Escapism

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

All fiction is an escape from reality: Tolkien, like Dunsany and Lovecraft, just took it to another level by inventing more than just the characters. I'm sure that to a certain extent it was an escape for him; but to me Tolkien's books are an enjoyable read, with all the things that I like to see in a good story and lots of nice touches, like genealogies and maps. I like maps. Of course the heroes and villains have more mythic stature, and everything is on a grander scale, but that's another thing that makes the books, not to mention mythology in general, so much more enjoyable than, for example, watching the news.
My view is that it's possible to get addicted to 'reality', meaning of course one's own perspective on the world we actually inhabit. By only concentrating on what happens in the narrow compass of their own lives, such realism addicts allow their imaginations to wither away, which gradually erodes any ability they might have to appreciate someone else's version of what is real. So begins intolerance. Only by escaping from our own lives may we begin to understand those of others.
Worse still are people who descend into a fictional version of reality, presented to them in daily doses. At least Tolkien doesn't present his fiction as a faithful depiction of the real world, as soap operas do (at least in my country). His is shameless escapism, refusing to hide behind a veil of mythical realism as a sop to people's desire to be "normal".

That's my view, anyway.