eh? LOTR is time spent away from drudge (reporting or work)

This is from a letter that he wrote to a reader defending his telling of fairy-stories:

\ufffdDear Sir,\ufffd I said\ufffdAlthough now long estranged,
Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed.
Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned,
and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned:
Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light
through whom is splintered from a single White
to many hues, and endlessly combined
in living shapes that move from mind to mind.
Though all the crannies of the world we filled
with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build
Gods and their houses out of dark and light,
and sowed the seed of dragons\ufffd'twas our right
(used or misused). That right has not decayed:
we make still by the law in which we're made.\ufffd

Quoted in [link|http://larsen-family.us/~1066/onfairystories.html|On Fairy-Stories], which itself is a decent explanation of what Tolkien thought of fantasy, and his explanation of why fantasy has been so neglected in English literature.

Ironically he predicted that the Lord of the Rings would always be a failure as a dramatic performance. He was at least somewhat right - to the extent that the movie succeeded it was because the movie makers recognized as Tolkien did what couldn't be done, and consequently left out most of the tapestry that made up Tolkien's world. However it is also clear that movies today can partially transcend the limitations of drama.

But I'll let you read his critique of his life's interest for yourself. I've already read it, and know that communicating what it says to me is beyond my abilities. I can repeat disjointed lessons that I've taken from it, but not the whole picture that it presents on how our imagination and personal stories take internal shape when we least expect it to.

Cheers,
Ben

Post #166,392 by boxley 7/27/04 9:53:55 PM Reply	eh? LOTR is time spent away from drudge (reporting or work) I have read it many times. If I spent as much time reading Torah as I did re-reading LOTR then I would be a very religious person. Its timeless fantasy. It is the read that refreshes. thanx,. bill Anchorage AK: House for sale 3 bed 1 bath 1440 sq feet huge lot near Cheney Lake 175K FSBO 813.273.3518 I wondered what Darwinian moment had to effect itself before we devolved from children flying paper flags in the sky to half formed creatures thundering in a wall of horns down the road to Roncevaux. James Lee Burke questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #166,395 by deSitter 7/27/04 9:58:02 PM Reply	just never warmed up to this kind of fantasy I am very interested however in the social aspect of this "phenomenon". Clearly something in it resonates with people everywhere, and smart ones at that. -drl
Post #166,397 by boxley 7/27/04 10:02:08 PM Reply	not so much fantasy as much as the world circa 400 AD as we'un would like to fantasize. thanx. bill Anchorage AK: House for sale 3 bed 1 bath 1440 sq feet huge lot near Cheney Lake 175K FSBO 813.273.3518 I wondered what Darwinian moment had to effect itself before we devolved from children flying paper flags in the sky to half formed creatures thundering in a wall of horns down the road to Roncevaux. James Lee Burke questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #166,406 by bepatient 7/27/04 10:38:36 PM Reply	Simple Its popular because its good. I happen to agree that it is one of the finest works of the previous century. With that, it had a huge readership base that, in turn, fueled the movie's popularity. Quit making excuses and read it. If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #166,448 by ben_tilly 7/28/04 4:51:54 AM Reply	Let's let Tolkien defend fantasy in his own words This is from a letter that he wrote to a reader defending his telling of fairy-stories: \ufffdDear Sir,\ufffd I said\ufffdAlthough now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed. Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned: Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind. Though all the crannies of the world we filled with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build Gods and their houses out of dark and light, and sowed the seed of dragons\ufffd'twas our right (used or misused). That right has not decayed: we make still by the law in which we're made.\ufffd Quoted in [link\|http://larsen-family.us/~1066/onfairystories.html\|On Fairy-Stories], which itself is a decent explanation of what Tolkien thought of fantasy, and his explanation of why fantasy has been so neglected in English literature. Ironically he predicted that the Lord of the Rings would always be a failure as a dramatic performance. He was at least somewhat right - to the extent that the movie succeeded it was because the movie makers recognized as Tolkien did what couldn't be done, and consequently left out most of the tapestry that made up Tolkien's world. However it is also clear that movies today can partially transcend the limitations of drama. But I'll let you read his critique of his life's interest for yourself. I've already read it, and know that communicating what it says to me is beyond my abilities. I can repeat disjointed lessons that I've taken from it, but not the whole picture that it presents on how our imagination and personal stories take internal shape when we least expect it to. Cheers, Ben To deny the indirect purchaser, who in this case is the ultimate purchaser, the right to seek relief from unlawful conduct, would essentially remove the word consumer from the Consumer Protection Act - [link\|http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?NewsID=1246&Page=1&pagePos=20\|Nebraska Supreme Court]

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