[drigel]

..... that novels necessarily have to tell us something about our world (on a direct and conscious level at least) in order to have literary merit or value.

Conscious level being the key term. well put

Funnily enough, though, I enjoyed the works of Pullman and Moorcock in much the same way as I enjoyed Tolkien's works - as entertaining reads. I wonder what they would make of that?

Their accountants send thank you notes on their behalf. Another difference between they and JRRT.

Talk is cheap.

Perfect. Exquisite. And for the past 60+ years of publishing history I'm still waiting.... for even a close contender.

This, I like to think, is because Tolkien's work goes beyond mere prose in style.

A transcending effect that is common among masterpieces.

It is poetic and visual; the images, characters and ideas he draws can be quite mercurial as opposed to the fixed images we sometimes get from fiction.

Reaching very, very, very, far back, in order to awaken sleeping Muses that reside in all of us.

. However for all the 'freedom' inherent in the Mannish approach there is a downside which both Pullman & Moorcock in their idealism of it cannot see.

Regardless of their personal beliefs, they also take a Mannish approach to religion in LOTR. Its there, and some of it can be translated by the reader into a contemporary nuance. But it is (of course) a religion that the author presents that predates Mannish influences and organization.