The two types of LotR fans

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

I'll have to agree with what Lalwende said about not being introduced to the world without first knowing the story, but after that point, I'm certainly in the "World" camp.

I think it's the complexity of Tolkien's world that makes it able to stand up to so much analysis without losing the joy of the story. Some stories, even great literature, wear out under too much scrutiny (is it just me, or has Jane Eyre been analyzed to death?), Tolkien's world doesn't wear out like that, at least for me. And I suspect that this is because of the great detail he included and the vast amount of background material we have to put the story in context.

I've thought about this often, actually, and although I can't say why, I've definitely made the distinction between Story-lovers and World-lovers. It reminds me of the distinction CS Lewis made between two types of readers in his book "An Experiment in Criticism"--only I suspect that both kinds of readers of Tolkien would probably fit his "literary" category.

Sophia