Moorcock blasts Tolkien

[Mallus]

I knew too many proto-goth Elric wanna-be's in college to take Moorcock as seriously as he takes himself, anyway.

Shouldn't you, umm, read an author's works before you decide whether or not you take them seriously?

Re: Moorcock vs. Tolkien... Moorcock's got a something of point. Or at least a position. He's argued that literature of the fantastic shouldn't be considered a kind of written "comfort food", which so much of is.

What he fails to do, speaking generally, is recognize the value, or even need, for "comfort narratives" (while overstating their harmful effect, most oftern in the form of their unstated political assumptions). And what he fails to do specifically with regard to Tolkien is give credit to the ernomous scope and power of Middle Earth purely as an act of imagination.

LoTR could have been "Triumph of the Will" with elves, and as long it was set in Tolkien's world it would have been a monumental work.

 

[reanjr]

Tolkien needed an editor.

Cheers,
Cam

Wow. Editors would have ruined Tolkien's books. They tried hard to mess it up in little ways, but it was not allowed (Dwarfs and Elfs, anyone?). If Tolkien chose a way of saying something, you can be assured it was a conscious choice for which he understood the ramifications.

I'd have to agree with previous sentiments that Moorcock is jealous and trying to drum of awareness of his writing. Let's face it, there are probably ten times as many people who have read Tolkien and loved it than have even HEARD OF Moorcock.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

On the other hand, Moorecock did use the work "bourgeois" twice in that opinion piece. Using it once makes me suspicious. Twice sets off my "elitist " alarm. :\

Yeah, back when I was in film school, "bourgeois" was one of those words that made me shake my head everytime I ran across it. It almost always made whoever used it look elitist.

 

[Henrix]

Well, Moorcock is a bit peevish, but he does have a point, Tolkien, and most other fantasy, is written in a childish tone about childish themes.

And that's no news (nor was it when he first wrote that article in -89). Tolkien was long delegated to the children's shelves in libraries, and it is only because of their immense popularity that they can be found on other shelves these days.

There is fantasy that is not written for kids. Compare Tolkien to Fritz Leiber, or Robert Howard. His works are better written, absolutely, but also more comforting and, let's face it, childish.



And Elric really isn't Moorcock's best work, just the best known.

 

[frankthedm]

I think it comes down to;

This is the hero of the story.
Vs.
This is the hero of the story?​

 

[Hawkshere]

You can spin anything if you try hard enough.

In a similar vein, I much prefer David Brin's gutting of Star Wars:
http://www.davidbrin.com/starwarsarticle1.html

 

[francisca]

Well, Moorcock is a bit peevish, but he does have a point, Tolkien, and most other fantasy, is written in a childish tone about childish themes.

And that's no news (nor was it when he first wrote that article in -89). Tolkien was long delegated to the children's shelves in libraries, and it is only because of their immense popularity that they can be found on other shelves these days.

There is fantasy that is not written for kids. Compare Tolkien to Fritz Leiber, or Robert Howard. His works are better written, absolutely, but also more comforting and, let's face it, childish.



And Elric really isn't Moorcock's best work, just the best known.

Yeah. It's kinda like complaining that a car doesn't make a good boat.

Besides, Moorecock could be accused of all kinds of "60's style revolution" leftist mindset in his own works. It's not surprising at all that Lewis and Tolkien would grate on his nerves. Pot, meet kettle. Clash of idealogy, flipside of the same coin, and all that.

 

[Slife]

I think it comes down to;

This is the hero of the story.
Vs.
This is the hero of the story?​

QFT. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Henrix]

Yeah. It's kinda like complaining that a car doesn't make a good boat.

It's more like complaining about that a car is too much like a boat, because the constructors thought cars had to be like boats.

A lot of fantasy is childish, even when written for adults, because they copy the tone in Tolkien.

 

[reanjr]

Well, Moorcock is a bit peevish, but he does have a point, Tolkien, and most other fantasy, is written in a childish tone about childish themes.

I disagree (except for the Hobbit). They are written in such a way as to be appropriate for children, but I wouldn't say that it was a childish tone or childish themes. They were mythological. Read Beowulf, it comes off the same way.