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<blockquote data-quote="molonel" data-source="post: 3492341" data-attributes="member: 10412">Sort of. When you're writing a story, you have to take your audience into account unless you are simply writing the book for yourself. C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, particularly with their exercises where they would read their work aloud at the Eagle &amp; the Child, had a very positive influence on Tolkien and his writing. They reminded him that although all that history and linguistic nuance is fascinating, the reason we read fantasy stories is to hear yarns or tales of the heroic. Tolkien openly embraced the term &quot;escapism&quot; to describe his work, and distinguished between the &quot;escapism of the deserter&quot; (or cowardice) and the &quot;escapism of the prisoner&quot; (or the heroism of imagining possible worlds).Now, where the line is for &quot;sufficient detail&quot; and &quot;mindnumbing distractions&quot; is different for everyone. You are absolutely right about that.But there is a line, and sometimes Tolkien crosses it in his writings. It's why his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is so awful, filled with philological quirks like &quot;eek&quot; for also. It's why most of his historical-mythological material is such a mindnumbing chore to read. It's got all sorts of worldbuilding goodness. But the characters are more like mosaics than characters who smoke pipes or blow smoke rings.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="molonel, post: 3492341, member: 10412"] Sort of. When you're writing a story, you have to take your audience into account unless you are simply writing the book for yourself. C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, particularly with their exercises where they would read their work aloud at the Eagle & the Child, had a very positive influence on Tolkien and his writing. They reminded him that although all that history and linguistic nuance is fascinating, the reason we read fantasy stories is to hear yarns or tales of the heroic. Tolkien openly embraced the term "escapism" to describe his work, and distinguished between the "escapism of the deserter" (or cowardice) and the "escapism of the prisoner" (or the heroism of imagining possible worlds). Now, where the line is for "sufficient detail" and "mindnumbing distractions" is different for everyone. You are absolutely right about that. But there is a line, and sometimes Tolkien crosses it in his writings. It's why his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is so awful, filled with philological quirks like "eek" for also. It's why most of his historical-mythological material is such a mindnumbing chore to read. It's got all sorts of worldbuilding goodness. But the characters are more like mosaics than characters who smoke pipes or blow smoke rings. [/QUOTE]

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