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Originally Posted by Mithalwen
I am now a bit morbidly curious as to the nature of this obsession but I can't see that a literary based obsession is going to be so unhealthy - it isn't like having a vast arsenal of guns and explosives. I suppose if people tip over into thinking it is real but then there is an underlying issue looking for expression. I suppose I got into it as an unhappy adolescent having a miserable time at school and Middle Earth (but not only Middle Earth) was a refuge. Although I have no love for the films they did renew my interest after a long gap (I had read and virtually memorised everything apart from HoME before university and then a 60 book reading list distracted me!!! It may not have been a coincidence that it also coincided with another difficult time in my life and I needed an escape again.
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I am hesitant to say much, because it was a rather embarrassing for myself and for him. All I will say of the matter is that his obsession was a bit on the. . . depraved side; it certainly wasn't literary! Unfortunately, it took me a while to figure that out. I would have been very supportive if it were of a literary nature, but because it wasn't, I decided to end it there, because I was quite done with it. In fact, I don't know if he's ever read any books.
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However my pro-obsession argument is that while I may have spent time re reading Tolkien I could have used reading other books but I have been motivated to learn so much other stuff because my interest has been in part piqued by Tolkien directly or indirectly. I was probably one of the few in my cohort who was really enthusiastic about the linguistics component of our degree course, then there was the astronomy evening class and the herbalism... ok I am probably never going to have to kill a troll but as a mental exercise working out how much gold you would need to leaf the roof of edoras and its value in prime horseflesh for a RPG proposal is stretching... let alone the mythology and history (for some reason I only seem to have learned about the Industrial Revolution at school).
What do you know of Tolkien if you only Tolkien know?
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I understand your sentiments completely. If it weren't for Tolkien and the Downs, then I would hardly have many of my hobbies and interests today. I am more scholarly now than I would have been if I hadn't read LotR when I did. I may have well decided to become some sort of hoodlum like my cousins, but I would much rather be here on the Downs instead now...