What a roller-coaster!

[Boromir88]

I was pointed out to an interesting comment from Ursula LeGuin today:

"the peculiar rhythm of the book, its continual alternation of distress and relief, threat and reassurance, tension and relaxation: the rocking-horse gait (which is precisely what makes the huge book readable to a child of nine or ten) ...."

I don't agree with LeGuin on everything, but I never really noticed this before and thinking about it now it just makes sense. When asked the question what makes Lord of the Rings such a good story to read, that you just have to go back and read it again, I never really had an answer. It was more like "I don't know, it's a good story." Then I came across this and it hit me...that applies to me!

LeGuin called it the "rocking-horse gait" but I like to think of the Lord of the Rings as a "roller-coaster ride." There is a pattern in the book with moments of high tension, looming threat, uneasiness (for example; Moria) followed by periods of rest, relaxation, and healing (Lothlorien?). It is like a roller coaster ride of emotions, feelings, and moods. To continue with the roller coaster analogy, you are stuck in your seat until the very end, and after the ride is over, if you liked it you go back for another!

So, LeGuin's comments not only do I think can apply to the younger audience, but it definitely applies to me, a member who is getting further into the "older adult" stage.

What do you think about the roller-coaster ride that The Lord of the Rings takes us on? Do you agree with LeGuin? Is that part of the attraction? Do you disagree? What moments of the "rocking-horse gait" in LOTR did you notice?

[Mithalwen]

I think it is more evident in the Hobbit, but of course the pattern of FOTR follows the Hobbit closely. I don't think it is applicable to the Two Towers which for me was so much of a downer when I read it the first time aged about 10 that I stopped. To young to appreciate Faramir, its gloom was unremitting and I was too dozy to realise the significance of the third book's title.

I have been trying to read Peter Ackroyd's Albion (it isn't so unapproachable - I just havent had the leisure time necessary for anything serious ) which cites Tolkien in his discussion of the development of the English Literary imagination, which he suggests is either cyclical or like a river. Maybe this rocking horse is a kind of composite. I think there was some discussion on those lines way back when I was newly dead .. and I must double check the Ackroyd. But this is interesting.