Quote:
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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
Characteristics of Edwardian adventure story:
a particular object associated with the adventure
a fictional travelogue, or at least a travel story
framed in familiarity
odd and inexplicable things happen
enchanted scenery & stock characters as in a dream
characters are types
nature itself is a character
black-and-white morality
a band of brothers/we happy few/a fellowship
an eccentric, mysterious, and powerful leader
story is told by one of the fellowship who has survived
mysterious character indwelling the world itself
nature is itself in a way supernatural
past is alive in the present
frankly aristocratic in its conventions
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It seems to me from this list, and a brief review of the responses to this thread, that Tolkien is at his most "Edwardian" in The Hobbit and the early chapters of LotR, the most "Hobbitish" (and therefore Edwardian?) elements of his tales, but that LotR expanded into something that went way beyond these conventions as it took in aspects of his earlier more "heroic" writings, and more general heroic and mythic imagery.