History OnceOriginalNowCommon / Literature

* ''{{Lensman}}''. EEDocSmith's classic saga can seem like a ClicheStorm of SpaceOpera tropes, but, of course, it ''started'' most of them.

*** Overlapping with GoshDangitToHeck, almost everybody admonishes Holden not to swear when the worst thing he says is..."goddamn". This leads to modern readers, who hear words like [[ClusterFBomb "fuck"]] and [[PrecisionFStrike "shit"]] on a daily basis see Holden as more of a RuleAbidingRebel when he was, for his time, quite a potty-mouth.

*** Overlapping with GoshDangitToHeck, almost everybody admonishes Holden not to swear when the worst thing he says is..."goddamn".

** The use of a casual, first person writing style definitely contributes heavily to making it dated as well. The use of slang and turns of phrase that are alien to newcomers makes it strange to a reader.

** Tolkien might be an aversion to this trope. While there is no question he was influential in many regards to fantasy, very little of how he described various parts of his fantasy world actually survive in what is now considered generic fantasy. This also isn't factoring in that Tolkien was very inconsistent with a lot of his own lore. Depending on what you were reading, orcs and goblins ranged from being different words for the same exact creature, different tribes of the same creature that are identical, different tribes of the same creature except the goblin tribe was slightly shorter on average, two related species, or completely different and unrelated creatures.
*** But this still leaves us with, well, defining the stock races as mostly used today (elves existed prior in many different forms in different mythologies, from little wingy tinkerbells to something you'd call a dwarf in modern fantasy, while now everyone thinks "pointy ears"; orcs were new, at least the name; elf-dwarf relations; dwarfs as always bearded miners) as well as other more general formulae. Actually, quite a bit survived, especially in the common aspects of most fantasy.

* DashiellHammett and RaymondChandler. Their hard-boiled detective fiction certainly qualifies.

* ''StrangerInAStrangeLand'' by RobertAHeinlein features a Jesus-like human from Mars who can perform telekinesis, telepathy, and miracle healing simply by meditating. He spends most of the novel trying to "understand earth behaviour" and ends up bringing his followers sexual liberation. Most people nowadays tend to forget that Heinlein wrote the novel in the ''fifties'' but that it was published in the sixties, It was deemed publishable only when the hippie movement was already well on its way and ended up as a huge influence on the mentality of the '60s and '70s (predating Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by over a decade). Many attitudes in modern New Age philosophy are taken directly from Heinlein's work, often disguised as ancient Eastern wisdom.

* ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan (1894)'' was a prototype CosmicHorrorStory, notable for "the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds". It was cited as a major influence by HPLovecraft, and (more recently) StephenKing. But part of the suspense is killed for the modern reader, who knows what to expect from the genre.

* ''Literature/{{The Catcher in the Rye}}'': J.D. Salinger's novel started a {{Wangst}} revolution in literature that it's never come out of. As a result, those who've read similar-style books before reading Salinger's book often write ''Catcher'' off as okay at best, a poor man's ChuckPalahniuk at worst.

* ErnestHemingway. Read any other novel or watch a movie on wartime experiences before reading ''Literature/AFarewellToArms''. It'll end up looking like just another run-of-the-mill war story.

** Rice's ''VampireChronicles'' suffer from this even harder, if only because she was more prolific than Brite and she's much more well-known in the mainstream. Lestat in particular is the poster child for this. The "sexy Eurotrash rebel-without-a-cause in literal leather pants" character is so cliche in modern vampire fiction that people groan when they see it. Somewhat hilariously, it was a major criticism of the ''{{Queen of the Damned}}'' movie.

** Also, YourMileageMayVary but {{Wangst}} has been a part of literature ever since ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' or even ''RomeoAndJuliet'', it was just presented in such eloquent language that it seemed more legitimately emotional.

* JRRTolkien's ''LordOfTheRings'': This book popularized most of the cliches found in fantasy today, but modern readers may well find it unspeakably boring, purely because everything in it has since been subverted, inverted, parodied, and otherwise done to death. Aside from that though, it also has lots of UnbuiltTrope which are actually not like what non-readers think the book contains.

