[Eowyn of Ithilien]

Some argued that many are simply expressing an opinion instead of properly debating the topic-and as I can't really get in touch with the author, I'll debate it here [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
"In a somewhat disconcerting way, Tolkien seems to have come to live in the world of his own imagining."
To live in a world of his own imagining-surely it could be then discussed that those who follow religious practices are not dwelling in the "real world" either as their faith is person and not "proven"?

"It is odd that the hero of this vast epic should still be a dear little creature with furry feet and the comic name Frodo Baggins"
Much as I hate to say it, but there is no proof that history's heroes have been fair of face in any case-unless one is willing to regard movies as "cannon"

"But finally it is what is left out of The Lord of the Rings that makes one wonder if this is really a book for adults. Tolkien invented his own mythological world, but it lacks the dignity and the sinew of a real mythology, for it is without religion and essentially without sex. Hobbits may have fur at the bottom of their legs, but they have seem to have no balls at the top; and that pretty much goes for the rest of Middle-earth, too."
Without religion-perhaps he should read the Silmarillion. As for sex: does all mythology include somewhat carnal scenes, or simply hint at it as Tolkien's work does?

"...what disturbs is not so much the absence of women, perhaps explicable in an adventure story of this kind, as the absence of desire."
yet afterwards he does object to the lack of women *hmm* and this seems to suggest that men really can be led around by their...well

"the objection is that the people within the story have no religious beliefs or practices, and are thus unlike any real human society."
this is not true. Aragorn is of the house of the Elf-Friends that were rescued from the destruction of Numenor due to their faith, and the Dunedain (who I consider a society) likewise. And honestly, is practice what is most important??? Does going to Church every Sunday prove faith or is it your Christian acts and thoughts that do?

"Tolkien's critics have complained that the moral economy of the work is radically flawed--that there is a confusion between whether the corrupting ring symbolizes sinful desire (the lust for power, or whatever) or should be seen as a magical object that acts upon the wearer as an external force."
Confusion-i.e. a number of different appears-simply means that there was sufficient depth in the Ring for varying interpretations

"There and back again" was all right in a book of more modest scope and ambition, but at the end of so huge an epic it is not enough. But "there and back again" is basically what we get"
people go and come back-life is full of journeys, and at the end of the journey you return home...therefore it is something everyone can understand

"Tolkien is unable to convey anything beyond the fact of a psychic wound--no enlargement or transformation of experience, and no philosophy of grand disillusionment, either"
in fact, Tolkien uses to Saruman to state that Frodo has "grown"; as for disillusionment-with what exactly? Frodo realising that not all wounds can be overcome, that you can't just paint it over and start afresh...he realises that, it's clearly shown. As for disillusionment with life and love-why need he be disillusioned [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

"the sense of dark, sinister, shapeless threat (much less good at representing evil itself)."
we fear most what we cannot define-so why is it suggested that evil must have a face?

I wonder if anyone will actually read all the way through that...I hope I managed to be dispassionate, but my chances...lol