Tolkien the Metafictionist

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

It's not just metaphorical versus literal, but spiritually real and true. And by spiritual I mean more than ephemeral ghosts or angels or what have you.

Yes, it's real. Deeply real. Not literal, but real.

If we didn't see Tolkien's works in particular as "real", would they be worthy of the time and effort spent on discussion, here and elsewhere? Would they have caused such polarization among readers regarding adaptations, if the individual's sense of the books' "reality" was not so deep?

These books, to engender such devotion, must strike some chord beyond the usual fantasy aspect, touching one's convictions and observations of the world. We're not exactly talking Alice In Wonderland here. Isn't Tolkien's ability to present a fantasy realm that seems to have such parallels with the "real" one thing that makes his stories so extraordinary?