that's just what I was trying to think of!! Ever since it was printed
LOTR has had a tremendous following, but it's gone beyond even those people who
read the book and love it. (I'm thinking here of Meditations on
Middle-Earth.) There's a whole mess of writers who were set on their
current paths by reading LOTR, or got some deep and subtle inspiration from
it. In that sense, it really has become a mythology: it has given rise to
a new genre, and probably prompted the writing of many of my favorite
stories.
I just realized that ambiguity may be one of the most important factors in
LOTR... unlike almost all the fantasy books that have followed it, not
*everything* is explained. Especially in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth
series (which I love dearly), one of the few drawbacks is the clarity of
explanation. I bet Tolkien did that on purpose, because he knew how much
more captivating the questions that come from an ambiguous story are. Or
he just found them captivating himself. Or he didn't know the answers
himself... but even asking the questions was more than anyone else thought
of.
Thank you, Daughter of Nienna - and thank you hatster's friend!
:):)
