[davem]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Millions of books are pulped becasue no one wants to read them. I certainly don't want to read this dire stuff (it may only be the third worst - I remember now I did read two Dan Brown's - and if someone wrote such claptrap about my dad I'd be ballistic. Basically it is telling lies about him isn't it? Not exactly my idea of a novel.

Yes - but how many books are pulped (or never get to see the light of day at all) each year because Christopher Tolkien doesn't want people to read them? This all about the reader's choice - if this book didn't attract an audience it would be pulped, & I would have no problem at all with that. I do have a problem with any book being pulped because one rich old bully decides he doesn't want it to be available. (Yes, rich old bully - CT is able to do this, basically try to intimidate an author & publisher into doing what he wants because he's rich enough to employ the best lawyers who can drag cases through court - something that most other people cannot.)

would it be ok to use JRRT in a pornographic novel for example? Make him a criminal, a satanist? A paedophile? After all he's dead. You can't libel the dead.

Presumably since this is a matter of principle you'd buy the books of someone who used JRRT as a character thus. All right for anyone to rip off Tolkien and his works as much as they like not alright for his family to care and try to stop it. Maybe if someone was doing this stuff about someone you care about then you'd try and stop it too.

Er...you started this post accusing me of being melodramatic... The way Tolkien is depicted in this novel is, from what I can see, entirely respectful - the author got the idea for the book from reading LotR to his children, & he says quite clearly that he's a fan of Tolkien.

That said, your original objection seemed to be to the quality of the writing/story whereas now it seems to be to the subject matter. Tolkien as Satanist or criminal, or paedophile.....Probably it would depend on the quality of the book & what the author was trying to do - I'd judge the book on its merits & object to CT or anyone else trying to stop me reading it.

You persist in making CRT out to be a monster but that is what you really want him to be - someone who didn't give a damn about his father, his work and his reputation but just let it all go in to some shoddy and exploitative free for all.

The point is that he (yet again) is using his money to stop a book being published simply because he doesn't like what's in it. I do expect him to "give a damn about his father, his work and his reputation" - I just refuse to accept that that gives him carte blanche to censor whatever he disapproves of. Perhaps he needs to re-read LotR - particularly the bits about the corruption of the Ring :

I think my master was right. I wish you'd take his Ring. You'd put things to rights. You'd stop them digging up the gaffer and turning him adrift. You'd make some folk pay for their dirty work.'
'I would,' she said. 'That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas!

EDIT:

Or to take the argument further - we've seen a number of fundamentalist churches burn copies of LotR & other books (Harry Potter, His Dark Materials - even The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe) in the past, because they firmly believed that the books were 'evil' & promoted 'occultism'. We've also seen numerous accusations of 'racism' about LotR & Tolkien himself & I'm sure there are people who would feel that the book should be destroyed for that reason - would that be ok - would you support them in any attempt to get all copies of LotR destroyed - if they were genuinely upset and/or offended by the work?

If we were all to get the right to destroy books/films/art that offended/upset us, or didn't attain to our elevated aesthetic standards, then frankly there wouldn't be much left. This is not about whether CT should be upset about the way his father is depicted in fiction, but what he should be able to do about it.

Millions of books are pulped becasue no one wants to read them.

Perfectly true - just as millions of people are killed on the roads every year - but that wouldn't justify CT getting behind the wheel of his car & intnentionally running over anyone he didn't like.