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In Reply to: Right on both counts and comment on reviewer BS posted by Yo Mama on December 22, 2003 at 12:41:26:
Tolkien said the only similarity between The One Ring and Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung was that they were both round. Also, didn't Tolkien openly admit to influences of Norse and other mythology in his writing? So what? Every writer has his influences and when he openly attributes them, then why all the fuss? I read the Silmarillion several times and though I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as much as LOTR, it served as the foundation of understanding for the origination of Middle Earth, and I consider a work of genius. My son pointed out that he believes that Tolkien, as philologist, really wanted some framework to hang all his invented Elvish languages on...and that he didn't really consider himself a great writer. I happen to know that Clark admires CS lewis as a writer, and Lewis truly admired and was friends with Tolkien. I would like to have heard a few of their conversations. Have you read the CS Lewis sci-fi trilogy in which the main hero is patterned after Tolkien?
Follow Ups:
-----> My son pointed out that he believes that Tolkien, as philologist, really wanted some framework to hang all his invented Elvish languages on...and that he didn't really consider himself a great writer. <-----Your son is absolutely correct -- Prof. Tolkien would come up with an Elvish name for a person, place or thing using real and invented root languages in old Norse or high German and then work out backstory to fit the name. The Silmarillion is almost entirely based on philology. While Tolkien always considered himself an Oxford Don of Philology first and formost and a writer as second, and was rightfully proud of his story-telling ability in the LOTRs, he always regretted the construction and "talking down" that pervades The Hobbit.
-----> I happen to know that Clark admires CS lewis as a writer, and Lewis truly admired and was friends with Tolkien. <-----
Yup, Tolkien and Lewis were lifelong friends although they were quite different personalities -- Lewis was big and loud, Tolkien small and quiet -- and they were members in a group called The Inklings which would meet at a pub once a week to critique each member's literary output.
Of course I've read Lewis's Perelanda, Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength many times -- I admire the trilogy (especially the first two books) greatly.
If you want to learn more about Tolkien as a writer, I recommend that you read "Tolkien, Author of the Century" by Tom Shippey -- it provides a nicely balanced perspective on Tolkien's writing style vs. his mastery of languages.
nt
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