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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
Such clear thinking as Chesterton's is desperately needed regarding the Harry Potter books as well. Which are, really, 21st century 'penny dreadfuls'.
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I'd say it also applies to Pullman's 'His Dark Materials', which starts out as a wonderful EAS/Penny Dreadful & then goes downhill fast as soon as PP realises he has adult, ('Educated') as well as child (or 'vulgar errand boy'
), readers, & decides he wants to be a 'serious' novelist who deals with 'deeper' questions (interesting the way works of 'art' go
downhill as soon as the 'artist' decides they're going to produce something
'deep').
I think in this context Tolkien avoided the trap by keeping his feet on the ground by having Hobbits as his central figures, & Sam as the central Hobbit. As GKC also said, 'one sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak' - in other words, one can raise oneself, & one's works, one's
thoughts, to such a 'height' that everyone & everything else comes to seem small & insignificant, not worth bothering with. The Hobbits are always looking up, & so are surrounded by 'greatness'. Thus they remain humble. Saruman & Sauron, by contrast, live 'on the heights', choosing to dwell in towers where they can look down on lesser folk (even Denethor dwells in a high place). The Hobbits, on the other hand, live not simply on but actually
within the earth.
I don't know if I'm arguing here that LotR does belong with the EAS (even with the Penny Dreadfuls!). Obviously it doesn't - it has too much to say to us, it has true 'depth' & profundity - yet, at the same time it can be seen (& read) as a 'penny dreadful'.
I think Tolkien would have liked that. So, probably, would Rowling as regards her HP books. I suspect, though, if you said the same thing to Pullman about HDM he'd have apoplexy.
Or to put it another way, here's Nemi..
