Psychological depth in Tolkien's characters

[Lush]

1) the author is not talented enough to subtly show the depth through the character's words and actions or 2) the reader is not talented enough to pick up on textual clues or come to any sort of conclusion without the author specifically telling them to.

Oh boy. I guess I'll try to grab an extra moment to burn my copy of Ulysses before I sprint down to the Duke English Department to let them know that "hey guys, the authors we're reading aren't talented enough."

Seriously, there is plenty of room to argue that Pullman had it wrong, but such broad-siding as above is making me break out in hives.

[ 12:38 AM November 30, 2003: Message edited by: Lush ]