As I mentioned Wednesday, one of the things I really enjoyed about Kelly Link is the number of references she uses, and her awareness and manipulation of common fantasy tropes. Unsurprisingly, I also have a deep love of cross-genre work and pastiche (Takashi Miike is one of my favorite directors).
What struck me as I was listening to the discussion was how much these elements reminded me of one of T.S. Eliot's essays on criticism, "Tradition and the Individual Talent." To sum the essay up briefly, Eliot argues that truly great, and thus "traditional," writers are those who have studied all that has come before and write with a deep consciousness of the canon. These writers are then rewarded by having a place in that canon, while retroactively affecting the canonical works that came before.
The legitimacy of Eliot's argument aside, I do think it's interesting that Link basically follows this model. What I'd be really curious to know is if Link's influence has been seen in new and upcoming fantasy short-story writing.
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