Thanks for clarifying where you are coming from ...
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... the three main currents in Western culture: Germanic (broadly speaking) cultural base; Greek-inherited rational/scientific/knowledge gathering process; and Judeo-Christian cosmological/moral framework. Tolkien does better with this than many other 20th century authors because he had a full grasp of all three and embraced them, while his counterparts tended to wrestle against and reject at least one of the three.
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I'm not sure the "does better" argument follows. He certainly had one particular grasp of concepts, but to suggest either that he had a 'full grasp' and did not wrestle with or reject aspects of any of them, or that this is somehow a guarantee of quality, cannot be taken as read.
For example, the Western philosophical (and later scientific) tradition, as history has shown, has in fact presented Christianity with its greatest challenge from medieval times onwards. Tolkien's work does not seem to me to take account of later philosophical or scientific elements - it seems more of a nostalgic retrenchment in myth as a vessel for arguably 'timeless' truths. And to instil - or perhaps assume - some level of traditional Christian sensibility.
In this context, Albert Camus'
The Outsider, or the works of Sartre, are arguably far more in tune with Western philosophy as it had come to be by Tolkien's time.
Your reference points also seem to exclude (or preclude) cultural sources other than traditional Western as an indication of merit. What about Isabell Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Indian writers (or even Westernised Asians like Salman Rushdie), or VS Naipaul (from the Caribbean), winner of last year's Nobel Prize for Literature?
In addition, I wonder why 'embracing' cultural traditions is somehow better than 'rejecting' them. Surely part of what great art can be about is the changing of perceptions, breaking the mould, and so on. For example, Black American authors of the 20th century did just that, along with gay and feminist artists, and so on.
Trying to find reasons why Tolkien is better than everyone else is, I think, a problematic and ultimately impossible task. But even the act of placing Tolkien is the context of world literature in the 20th century is highly challenging ... there is so much to consider!
Still, go for it if you want to [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ... and
get reading - there are thousands of truly wonderful and potentially life-changing 20th century books out there.
Peace [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: Kalessin ]