Jack Vance has been described as the greatest prose stylist in the history of speculative fiction. The creativity of his worldbuilding is legendary, and no one wrote self-absorbed, amoral rogues, rascals and scoundrels like he did.
This video is a retrospective overview of Vance, his place in literary history, and his more than 50 novels and dozens of works of short fiction spanning multiple genres. It's the longest video I've ever made and is an experimental attempt to combine multiple, somewhat conflicting, objectives in one video. I tried without success to keep it under an hour, and I apologize for its excessive length. There was too much ground to cover, and I still don't feel like I did his works justice.
0:58 Vance's Place in History
4:34 Greatest Prose Stylist in SFF History?
7:45 Settings, Themes & Other Hallmarks
14:51 Influences & Early Writing Career
19:57 Growth in Acclaim and Output
21:28 The Phantom Author?
23:30 Vance's Bibliography
25:22 His SF Short Fiction
33:34 His SF Novels
58:45 The Dying Earth
1:06:04 Lyonesse
1:08:37 Crime Thrillers & Mysteries
1:11:48 Conclusion
Links to some of my other videos about science fiction and fantasy:
Connie Willis's Novels & Short Fiction - https://youtu.be/IsQEWQEWqkw
Essential King Arthur Retellings - https://youtu.be/MD_j-8-PraE
An Overview of Lord Dunsany's Works - https://youtu.be/AJKfoLUN47M
Tad Williams' Novels and Short Fiction - https://youtu.be/UGSnOIgnwio
A History of Gnome Press - https://youtu.be/_HlKhLG3ZxE
A History of Science Fiction Anthologies - https://youtu.be/3VNt6N9m-_4
The Roots and Evolution of Steampunk - https://youtu.be/SFEFWl67fLA
The Best SF of Vernor Vinge - https://youtu.be/O_Nk8c9cZoY
Tier Ranking Neal Stephenson's Novels - https://youtu.be/mXhOyzjKsHo
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I have a Ko-Fi.com page if you enjoy my videos and would like to buy me a cup of coffee: https://ko-fi.com/thelibraryladder
Art and image credits:
Tom Kidd
Stephen Fabian
Randy Broecker
Paul Chadwick
David Mattingly
Les Edwards
Ken Barr
David Schleinkofer
Ned Dameron
Konstantin Korobov
Kip Rasmussen
Jacek Irzkowski
Michael Whelan
Hannes Bok
Jack Vance
Many of the images were sourced from Jack Vance artwork collector Arrick Counts at https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryroom.asp?gsub=220541
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