I cannot think of anything in this with which I disagree, and several things that I hadn't thought to the extent that you have. Also, thank you for reminding me that I have a copy of The Last Ringbearer. The first couple of chapters are fairly promising.
I suspect that many who claim to hate the things they loved at 14 got badly humiliated by someone reacting to their passions when they were 15.
I have no strong reaction to Tolkien, other than LotR was dense and slog and damned deadly arduous, and for all that a work with merits and faults which are really useful to observe as a fantasist, once I got over the fact that anybody who speaks English and writes fantasy is going to have to contend with his shadow.
Since I've been doing the Fantasyscapes articles, I've really begun to get a better appreciation of how big that shadow is. I've actually had a pretty difficult time coming up with significant locations/terrain that I can talk about, not mention Tolkien and not have the feeling that the first comment is going to contain it's corresponding location from LotR.
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Date: 2011-06-21 09:08 pm (UTC)I suspect that many who claim to hate the things they loved at 14 got badly humiliated by someone reacting to their passions when they were 15.
I have no strong reaction to Tolkien, other than LotR was dense and slog and damned deadly arduous, and for all that a work with merits and faults which are really useful to observe as a fantasist, once I got over the fact that anybody who speaks English and writes fantasy is going to have to contend with his shadow.
Since I've been doing the Fantasyscapes articles, I've really begun to get a better appreciation of how big that shadow is. I've actually had a pretty difficult time coming up with significant locations/terrain that I can talk about, not mention Tolkien and not have the feeling that the first comment is going to contain it's corresponding location from LotR.