tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post5953203978528451766..comments2024-03-27T19:07:19.133-04:00Comments on The Silver Key: Wolfe’s lost road: Discovering an author’s personal essay on J.R.R. TolkienBrian Murphyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05563309422791320114noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-16385311090478864812010-08-04T18:54:34.240-04:002010-08-04T18:54:34.240-04:00Fair enough Stag, and I do think that's one cr...Fair enough Stag, and I do think that's one criticism that can be leveled fairly at Tolkien. Though I will say that the heroines he did write (Eowyn and Galadriel) are strong, self-sufficient, and integral to the plot.Brian Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05563309422791320114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-91324873991224328642010-07-29T07:27:13.588-04:002010-07-29T07:27:13.588-04:00I certainly DO wish Tolkein had included more wome...I certainly DO wish Tolkein had included more women in his works. To round him out a bit more.<br /><br />But thats just my opinion.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680700783923382336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-68392800275144169562010-07-25T16:05:26.356-04:002010-07-25T16:05:26.356-04:00Yeah, even if he hasn't recanted at least he c...Yeah, even if he hasn't recanted at least he can understand how it makes him look. I'm not going to hate some one for legitimately disliking Tolkien's books, not everyone will like them and thats something I respect. <br /><br />I thought wolfe's was a great little peice and it's really encouraged me to want to read his books.Lagomorph Rexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06385231158384929598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-44648955802905777782010-07-24T21:22:30.943-04:002010-07-24T21:22:30.943-04:00Thanks for the comments, all.
Lagomorph: I do agr...Thanks for the comments, all.<br /><br />Lagomorph: I do agree that the most vociferous Tolkien critics have an element of Oedipus Complex about them. It's not enough to write their own stories--they feel a need to take down the father figure of fantasy to show how hip or avant-garde their stories are in comparison. In the end all it does is diminish them.<br /><br />Even China Mieville (who has written some scathing things about Tolkien) admitted this phenomenon in a recent essay in which he recanted on Tolkien, just a bit:<br /><br />"Every few years, certain as tides, someone will write a splenetic screed against the Professor, explaining why he's the devil/ worst things to happen to fantasy/voice of reaction/zomg most boring writer EVER /etc."<br /><br />Mieville was one of those guys but at least he seems to be coming around a bit, it seems.Brian Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05563309422791320114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-85487139012738004942010-07-23T12:22:15.774-04:002010-07-23T12:22:15.774-04:00I find also that Typically, the authors who don...I find also that Typically, the authors who don't like Tolkien.. are also authors who I can't stand their own writings.. So it's a great help for me for them to identify themselves so I know not to read them. Phillip pullman, failed to endear himself to me through his writing as well as through his anti religious bias and its extension in his bias against authors who were strongly religious (Tolkien and C.S. Lewis). <br /><br />I feel the same way in regards REH, if an author has read and liked his works, then I generally will enjoy their works. However if they don't like his works, or seek to belittle his influence or purposefully subvert it then I can't enjoy their writing. <br /><br />I feel a lot of it is rooted firmly in the little green monster of jealousy, the "new" author doesn't want to be cloaked forever in the shadow of a forerunner.. and so even if her stories are firmly rooted in those earlier works she will still attack them in order to create a perceived distance between them. "I'm not like him because I think he sucks" It also helps when they echo the feelings of "the learned" since it makes them seem like one of "The learned" .. Moorecock, Pullman, Morgan, Meivelle.. they all get interviewed whenever any newspaper needs a story on Fantasy novels.. You never see them interview Tracy Hickman or Ursala K. LeGuin(unless they want a feminist bent on their story)Lagomorph Rexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06385231158384929598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-3129725436817444922010-07-23T08:47:12.123-04:002010-07-23T08:47:12.123-04:00Well said!
Usually, the louder the criticism indi...Well said!<br /><br />Usually, the louder the criticism indicates the truly valuable merits of the target. Writers cast stones at him because they all stand in his shadow. What they need to do is simply step out of shadows and make one of their own. <br /><br />Ciao!<br />GWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-51398275921271213672010-07-22T23:32:18.412-04:002010-07-22T23:32:18.412-04:00That was a great essay! It makes me want to go ba...That was a great essay! It makes me want to go back and read a chapter a day. Thanks for sharing that.Chad Thorsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15084711824869449643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723077228948447528.post-31620765321831345562010-07-22T23:16:50.815-04:002010-07-22T23:16:50.815-04:00Thanks for the link. Interesting essay.Thanks for the link. Interesting essay.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04647628467658839351noreply@blogger.com