Kevin's Watch

Over the course of the last six or seven months I re-read the entire Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Well, read is one way of putting it. Listened would be more correct. The first time through (and the second and third for Chronicles 1 and 2) I read the entire series, and now this time, I listened to the audio books.

What an epic series. I mean seriously. This is the best series I have ever read in my entire life. I started reading Lord Foul's Bane in 1979, so it has been an epic ride until 2013, when the last book was published. But when the Last Chronicles were published I didn't go back to the start and it had been at least 10 years since I'd read the First and Second Chronicles. So doing the whole 10 in a compressed period of time (it might have been up to 9 months, I don't remember), but it was one hell of a ride.

It has made me wonder a couple of things.
A) How many words are there in the entire series??
B) Has anyone written a thesis (like university level writing or serious journalism) about this series? I'd love to read hard core fans view of the importance and impact of this series. I've read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, and this comes out on top for me.

Anyway, I'm not going to be a member of THOOLAH

The only work I know of is by W.A. Senior:

https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Donaldso ... 0873385284

I have this, and it's really good. However, it only covers books 1-6. I'm not aware of anything that covers then entire series, or even books 7-10 for that matter.

Donaldson himself has written a few things that you can read online. Note the publication dates.

Epic Fantasy in the Modern World: A Few Observations
Epic Fantasy: Necessary Literature

There is the Senior book that dlb mentions above.

There is also Christine Barkley's book, Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision: A Critical Study of the "chronicles of Thomas Covenant" Novels. There is a thread about it here.

There are a few other books that I haven't read. I stumble across them from time to time.

The leprous man : a psychoanalytical investigation into Stephen Donaldson's fantasy novels by Kate Simons

Overcoming the shadow : the epic fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen R. Donaldson by Theodore Timpson

Check out this link for a good start: [link]

Good for you DJ

Have you read the Gap Series and Mordants Need?