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Old 07-20-2006, 03:35 PM   #6
Folwren
Messenger of Hope
 
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: In a tiny, insignificant little town in one of the many States.
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Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Folwren is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Oh. His Dark Materiels. I read The Golden Compass and didn’t like it. Too brutal and too full of evil for my taste.

Spun Candy? No. Bad description, I’d say. And as for Lewis giving wrong answers. . .well, you can’t imagine how many people have said that about a lot of his stuff, but I’d disagree entirely. Lewis is one of the best, in both writing and in theological matters.

I have heard Tolkien’s writing bashed quite a few times. There was one critic (and the book is at home, so I can’t quote him exactly), who said that the LotR was a childish fairy tale - empty, shallow, and ridiculous and not worth reading. I’d as soon believe this fellow as Pollman, who describes it as ‘spun candy.’

Lewis and Tolkien wrote for two different reasons and neither of them are wrong reasons. One is simply better than the other. Lewis’ reason for writing was to enlighten people, to help them, to make them understand - lift them up out of this dark world and place them in a better place with more hope. This is a spectacular reason to write - especially if you can put it into such charming stories as the Narnia books or his other fiction, as The Space Trilogy or Till We Have Faces. Tolkien wrote for the mere pleasure of it, but he didn’t leave out all the redeeming value. There are many, many, many authors out there today who write for the mere pleasure of it (that young chap who wrote Eldest, for instance, and got his book copied millions of times) and who’s books hold no value in it and no depth. These books (excuse my language) are trash. Most fantasies are like that. And some people, if they don’t know what good writing is and what depth is, might think that all fantasies are the same thing.

Tolkien may have written for entertainment, but who’s to say the books didn’t teach you anything? He did not write specifically to teach about Christ, Christianity in general, or anything like that, but he did happen to put into his books a lot of truths that can be used in our world.

No, Tolkein’s works are not ‘spun candy’, nor are Lewis’ books not redeemed already - they passed the test when his pen left the paper.

– Folwren

P.S. I realize this post somewhat strayed from the point. I won't deny I didn't quite understand the initial question, but upon further reading and looking up some words, I think I did, in the end.
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