Was Christopher Tolkien right?

[Bêthberry]

Thanks, Lush (and Nenya). I'll look for Heavenly Creatures.

Child, I've found a most interesting quotation from Shippey which could go far towards explaining why Tolkien could not be adapted to film as easily as other tomes. (I have no problem with deconstructing my own argument--or at least part of it. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img])

What it [the plot of LOTR] does is make each of the characters feel lonely and isolated, while in the broader view you can see that everyone's story is a part of everyone else's: much more like reality than the plot of a conventional novel. It works laterally as well as linearly.

HerenIstarion provided the link to an interview with Tom Shippey, which I have shamelessly copied.

Bethberry