I will leave the discussion of subjective versus objective standards of art criticism to the erudition of Aiwendil and Kenedil (very interesting reading, by the way), and address Araleithiel (Hi!) [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] and Child of the 7th Age aka Sharon regarding the rarity of rare genius. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] (I highly amused myself with that last phrase.)
Moving on, we have two issues between which you see a ready connection and I don't: the rare achievement and greatness of Tolkien AND the demise of the liberal arts and humanities as the bedrock of American undergraduate education.
Whereas I acknowledge this demise, I have not yet been convinced that it is the reason for the likelihood that Tolkien's greatness will never be achieved again in fantasy.
There are two sides to the issue. On one hand, there was Tolkien himself, as artist, scholar, and all the heart, mind, culture, experience and so on that made him who he was, able to produce the work of great stature that he did. On the other hand, there was the educational system that nurtured his intellectual development. Though the educational system may have been powerful in its influence, it was not alone in making Tolkien the kind of writer that he was.
We will never see the like of Tolkien again, precisely because the milieu in which he became the kind of writer he was, no longer exists. The same could be said of any great achiever, be it Bach in music, Michelangelo in painting, Rodin in sculpture, and so forth.
To continue the point, Bach was not the only towering genius in all of music, however. There came Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Stravinsky. They were giants according to their own times. Just so, whereas there will never be another Tolkien, there will be giants and fantasy, perhaps just as great as Tolkien, who pursue the art in similar veins but in a different enough milieu to stand as tall as him while influenced by him.
Yes, we are witnessing the demise of liberal arts and humanities in the educational system. Truth be told (correct me if I'm wrong, Sharon), the late 19th century and most of the 20th century were unique in that ANY individual, regardless of economic and social background, had the opportunity to become so educated and not pay the price of being a poverty stricken educate. Before that era, one had to be wealthy or noble or it would have been foolish to pursue such endeavors. Now the realities of a highly competitive market of scarce jobs forces the educational system to jettison the temporary luxury of liberal arts for all (it had in large part to do with a glut of baby boomers who became professors, now tenured and likely to live a long time, leaving such opportunities rare for ensuing generations, and so we may see another liberal arts craze with the passing of that generation to retirement).
Back to the point. Whereas there may never be another Tolkien, there will be other giants in fantasy (witness Rowling, no great philologist mind you) just because a different era will be a hot-house for a different kind of giant. It will not look like what Tolkien produced, because it can't - and therefore shouldn't.
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