I am greatly enjoying this thread, and don't feel "spammed" at all. I'm
especially enjoying the debate about Tolkien's style, and can see the
strengths of both Colin Burrow's and David Wilson-Okamura's (opposite)
arguments. My own experience is much like Colin's. I loved Tolkien
when I was an adolescent, but found it a bit heavy going when I picked
it up again after 25 years and read it aloud to my kids (who loved it).
On the other hand, David's examples of laconic dialogue are persuasive
("for the present"). David's last point brought to memory C. S. Lewis's
verdict on Tolkien's style. David writes:
"there _are_ passages of great narrative prose in the Lord of
the Rings. I am thinking, in particular, of bk. 5, ch. 5 in which the
men
of Rohan arrive, just in the nick of time, to relieve Gondor. The last
couple of pages are as good as anything in Homer."
I recall reading somewhere (maybe the Carpenter biography) that Lewis,
when he heard Tolkien read this very passage aloud to the Inklings,
exclaimed "that's at least as good as anything in Homer".
So far the debate has concentrated on LOTR. Does anyone have a good
word for the Silmarillion? Also, since this is a Spenser list, does
anyone have any thoughts as to why Spenser chose to set his epic in
Faerie Land? Why are Spenser's elves elves?
John Leonard
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