I first encountered Tolkien my senior year of high school—Class of ’66. Those paperbacks with psychedelic cover art--how the old Tolkien hands must have lamented! Surely, the common rabble would ruin Middle Earth. Of course, their complaints were made in scholarly gatherings far from public view—the promiscuity of the Internet was far in the future. <BR> <BR>Several re-readings later, I followed the path of myth, legend & fantasy to other realms. Affection remained & I picked up The Fellowship once again when I heard movies were in the works. I wanted fresh memories to combat any vileness & fell in love with the books all over again. Let’s quibble over details while sitting over nut-brown ale & a bowl or two of pipe weed—but I find the films delightful & true to the spirit of Tolkien.<P>Perhaps some folk will desert Tolkien’s world because it’s become “common”—thirty years after the first mass-marketing of Middle Earth. Simultaneously, movie fans are picking up the books for the first time: “Ooh, Legolas, he’s so kewl.” Some of them will “get it” & follow the road that goes ever on & on. <P>Tolkien lives.
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