[Child of the 7th Age]

T.H. White, The Once and Future King---what a great book. Not in the same class as Tolkien, but just one step below. It's interesting that T.A. Shippey, when he recently did an interview about his Tolkien biography and his Road to Middle Earth, was asked if we would see GREAT fantasy writers in the future. He replied sadly that characters like Tolkien and T.H. White are gone. The type of education we offer as well as the way the modern world tends to iron out differences between regions, individuals, etc. makes it less likely that we will get the kind of books that White and Tolkien wrote, books that come from the very soul and make one weep in joy and sadness. He said he hoped he was wrong, but he feared it was so. Don't you love the way White describes and uses animals in his work to teach the young king. Tolkien is master of green, growing things, especially trees, and White is master of all types and forms of birds and beasts. Two men, so different--boy were they different!-- and both masterful. sharon [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]