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Good show in getting a Tolkien related assignment! I would like to see a Tolkien course offered at Universities. Think of the integration possible.

What makes Tolkien's writing my favourite second to no other writer is the manner in which he treats a fantasy story. He has made Middle earth real. It is almost as real as any history of our own world in a relative way. I am never going to get to see the sphinx or gaze at Michelangelo's Cistine chapel so the tower hills and Rivendell are almost as real to me as the unexplained vistas I come across in the media of this world. Tolkien's unmatched descriptive style and his ability to paint that picture of Middle earth in our minds goes a long way towards making his stories my favourite.

Tolkien also created a world where the rules are much like our own. Sorcery and 'magic' do not abound. There is no 'deus e machina' that Gandalf pulls out of his hat to save his friends. He gives his own life. Even the immortality of the elves is not superhuman. The evil orcs are sometimes all too human. The greatest power in the novel is never seen. This is how evil often works in our own world; through the efforts of we who live here.

Tolkien has created a world we can all place ourselves in and suspend our disbelief with little effort at all. And what we encounter when that belief in Middle earth is placed in our minds has a beauty and a sense of rightness where all the elements of a good story unfold. As the characters are developed, the things that are important; honour, fortitude, honesty, reverence... are revealed. It gives me a good feeling when I see the tenderness and loyalty Sam has for Frodo. The feminists I have heard sometimes rage about how Tolkien is so male oriented. They don't read too deeply because I saw those softer feminine aspects in many of the male characters just as I saw the harder male characteristics of personae in Eoywn. The fact that one of the most powerful characters in the novel was a Lady of incredible stature also balanced out the 'boys club mentality' I've heard dregged up as a criticism of Tolkien.

Even Tolkien's lapse into overtly stylistic prose with his thee's and thou's at the high and mighty sections of the story (usually about Aragorn and his kingly purpose in the novel) were right in a way.

I started reading the Trilogy in 1975 when I started high school. I regret I had not picked it up when I had the chance in 1971. I was in grade four and had just finished The Hobbit and fell totally in love with the characters and middle earth. I asked if there were any other books by the same author and I can recall the Librarians eyes lit up when she explained that there was a wonderful sequel to it. She said it was down in the 'adult' section and my trepidation at going downstairs into what was to my child's mind a forbidden place got the better of me. To think now that I could have written to Tolkien when he was alive and didn't (I always wrote letters to my favourite authors) makes me weep.

I also credit Tolkien with instilling in me a love for genealogy. I began drafting up family tree's for the kings of Middle earth and realized that I too had a family tree. Now, 26 years later I am still researching my ancestors and still reading the LotR's once a year.

The additional material the Tolkien wrote also places Middle earth near the realm of realizm. There is more material on the history of Middle earth available than some sections of our own historical periods, with all the similar problems arising with historical interpretation as I am sure you have seen on these bulletin boards.

Tolkien is like scripture study, or an interpretation of faith. The fact that I am in such numerous company points to the validity of this state of mind within the human condition.

I await the day when I can speak with him if only for a moment as I hope we will both have greater glorious and holy vistas to behold.