D&D General Are You There D&D? It's Me, J.R.R. Tol-KEEEEN!

[Hussar]

Again, there are more than a few authors who insist that Fantasy or SF is not literature. And serious authors for a very long time would actively resist any whiff of their works being SF or F. Like I said, the SF&F ghetto is a very real thing and it really wasn't until the late 90's or even early 2000's that SF&F started getting taken seriously as an actual genre of literature.

I'm not saying Rowlings is telling the truth or not. Have no idea and honestly don't care. But, authors reacting very negatively to being lumped into SF&F is hardly something new.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Again, there are more than a few authors who insist that Fantasy or SF is not literature

In the other hand Terry Pratchett joked about having been “occasionally accused of literature”.

 

[Parmandur]

edit: never mind.

Let's just say that I am unaware of Tolkien saying or writing anything intentionally bigoted, even if some aspects of his world building seem dated and colonial.

Well, I am sure he had plenty of Victorian implicit biases (how could he not?), but as far as colonialism goes, he was rather aggressively critical of it. Numenor is a not-at-all-subtle critique of the then-contemporary UK, and among the many sins of Numenor was using their navy to exploit and dominate people throughout the world.

 

[Parmandur]

Again, there are more than a few authors who insist that Fantasy or SF is not literature. And serious authors for a very long time would actively resist any whiff of their works being SF or F. Like I said, the SF&F ghetto is a very real thing and it really wasn't until the late 90's or even early 2000's that SF&F started getting taken seriously as an actual genre of literature.

I'm not saying Rowlings is telling the truth or not. Have no idea and honestly don't care. But, authors reacting very negatively to being lumped into SF&F is hardly something new.

One of the funniest counter-examples is Neal Stephenson: literary interviewers often try to give him an out as a "literary" writer because they like his stuff (as they ought), but he aggressively insists on being recognized as a science fiction author.

 

[Worrgrendel]

Where we´re going, we don´t need no rails.

Great, now we’re going to devolve into debate on how railroady this thread is.

 

[Worrgrendel]

Where we´re going, we don´t need no rails.

Great, now we’re going to devolve into a debate on how railroady this thread is.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Great, now we’re going to devolve into debate on how railroady this thread is.

If it get us into a Time Machine made out of a steam locamotive, BRING IT!

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yeah, but Peter Jackson really overwrote the ending to his LotR films. Just watched them again, with my kid.

I teach literature, and am a bit befuddled when trying to critique Tolkien's writing. By conventional standards...yeah, he overwrites! And is too expository! And uses awkwardly anachronistic language, like the King James and Beowulf had a baby! I could go on, but...Tolkien makes it work. Somehow. And did it in the face of Modernism.

It's a singular text. A one of one category. Anyone else tries to write that and it's a bloated mess. Tolkien pulls it off. It's astonishing.

Yeah Tolkien did something special.. It is a great work. I assume his background as a linguistic is part of what makes it all work. But there is also an artistry to it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I teach literature, and am a bit befuddled when trying to critique Tolkien's writing. By conventional standards...yeah, he overwrites! And is too expository! And uses awkwardly anachronistic language, like the King James and Beowulf had a baby! I could go on, but...Tolkien makes it work. Somehow. And did it in the face of Modernism

“When you breaks the rules, make sure as to break ‘em good and hard.”
-Terry Pratchett

 

[Mistwell]

Whatever you may think of someone as a person, calling them out as a liar requires evidence, and there is nothing in HP that can be directly traced to Tolkien (who, contrary to some opinions, did not invent fantasy and used many existing tropes).

One curious thing though - she is a fan of the band Blue Oyster Cult, and Blue Oyster Cult have connections to early D&D, and Micheal Moorcock.

I don't think Rowling tracks to Tolkien. HOWEVER, Rowling tracks pretty darn closely to the Books of Magic comic series about Timothy Hunter, and the Worst Witch series.

I am not saying she ripped them off. Just that there are some close similarities.