[Keneldil the Polka-dot]

The issue there was this: "Suppose we agree that pretty much the whole fantasy genre is far inferior to Tolkien. Why is this?" Of course, if you don't accept the premise (and it seems that Keneldil does not), the whole question ceases to exist. Naturally, you will find the inquiry pointless and boring if you don't think that the underlying question even exists.

I wasn’t misunderstanding your use of the word “you”, I was responding as one of those individuals who does not agree with the premise.

As for the first, certainly it's acceptable to "blast" an author that one doesn't like.

I completely agree. Blast away. The First Amendment blah blah blah…….I was not questioning whether it was acceptable. I was questioning the quality of the criticism.

My point about popularity being equated with garbage...now that may have been a poorly formed criticism. It seems popularity is often related to “selling out” and mediocrity just because everyone likes it. It isn’t different enough. I retract that statement as possibly inaccurate in this case.

This should definitely not be the criterion by which we judge a person's right to criticize.

There is no criterion to judge the right to criticize. Everyone has that right. Whether or not the aforementioned criticism will have any credibility depends on how it is constructed. I was not questioning the RIGHT to criticize. I was questioning the QUALITY of the criticism. Anyone on earth can have an opinion, just some are better formed opinions than others. I felt it was self-righteous “Tolkienism” if you will to be hard on authors for being supposed “parrots” of Tolkien.

I did not intend to imply that one needs to be a published author in order to make creditable evaluations on another author’s work. If that is what comes across in my statement I apologize. I simply thought it interesting that someone who has sold thousands of books, and apparently must have some kind of grasp on what it takes to write something other people will like to read, gets castigated by those who, in all likelihood, have far less a clue.

A side note: some of the opinions I refer to may not have come from this thread. Within this thread there are a couple of links to other threads that I checked out.

I see your point, Aiwendil, about the two views of art re: subjective or objective. I guess I just don’t see how criticisms of art can ever be objective (i.e. one being better than another). 2+2 = 4 is objective. “My painting of the Sistine Chapel is better than yours because I used cubism to emphasize the architecture” is not objective to my mind. Anything someone could say about one work of art over another may not apply for someone else.

My whole aim was to refute the idea that there is not a lot of good fantasy fiction out there for people to dig into. Whether or not that was explicitly stated, that was the feeling I got. I saw what looked like a lot of close mindedness in the name of praising Tolkien and it seemed misguided to me. I think JRRT would be proud of the genre he helped to bring into the modern time.

[ November 18, 2002: Message edited by: Keneldil the Polka-dot ]