tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5411517893000706576.post1454253234004576682..comments2023-07-08T08:33:50.710+01:00Comments on Speculative Horizons: Comment: Has Tolkien lost his crown?Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07763695390241432518noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5411517893000706576.post-20096016350943930662008-04-01T00:52:00.000+01:002008-04-01T00:52:00.000+01:00I happen to think that Tolkien still does retain h...I happen to think that Tolkien still does retain his crown, and tend to view him more as a king with a hell of a good army doing the work for him now. I'm not about to rip people apart for saying they hate Tolkien or that they think he's not the tops. We all have opinions.<BR/><BR/>For me, the point made about not having deep characters and a plodding story is, to some extent, accurate. However, when viewed in the prism of his purpose for writing them, as mythology, I tend to find that his still slightly shadowed and non-deep characters work perfectly well.<BR/><BR/>I love Tolkien and his work, both the Middle-Earth works and those from without. I also think a lot of people tend to diminish Tolkien, and his writing, these days for the simple reason that it seems to be the "it thing" to do these days.<BR/><BR/>I can love Tolkien for all he brings just as easily as I can love Martin for all he brings. Each has extraordinary strengths and each is a writer of extreme ability and worthy of praises. But in the end, Tolkien will always be where I lay my hat...and that doesn't mean that he's my favorite author in the genre. <BR/><BR/>I actually hold Stephen R. Donaldson to be my personal favorite.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5411517893000706576.post-43195542929768447822008-03-24T15:36:00.000+00:002008-03-24T15:36:00.000+00:00The thing is literature at the time he wrote was a...The thing is literature at the time he wrote was a different ball of wax. Stories were more plot driven with a different sensibility. And I think, he also wrote in a similar style to some of the Icelandic sagas that he drew source material from. While there is the occassional allusion to emotion of characters, in a broad sense, the sagas were about actions and not thoughts.<BR/><BR/>Tolkein remains an important writer, but I have never considered his writing to be personally important. He retains the biases of the time. But, for the same reason I also don't care for a great deal of science fiction writing produced at the same point in time because of the focus on male characters, the focus on plot versus character, and the blatant agendas some of the writers have that I take issue with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5411517893000706576.post-4343228931807320142008-03-24T15:11:00.000+00:002008-03-24T15:11:00.000+00:00I enjoyed LotR and what Tolkien's work did to revo...I enjoyed LotR and what Tolkien's work did to revolutionize the genre, but it's been historically proven that the pioneers of something new don't make it "best," they just make it "first." This is a common theme everywhere, why should it not be common with literature? Why are people afraid of saying that Tolkien is not the pinnacle of modern Fantasy?Todd Newtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10141151129135759156noreply@blogger.com