I've been reading Patrick Curry's
Defending Middle-Earth and found some good thoughts in the section "Readers vs. Critics" of his introductory chapter. Here are two pertinent quotes:
Quote:
...the literary community, whose silence on Tolkien ... is broken only by an occasional snort of derision which seems to pass for analysis.
The single greatest obstacle to appreciating Tolkien's work is sheer literary snobbery.
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The rest is well worth reading, but time constraints allow me only to serve this little appetizer that will hopefully intrigue others to read the whole menu!
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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