Tolkien is passé because it’s “just fantasy/escapism” or “not real literature.” Which is stupid. I think the real issue is that modern literature, in the minds of those who try to decide such things, is “supposed” to be about immediate social issues and “realistic” or “down-to-earth” people. Think of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et al. On the surface, Tokien’s writings are nothing like that. Of course, if you dig deeper, LotR in particular is an excellent exploration of the human condition and what’s really important in life, but a lot of modern critics don’t see that because they dislike the veneer and dismiss it out-of-hand. (I also think a lot of critics wouldn’t like a great deal of what Tolkien has to say about the human condition if they understood it, but that’s probably too controversial a subject for the Boards. )
I bet that in 100 years from now, Tolkien will be one of the few writers from the 20th century to be remembered.
Great as he may be, his books can also be a bit difficult to read at some parts. The only book of his that I have finished is The Hobbit. I tried reading Fellowship of the Ring, but lost interest partway through. I love the sheer amount of world-building Tolkien does, but he has a bad habit of getting into lengthy descriptions of minute detail. Some readers can look past that and enjoy the magnificence of his work, and there are some like me who prefer the movies (LOTR is the only time I prefer the movies over the books)
Now going off on a brief LOTR tangent, my History Teacher in my Freshman Year of High School absolutely Loved the LOTR books. We had just finished some strange point in world history, and it was the day before Spring Break. He decided to teach us some brief “european” history before Spring Break. So he boots up a powerpoint presentation about this king Fingolfin and his war with Melkor. There I am, little Kiixaar furiously taking notes like a good little student, and what does the teacher say at the end of class? “By the way, this was actually the history of the First Age of Middle-Earth, before LOTR.” I still don’t know how to feel about that…
Oh yes. That book should be destroyed, it’s so annoying. It wouldn’t have been too bad if not for the fact that I had to read it during a pretty challenging time in my life, and it made me even more sad.
I enjoyed Lord of the Flies, Huckleberry Finn, all Edgar Allan Poe, and this bizarre book called Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth that was historical fiction on Ancient Egypt. The last one is surprisingly pretty engaging and entertaining.
I love Macbeth. I really, really do. It’s such a good play, and it’s a ton of fun to read and try to figure out what’s going on… ON MY OWN TIME
I cannot STAND how my incompetent dunce of a teacher is making us read this otherwise amazing play. Every little tiny detail is a metaphor, every line is turned into a thirty paragraph long assignment, every character needs to be analyzed until I know their favorite place to eat waffles. It’s just… why? Why would this ever ever help me in real life? She’s destroying my love for this play.
So
Thanks English department. For making me not want to read.
I kind of feel the same way about my English teacher this year. It feels like we are going over every single little detail and it is making me pretty bored in that class
A brief update after reading more books for school. I’ve a new least favorite- To Kill a Mockingbird. The only part of the book worth reading is the trial of Tom Robinson. The rest is literally all filler. However, we did read some good stuff. The Hiding Place is truly inspiring, and The Great Divorce is thought provoking. Also, Out of the Silent Planet had some great world building.
The majority of the books that we read are alright, some flat-out easy reads. The issue arises, however, when the curriculum and teachers insist that we analyze every word there is. And of course, we need to see it the way that they see it, not how we see it. Half the time, I just come up with interpretations on the fly that somehow connect to life or death when they have nothing to do with the actual book, and I get good grades.
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