[Carannillion]

Agreed.

I am aware of the fact that the article is a critisism of Shippeys book: "J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the century", but Jenkyns does not seem to be able to restrain himself. All books should be taken into consideration; we will always interpret, and hopefully - to some extent - critisise what we read, but as many before me have mentioned in this post: you should know what you talk about before you open your mouth.

"The fool speaks of what he knows, the wise knows what he speaks of."

Jenkyns (or 'troll', whatever you may prefer [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) insists that the book is flawed when he is in fact ignorant of the actual situation himself (e.g. the tobacco and the postman). I hope he reads LotR at least thrice again, Sil two or three times, Hobbit two or three times, and at least makes himself aquainted with HoME and UT before he ever attempts to critisise Tolkien's works again.