rewrote some westerns as Conan short stories. And Tolkien started work on what became LOTR etc before ww1 well before Howard.