Tired of being attacked!!!(or The Defense of Fantasy)

[Schmendrick]

Ok, I'm not sure how to put this, to make myself understood, but lately I've grown really tired of people, who think that fantasy-literature is only "escapism" and it isn't really "high literature" at all and that I'm certainly only going through a "phase" in my life (and that my interest in Tolkien is some sort of regression), now that I'm suddenly interested in fantasy!!(Phew, what a long sentense [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]...)
I'm constantly "attacked" like this...To make matters worse,I'm over 20 and I study comparative literature and I've ALWAYS been someone very cynical and intellectual, and I guess everyone's now totally shocked, when I'm suddenly interested in this "nonsense"-literature. It SO makes me lose my nerves!!!I'm entitled to like whatever literature I like, and fantasy (especially Tolkien) has totally changed my life (to a positive direction), added a new dimension to my (before so boring) life and i'm really excited about it, but I don't know if I'll be able to defense myself time after time or is it easier to just give up...
I don't know...does anyone have same kind of experiences? Are you treated like "childish" or "nerd", because of your Tolkien-interest?