Another point might be if a Tolkein of modern times would have had the time to compose a work of such depth and complexity as LOTR. Having never been thier personally I have no direct knowedge, but from what I have been told by those that have, the Oxford of Tolkien's time was a very, very different place than the Oxford of today. In this academic age of "publish or perish" I'm not sure a authour would have been able to spend all the time Tolkein spend on perfecting his work without seriosly risking his academic career.
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