* Creator/WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance genre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End'' (1896). Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These works and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, Creator/JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

** The same goes for the inventors of "classic" detective fiction, Creator/ArthurConanDoyle and AgathaChristie in particular. Many of the stories and novels by both are stuffed with clichés and twists that a modern-day reader has seen a bit too often - but they invented them.

** The same goes for the inventors of "classic" detective fiction, ArthurConanDoyle and AgathaChristie in particular. Many of the stories and novels by both are stuffed with clichés and twists that a modern-day reader has seen a bit too often - but they invented them.

* ''Amadis Of Gaul'' is the most important knight-errant ChivalricRomance of all time, but today it seems dated, to the point that it has been all but forgotten and replaced in importance by its extremely angry {{Deconstruction}}, ''Literature/DonQuixote''. Note, however, that ''Amadis Of Gaul'' is saved from the fire for its merits in the chapter where the library of Don Quixote is being burned.

* WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance genre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End'' (1896). Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These works and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

* ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan (1894)'' was a prototype CosmicHorrorStory, notable for "the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds". It was cited as a major influence by HPLovecraft, and (more recently) StephenKing. But part of the suspense is killed for the modern reader, who knows what to expect ifrom the genre.

* WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance genre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End'' (1896). Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These works and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

* WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance genre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End'' (1896). Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These worlks and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

* WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance genre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End''. Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These worlks and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

* WilliamMorris (1834-1896) attempted to revive the ChivalricRomance gernre with novels ''The Wood Beyond the World'' (1894) and ''The Well at the World's End''. Creating "an entirely invented fantasy world" as their setting. These worlks and his earlier HistoricalFantasy novels influenced writers such as LordDunsany, Eric Rücker Eddison, James Branch Cabell, JRRTolkien, and CSLewis. Problem is that they are among the founding works of MedievalEuropeanFantasy. And had a noticeable influence in the development of HeroicFantasy, HighFantasy, and even the CthulhuMythos. There is now nothing innovative about creating an invented world, and his works were considered dated by TheSeventies.

* ''AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' (1889) has fallen victim to it. It was one of the earliest TimeTravel novels, and the protagonist's efforts to introduce "modern" technology and values in TheMiddleAges was groundbreaking on its own. However this idea was followed in (among others) ''Lest Darkness Fall'' (1941), which was itself influential in the AlternateHistory genre, ''Literature/TheCrossTimeEngineer'' series, the ''SixteenThirtyTwo'' series, and ''{{Timeline}}''. While The Man Who Came Early (1956) by PoulAnderson served as an influential {{Deconstruction}} of the concept. Nowadays its hard to realize what was unique in the original novel.

* Science fiction in general. Technologies that used to be completely fantastic tend to become TruthInTelevision decades later. See also TechnologyMarchesOn.

* ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' nowadays seems ''just'' like a lot of other books you've probably read several times by now. Kids discovering a mysterious pathway to another world, finding their arrival to this strange new world to be predicted in prophecy, some of the residents are pleased to find them while others want them all dead, and soon everyone embarks on a large adventure to save the world... Yeah, it doesn't sound too original today. It almost sounds kind of like some children's stories, shounen manga series, a few video games, and a typical FanFic plot. Oh, and as for biblical references? ''* Yawn* ''. Name something today that ''doesn't'' draw from TheBible heavily.

*** Try since {{Homer}}. Achilles sitting in his tent sulking, even after Agamemnon apologises, because he's the hero.

* ''Amadis Of Gaul'' is the most important knight-errant ChivalricRomance of all time, but today it seems dated, to the point that it has been all but forgotten and replaced in importance by its extremely angry {{Deconstruction}}, ''DonQuixote''. Note, however, that ''Amadis Of Gaul'' is saved from the fire for its merits in the chapter where the library of Don Quixote is being burned.

* ''{{The Catcher in the Rye}}'': J.D. Salinger's novel started a {{Wangst}} revolution in literature that it's never come out of. As a result, those who've read similar-style books before reading Salinger's book often write ''Catcher'' off as okay at best, a poor man's ChuckPalahniuk at worst.

** Well, possibly there were a few people who wouldn't have, but many people absolutely did view ''TheSwordOfShannara'' as a blatant rip-off of ''TheLordOfTheRings'' when it first came out. Jokes predicated on its derivative nature were extremely common in fandom circles at the time.