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William Cloud Hicklin · 04-20-2021, 05:34 PM

It was long a dream of mine (and I suspect of Christopher's, I don't really think so IRO T pere), that Tolkien would be accepted for membership in the Club: the club which includes Dickens and Hardy and Fielding and Thackeray, the club of capital-L Literature. Tolkien, taught in E.Lit courses at a university level, alongside Shakespeare and Milton! Recognized, deservedly, as a peer of Sterne and Austen!

Well- that has happened, in a way: but not at all like my dream. Rather than the Club voting Tolkien into membership, it instead decided to do away with membership altogether and throw the doors open to the proles. So now Tolkien is taught in colleges: but alongside Star Trek and Harry Potter and Buffy. Not really the same thing- you can shoulder your way to the former Members' Bar and have a drink, but you'll be propping it not alongside Maugham and Greene, but alongside George Lucas and Stan Lee (and George "Imitative Initials" Martin). Tolkien got in wearing a "Pop Culture" nametag - which is an insult.

04-20-2021, 05:34 PM	#15
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	It was long a dream of mine (and I suspect of Christopher's, I don't really think so IRO T pere), that Tolkien would be accepted for membership in the Club: the club which includes Dickens and Hardy and Fielding and Thackeray, the club of capital-L Literature. Tolkien, taught in E.Lit courses at a university level, alongside Shakespeare and Milton! Recognized, deservedly, as a peer of Sterne and Austen! Well- that has happened, in a way: but not at all like my dream. Rather than the Club voting Tolkien into membership, it instead decided to do away with membership altogether and throw the doors open to the proles. So now Tolkien is taught in colleges: but alongside Star Trek and Harry Potter and Buffy. Not really the same thing- you can shoulder your way to the former Members' Bar and have a drink, but you'll be propping it not alongside Maugham and Greene, but alongside George Lucas and Stan Lee (and George "Imitative Initials" Martin). Tolkien got in wearing a "Pop Culture" nametag - which is an insult. __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it. Last edited by William Cloud Hicklin; 04-30-2021 at 01:44 PM.