What does the sixpence = ?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by lmp

Tolkien's popularity is especially strong amongst those who speak a language closely related to English, such as the Nordic, Dutch, and German peoples.

I think that if this is true then it may be more to do with effective translations than anything else. English is in the same language 'family' as German and Dutch, and the subtleties of the language in LotR may have been easier to translate. But I do say "if this is true" as there are huge Tolkien fanbases in France, Spain and Italy, which have languages from a different "family".

I'm not sure about whether there are 'cultural' reasons or differences between what the literary critics like and what people as a whole enjoy. But I do think that much modern literary fiction has disappeared up something (euphemism ) in the attempts to make use of style and structure more important than story. I've read a fair few novels lately where potentially good stories were marred by too much tinkering with structure; usually this has resulted in very poor and disappointing endings to novels which have almost become formulaic.

Obviously the popularity of Tolkien has much to do with narrative, and constructing a good story is perhaps the most difficult part of writing. Characters are easy enough, but plot lines are not. Certainly an original plot line is just about impossible as all the best ones have been taken; maybe some writers of literary fiction seek to compensate with clever stylistics? Or perhaps they simply know far too much about literary theory and have allowed it to stifle their stories?

I'm not sure that LotR does appeal to us on any kind of 'racial' basis. Why? My reasoning behind this is that it is immensely popular in the US, and the population of the US is incredibly mixed due to a long history of immigration.

Originally Posted by lmp

I think it has to do with language. Shippey is a philologist, and a self-professed non-Christian (which I read in JRRT:AofC). Anyone who has read Carpenter's biography of Tolkien has learned of the "Lang vs. Lit" battle in Oxford that raged from the late 19th century in to the 1970s, when Lit finally won upon the apparent natural death of Lang, more's the pity. As some of us know, all of Tolkien's fiction is based in Language first. He knew words and their histories and functions far better than anybody else who wrote fiction in the 20th century.

Well, I can only speak about UK English departments. I know that most of the English degrees in this country are combined Lit/Lang degrees. The Language element is almost always taken up with Linguistics, or more specifically, structural linguistics, studying the language as it is currently is. This might also include some socio-linguistics, but rarely if ever do students get to study philology, the subject is just about dead. Maybe this accounts for the steady stream of critics who cannot appreciate Tolkien's work?