I have been reading the discussion with interest over the last few days, and definitely am "in one corner". I commend you both for the courtesy of your dual. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
With full respect for Aiwendil's erudition and rational incisiveness, I believe that the derailment referred to above is due not in small degree to the very abstract turn of this debate. One cannot talk about art purely in the abstract, for there is necessarily an artist. Ah, but I beat a dead horse, no? Nevertheless, we are talking about a specific artist, Tolkien. One may hypothesize all one likes about a thousand monkeys, or art appearing without any artist behind it, but the fact remains that Tolkien and all those mentioned above for illustrative purposes, were indeed artists, who did indeed create a work of art, with intentions for their works of art. And back to the main point of this thread: the artists are themselves responsible for the state of the genre. In as much as they give into the realities of the publishing world and the market it dictates to - ah, ahem - I mean, serves, [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] the artists are responsible for the pablum readers are stuck with.
Rise up! Revolt, oh artists! Raise your firebrands and attack the - [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
well, excuse me, I seem to have gotten a little - ahem - excited there.
In any case, Tolkien set a high standard and artists would do well to go back to the high mountain streams, and also deep under the tunneled heaps, to reinvigorate the genre.
|