Even in his own lifetime, JRRT's rep leaned toward the slight;y off-center:
from a campus novel called A Memorial Service by J.I.M. Stewart:
Quote:
‘A sad case,’ [the Regius Professor] concluded unexpectedly.
‘Timbermill’s, you mean?’
‘Yes, indeed. A notable scholar, it seems. Unchallenged in his field. But he ran off the rails somehow, and produced a long mad book – a kind of apocalyptic romance.’
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