Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bęthberry
But you know, Sauce, we really don't need to diss other writers in order to hold up Tolkien to great praise. He can stand on his own feet.
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Oh I wasn't intending to disparage JKR, or any other writers for that matter. I have not read any of the
Harry Potter books (although I have seen the films), so I can't comment personally on them.
Gorthaur_cruel asked what distinguished
LotR from the
HP books in terms of quality, given that they are both so popular, which assumed that there was a qualitative difference. You may well be right that they will still be as popular in 30 to 40 years as
LotR is now. If so, then they will certainly deserve to be ranked up there with
LotR. My own feeling (although it is admittedly a relatively uninformed one) is that they may achieve the same enduring (but slightly dated) popularity as, say, Enid Blyton's
Famous Five or
Faraway Tree books (I have cherished memories of reading both series). Which would be impressive, but not (to my mind at least) as impressive as
LotR's continued wide-scale popularity (for which, as
Mithalwen points out, is far from being solely down to the films).
As for Tolkien standing on his own feet, you are of course absolutely right. But one cannot help feeling a tad defensive about one's famous author when he is being dismissed as "childish" and "boy's own" by "serious" critics and academics alike, despite (or perhaps because of) the massive popularity of the books with the reading public.
