J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was born on this day, January 3.
It has become fashionable to bash on Tolkien for not being sufficiently woke or for taking up too much shelf space in bookstores. One marketing technique is now to make controversial statements about his and his work if you have a book coming out. Such tactics and complaints are the habits of lesser writers.
Tolkien was the greatest fantasy author of the 20th Century. This is a hill I am prepared to die on. (Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H. P. Lovecraft aren’t far behind.)
Most people are familiar with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. His other writings, not so much. Sadly, I have to include myself in that group. I’ve not read enough of his other work, although I’ve read bits and pieces. That’s something I intend to correct over the coming year.
I’m open to suggestions as to what some of you who are better read would recommend as a starting point.
His work was profound! I greatly enjoyed the more folkish aspects of his stories, hiking, exploring, searching for suitable campsites, trading stories with locals at the pub. I can only imagine a time before the compendium of knowledge that is the internet where perhaps rumors grew to tall-tales and strangers were more capable of telling exciting tales. I would happily die on that hill with you. As an author, I can only hope to become a fraction of the story teller that Tolkien was.
I agree with you about the folkish aspects of his work. Those are one of the things that appeal to me, too.