Tolkien in Modern Times

[Hakon]

I did some searching and cannot find a thread where this point has been mentioned before. What if Tolkien was living in present day and wrote in present day? Would it still be just as good? I have been thinking about it since I read the Children of Hurin recently and was disappointed with the changes made from the text within Unfinished Tales. A lot of the words were changed to simpler ones. This can clearly be seen when Turin asks Gurthang to slay him. Anyway when I was reading it, I thought that if Tolkien had wrote in modern times then he would probably have produced work of a much lower quality. If Tolkien had wrote in modern times he would most likely have less of an inspiration and would have had a much harder time writing in general. What do you think?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I believe that Tolkien would probably have used the same sort of words to describe things. He was a learned man, who knew big words, if you know big words, you might as well use them.

I think one of the problems with authors like Tolkien in today's world is that the society which we live in is a very hasty one. There are many people who dislike Tolkien's books because they are not "quick enough" for them. Such things make me lachrymose, because there are many fine pieces of literature that are similar to Tolkien's own writing that are not popular because of this.

[Morthoron]

Hmmm...would Tolkien even find a publisher in 2009? His stubborn adherence to editing his own material, and his lackadaisical writing proliferation over decades would not endear him to...say...a corporate giant like Harper-Collins.

Besides, the major complaint would be that Lord of the Rings was a Sword of Shannara knock-off.

[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.

Morth, that is true about the publishing companies. I mean looking at it as if he were setting the same new mile stones in writing fantasy only in modern times rather than when he really did. I doubt he would have been able to 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.

[Alfirin]

Another point might be if a Tolkein of modern times would have had the time to compose a work of such depth and complexity as LOTR. Having never been thier personally I have no direct knowedge, but from what I have been told by those that have, the Oxford of Tolkien's time was a very, very different place than the Oxford of today. In this academic age of "publish or perish" I'm not sure a authour would have been able to spend all the time Tolkein spend on perfecting his work without seriosly risking his academic career.

[Pitchwife]

To the good points that have been made by everybody here I'd like to add that his whole life - and therefore at least part of the mould from which his tree grew - would have been different. Only a few examples:
He would very likely not have had any childhood experience of an unspoiled countryside (at least not the way it was like at the beginning of the 20th century).
A Catholic marrying an Anglican wouldn't have been a problematic issue anymore, so he wouldn't have needed to wait for years before he could marry Edith. What would that mean for the story of Beren and Lúthien and their quest for the Silmaril, or the tale of Aragorn and Arwen?
He wouldn't have fought in World War I (might have gone to the Falklands instead - a different kind of war).
The class structures he grew up with would have been different, so the relationship between Frodo and Sam would be different as well.
In short, he would have grown up in a different world, experienced different influences, matured into a different man and written a different book. Still a great book, maybe, but not the one we know and love.