Tolkien A or B?

[Lalwendë]

I read an interesting item in the Grauniad's books blog this week examining Anthony Burgess's claim that all novels are either:
A - conventional, using plot and character to engage with the world
or
B - ultimately devoted to exploring form and language

To quote the blogger, in case you aint read the article:

In his meditation on the works of James Joyce, Anthony Burgess delineated the two different types of novel, categorised into types A and B. The A novel, to summarise his argument, is completely in thrall to convention, tapping into traditional literary archetypes with a distinct focus on plot and character. The B novel, however, can incorporate plot and character (though it occasionally dispenses with such trivialities altogether) but its ultimate aim is to explore literary form, narrative and language.

Typical examples of the A novel range from Pride and Prejudice and The Hound of the Baskervilles to Portnoy's Complaint and Saturday. Tellingly, the ultimate B novel is considered to be Finnegan's Wake. Then there are, of course, those A novels that trespass upon B territory such as Martin Amis's Time's Arrow which has a linear narrative style (albeit recounted backwards) but in its reversal of conventional speech encroaches upon ideals more common to the B novel.

There are some interesting comments following the article so it's worth reading - and one comment concerns what immediately came to my mind. What About Tolkien?

What distinguishes Tolkien from so much other fantasy to me is his love of language, his play with narrative form, his sense that language and culture are deeply linked. In many ways to me, he awakens a sense of Englishness and English history by exploring the roots of our language. Yet he also churned out a cracking yarn and it has much to say about The World.

What do you think? Is Tolkien A or B?