Re: OT: Tolkein Non-Fanism

Andrew:
> Am 08/02 20:12  Boudewijn Rempt yscrifef:
[...]
> > However, A month or so I tried Lord of the Rings again - and I was
> > captivated. I finished all three parts in two weeks of spare-time
> > reading (evidently I've become better, at least faster, at reading
> > English), and I noticed so many nuances, so many threads and so much
> > complex interaction between the characters that I was astonished. Even
> > seen without the persona of Tolkien, the conlanger, behind the book,
> > it is a great work of literature.
> >
> You may wish to look at the recent book by Tom Shippey about Tolkien.
> The exact title escapes me.  The first chapter is an amusing gesture at
> the literati who cannot tolerate the fact that in this universe LoTR is
> one of the top ten books of the century.  After this tirade Shippey
> settles down to discussing Tolkien's folio: his use of language -
> actually stylistically interesting; his relations with Catholicism and
> Paganism; his reconstructions from hints in medieval texts; his status
> among his contemporaries and how it affected his career; his legacy.  I
> found it an interesting read.
Do you mean _The road to Middle Earth_? It isn't recent, but it is
excellent. But although it is a kind of exegesis of JRRT, it doesn't
really consider his strictly literary merits. For a consideration of
these, I warmly recommend a book on JRRT by my estimable colleague
Brian Rosebury. Embarrassingly I can't remember the title, but Rosebury/Tolkien
should do the trick.

_Splintered light_ by Verlyn Flieger was strongly recommended to me by
several people. I tried to read it but found it to be absolute shite.

--And.

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