[Lush]

It's true, I know, that many of my arguments are very much emotionally based, but you knew that before, and I don't see anything all that passionate in this thread.

Not passionate (I did not use that term), but emotionally-based. You can actually draw up a decent argument as to why precisely Tolkien's (or T.H. White's for that matter) work should be no longer included under the general umbrella of 'fantasy,' but you would have to argue for a general re-molding of the genre description. Simply calling for Tolkien to be plucked out and placed in general fiction or myth isn't going to accomplish a whole lot.

You are going to run into a whole lot of problems justifying the displacement of Tolkien's work, because no scholar is going to buy the argument that (I am condensing here, please tell me if I am leaving a crucial point out) "Tolkien's work should not be described as fantasy because his books deserve better than being associated with the likes of [insert name of any inept fantasy writer here]."

The one factor that you do have working for you is time. Like I said before: literary genres evolve.

Its nice to know that someone is set against me completely in this matter.

No, not set against you, but set against the way you are going about arguing your point.

Doesn't that poor shmuck from academia count for anything?

You can argue with most academics until you are blue in the face, and it doesn't get you anywhere, unless you have a very solid basis for your argument, which at this point on this thread, we do not (I am speaking on behalf of the entire community of Tolkien fans, if someone here is willing to take me up on the challenge, and draw up a good thesis, PM me).

Shouldn't they know that there is a difference?

The matter of the acceptance of said difference is a question of pluralism within the Western academic community, and right now the odds do not appear to be in the favor of "saving" Tolkien from the realm of fantasy stories. These people will take the very words of Tolkien, and throw them back in your face as a challenge to your argument, and that's if you're lucky, because most of them don't even bother with a response.

This is a slightly concieted manner of thinking, my friend.

Conceited? No. Saving my energy for the time when such an argument would actually have a chance to stand? Definitely.

[ March 03, 2003: Message edited by: Lush ]