[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by davem

I think what's 'in the light' for those critics is what they have been told is acceptable, politically correct, 'right'. They can't handle anything else. They have been told that there are monsters in the darkness, & not to go there because its 'dangerous'.

A lot of assumptions there ...

Originally Posted by davem

I'm tired of critics who dismiss fantasy & SF as something childish & meaningless & who seem to take pride in not liking it, as if that's the 'grown-up' position, & who dismiss those genres as being only fit for children or inadequates.

No disagreement from me there. As I said:

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

I deprecate narrow-minded criticism of Tolkien's works grounded solely on the basis that they are "fairy stories" or "boy's own tales"

I recall being appalled at the reaction in some quarters to Lord of the Rings coming top of the BBC's Favourite Book poll a year or two back.

Originally Posted by davem

I don't think these critics have read & understood Tolkien & then gone on to dismiss him - most of them have done neither. One of his most vociferous critics, Germaine Greer, has admitted she has only read the first chapter of LotR, yet every opportunity she gets to say something offensive about him she grabs with both hands.

Quite so. One is not qualified to criticise something which one has not even read.

My gripe with Shippey is not that he rails against those who criticised Tolkien's works with little knowledge and/or understanding of them, but that he goes on to ridicule their (different) tastes and interests.

Originally Posted by davem

Uninformed sneering by supposedly educated people deserves only contempt.

I agree. But, based on the excerpt quoted by lmp above, it seems to me that this is precisely the approach that Shippey adopts towards modernism.

Originally Posted by davem

They aren't interested in discovering something new (looking in the dark), but they'll take anything they already know (looking in the light) however worthless it may be....

Assumptions again, based upon the assumption inherent in Shippey's analogy (regarding darkness/light). I am sure that many implicated in Shippey's critique are interested in discovering new things. They are just looking in a different place.