So, your friend seems to be one of the
literati, is he?
No special rewards that I can recall at the spot, unless we count the title of Honorary Professor of Something Somewhere (exact locations to be found once I get hold of my Biography by Carpenter)
But does it mean
that much?
If your friend is a thinking person (and I suppose he must be, for friends oft take after us (or vice versa), and
unthinking people do not haunt
discussion boards, I suppose
), let him read
J.R.R.Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom S. Shippey. Affordable paperback edition ISBN: 0618257594
Besides, and allegedly, people who read books at all, but have no special literary education, may have less refined taste than some who have (and who give out awards, usually
inside the ring of the likes of them, equally
refined writers), but there is a fundamental question besides that
What do we care for - finesse of form (which, BTW, LoTR has a wagonful of (not very refined expression, but you are entitled to quote me nevertheless) or the truth of consistence?
And the more
thinking people respond to the 'truth of consistence', the greater success is the book, be it awarded 'Gold Medal For Being Mostly Refined Inner State Of Mind And Finest Movement Of The Charachter Research Ever Written Until Next Year When The Next Most Refined Fellow Will Get The Medal' or not.
And another
besides - not thinking is what matters as well. Tolkien touched upon my heart (I'm not afraid to sound like soap opera, for it is serios) besides my mind. It rang true.
With which, let me see you and your friend off to
C-Thread for further reasearch
cheers