LotR, an Edwardian Adventure Story?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

I wrote a marginal note by way of summary of a certain section in Lobdell's book that he is basically saying that Tolkien was the J.S. Bach of the Ewardian adventure story. What do you think of such a characterization?

No time now for an extended reply, but this musical analogy is intriguing. If you view Tolkien as the Bach, who would be the Mozart? Perhaps Wilson et al could be Salieri?