Tolkien Day!
From Tom Shippey's JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century
The continuing appeal of Tolkien's fantasy, completly unexpected and completely unpredictable though it was, *cannot* then be seen as a mere freak of popular taste, to be dismissed or ignored by those sufficiently well-educated to know better. It deserves an explanation and a defence, which this book tries to supply. ... his continuing appeal rests not on mere charm or strangeness, but on a deeply serious response to what will be seen in the end as the major issues of his century: the origin and nature of evil (an eternal issue, but one in Tolkien's lifetime terribly re-focused); human existence in Middle-earth, without the support of divine Revelation; cultral relativity; and the corruptions and continuities of language. These are themes which no one can afford to despise, or need be ashamed of studying. It is true that Tolkien's answers will not appeal to everyone, and are wildly at odds with those given even by many of his contemporaries. But the first qualification applies to every author who has ever lived, and the second is one of those things that make him distinctive."
...
"The Lord of the Rings, the heroic fantasy 'trilogy' became almost a standard literary form. Any bookshop in the English-speaking world will now have a section devoted to fantasy, and very few of the works in the section will be entirely without the mark of Tolkien--sometimes branded deep in style and layout, sometimes showing itself in unconscious assumptions about the nature and personnel of the authors' invented fantasy worlds. The imitations, or emulatoins, naturally vary very widely in quality, but they all give pleasure to someone. One of the things that Tolkien did was to open up a new continent of imaginative space for many millions of readers, and hundreds of writers --though he himself would have said that it was an old continent which he was merely rediscovering.
~Foreword
I read most of this during vacation--did anyone read this book yet? it has some pretty good points. :) I intend to write a mini-review of it sometime and post in here and WotR about it.
and yes, my Euro report will come soon too...after my genetics midterm is over..(this coming Tuesday...Hobbits, please help me.... :p )
♥
The continuing appeal of Tolkien's fantasy, completly unexpected and completely unpredictable though it was, *cannot* then be seen as a mere freak of popular taste, to be dismissed or ignored by those sufficiently well-educated to know better. It deserves an explanation and a defence, which this book tries to supply. ... his continuing appeal rests not on mere charm or strangeness, but on a deeply serious response to what will be seen in the end as the major issues of his century: the origin and nature of evil (an eternal issue, but one in Tolkien's lifetime terribly re-focused); human existence in Middle-earth, without the support of divine Revelation; cultral relativity; and the corruptions and continuities of language. These are themes which no one can afford to despise, or need be ashamed of studying. It is true that Tolkien's answers will not appeal to everyone, and are wildly at odds with those given even by many of his contemporaries. But the first qualification applies to every author who has ever lived, and the second is one of those things that make him distinctive."
...
"The Lord of the Rings, the heroic fantasy 'trilogy' became almost a standard literary form. Any bookshop in the English-speaking world will now have a section devoted to fantasy, and very few of the works in the section will be entirely without the mark of Tolkien--sometimes branded deep in style and layout, sometimes showing itself in unconscious assumptions about the nature and personnel of the authors' invented fantasy worlds. The imitations, or emulatoins, naturally vary very widely in quality, but they all give pleasure to someone. One of the things that Tolkien did was to open up a new continent of imaginative space for many millions of readers, and hundreds of writers --though he himself would have said that it was an old continent which he was merely rediscovering.
~Foreword
I read most of this during vacation--did anyone read this book yet? it has some pretty good points. :) I intend to write a mini-review of it sometime and post in here and WotR about it.
and yes, my Euro report will come soon too...after my genetics midterm is over..(this coming Tuesday...Hobbits, please help me.... :p )
♥