Tolkien in Modern Times

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Hakon

But that's just the thing, Tolkien would have known the words but most likely not if he went to school in modern times. One of the amazing things about Tolkien is that he knew so many languages and he learned many of them before he was even 30. In today's world that would have been much harder therefore he would probably would have had an issue in creating Elvish. You are right about how we are hasty in current times. Truthfully I think that Tolkien owes much of his success and writing skill to the time he lived within.

Well, I 'know the words', and I am only in my thirties.
Any work of fiction we know would likely have had notable differences if written in other times. The creative work cannot help being partially a product of the era of the author.
In response to the original question, whether Tolkien's works would have been as good written fifty years later, or sixty, I would say that depends on just what about the books one particularly likes.
For myself, I like the relative simplicity of life enjoyed by the denizens of ME, the clear 'black and white' nature of evil (as I see it), and the sweeping romance of it all. The magnificent use of language is also a prime draw for me.
Since I find these qualities distinctly lacking in most modern literature, I would hazard a guess that I would not be likely to enjoy the books on the same level as I do now.