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Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar
The "typical" Tolkien fan may vary from one country to another. Here in Germany, people of my age and gender are not usually fans of fantasy/science fiction.
I'm a classical musician, so I don't share the musical taste that many of you mention
I have always loved to read, though more historical books than fantasy/SF. I love language, and that could be a common factor among Tolkien fans - meaning book fans more than movie fans.
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You raise many good points, methinks.
I still like led Zeppelin, but if I would have to select just a couple of records of music to a deserted island, my choices would more likely include Satie, Fauré, Beethoven, Debussy, Strauss (not "the waltz-Strauss"
) - and maybe some Kate Bush to add on them... So we also do have manysided musical interests.
But I think the kind of miracle with Tolkien is, that he addresses so widely different kind of people at different times (see eg. the cases of myself and Alatar as an example of same time, different people).
And I duly think you are right in claiming, that people loving Tolkien seem to share some common love for language, stories and history - these of course can then be yielded to different purposes outside their birthright area of concern: the critique of technology and the enlightened ideas of secularization & "progress", escapism to a fantasy wonderland, individualistic society's aspiration for communality and honour & care, market-economy driven youth fan-culture (the movies f.ex.), and whatever.
But for something to be able to arouse all these different interpretations, there must be some substance first. And that I think Tolkien really had.
And in someway, that is no wonder: he has literally drawn from our "common memory", from myths and legends of so many people.