J.R.R Tolkien ...

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Old Smokey

Can't Leave
Feb 29, 2024
379
1,430
The Hollers of Kentucky in Appalachia
Well, differing opinions.
What I see is a stream of seemingly never-ending franchising around Tolkien.
TV series, movies, spinoff-series, toys, posters, video games, t-shirts etc etc.
McDonalds, Nike, Tolkien, Harry Potter, Starbucks, McTolkien.
Exactly. I get a bit tense at the terms "overrated" and "overhyped" used in terms of literary criticism. It's more of a personal bias than a criticism. But having it as your opinion is perfectly fine.
 

Old Smokey

Can't Leave
Feb 29, 2024
379
1,430
The Hollers of Kentucky in Appalachia
For the record, I am not a Tolkien fan. I find his writings to be too tedious and overdrawn for my patience. I also prefer stories that don't require a ton of back knowledge to know what is going on with the plot.
It was written for a different time and era. I enjoy the descriptions and history from a historical standpoint. Today authors need not write in such descriptive ways as our imaginations have "evolved" since then. Reason I dislike George R. R. Martin.
 

Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,716
18,986
Connecticut, USA
For the record, I am not a Tolkien fan. I find his writings to be too tedious and overdrawn for my patience. I also prefer stories that don't require a ton of back knowledge to know what is going on with the plot.
I can see that ... its not for everyone. But the stories can be read without the background knowledge on their own merit. As pointed out previously, the impressive nature of the work is that he started out with a language; then wrote stories to illustrate the development of the language; then created a world and history to give the stories context ... the sheer immensity of it is amazing and he was one for the first to do it ... and all to tell his kids stories to convey deeper truths in life. So all in all ... a feat of genius.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I can see that ... its not for everyone. But the stories can be read without the background knowledge on their own merit. As pointed out previously, the impressive nature of the work is that he started out with a language; then wrote stories to illustrate the development of the language; then created a world and history to give the stories context ... the sheer immensity of it is amazing and he was one for the first to do it ... and all to tell his kids stories to convey deeper truths in life. So all in all ... a feat of genius.
I agree that Tolkien was indeed a genius. I also agree that he was a talented story teller.
 

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,206
19,271
Oregon
It was written for a different time and era.
There were so many other writers from that exact same era that were nowhere near as verbose as Tolkien. Hemingway’s first novel for example came out almost 10 years before The Hobbit. His prose is obviously much more lean and concise than Tolkien’s.

I love Tolkien’s world that he created but his writing style isn’t my favorite. His books don’t exactly feel like page turners for much of the time.
 

Old Smokey

Can't Leave
Feb 29, 2024
379
1,430
The Hollers of Kentucky in Appalachia
There were so many other writers from that exact same era that were nowhere near as verbose as Tolkien. Hemingway’s first novel for example came out almost 10 years before The Hobbit. His prose is obviously much more lean and concise than Tolkien’s.

I love Tolkien’s world that he created but his writing style isn’t my favorite. His books don’t exactly feel like page turners for much of the time.
Hemingway was a great short story writer but his novels are lackluster. Tolkien invented the genre of high fantasy.
 

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,206
19,271
Oregon
Hemingway was a great short story writer but his novels are lackluster. Tolkien invented the genre of high fantasy.
I wasn’t praising or criticizing Hemingway, I was simply using him as an example to make a point.

There were concise writers then just like there are today. There were verbose writers then just like their are today. Even when compared to his contemporaries, Tolkien was exceptionally longwinded.
 

Lumbridge

(Pazuzu93)
Feb 16, 2020
763
2,755
Cascadia, U.S.
Tolkien fought all his life to control his works to great expense. In later years he told his son Christopher that it was a never ending battle and to go for the money as the original works stand alone. --- Something to that effect. Its in the Tolkien letters. I think the taxes changed his mind.
And George Lucas probably cries at night over what Disney has done to his franchise, but dries his tears with crisp Benjamins.
I wonder how many writers of yore are turning over in their graves because of all of the horrendous cash grab spinoffs of their works.
 
Jul 26, 2021
2,413
9,784
Metro-Detroit
I promise I know the difference between there and their 😂

It’s incredibly ironic that autocorrect threw me to the wolves in a thread about an author that was a professor at Oxford. 😂
The dispute about the pluar of dwarves/dwarfs and elves/elfs from the man who helped write the Oxford dictionary (with the letter W) is humorous.
 

Zero

Lifer
Apr 9, 2021
1,746
13,256
You remind a lot of a Bulldog that I've met before. He wasn't a professor though. He was a trauma surgeon, and a poor farm boy working on a paving crew, and a couple of other things.
I got the same vibe, but was just gonna watch the show 🍿 Screenshot_20240415-224806~2.pngPoof! I'm now an eggplant Screenshot_20240403-173754~2.pngYou shall not pass!!!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: solideogloria86