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/lit/ - Literature

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10221561 No.10221561 [Reply] [Original]

Was Tolkien a great writer, or just a weapons-grade level autist?

>> No.10221572

>>10221561
He wasn't a good writer but he was very creative

>> No.10221579

>hey guise is tolkin litcherally the cringiest autist?? xD

With a wealth of life experience to draw from and a story that was used as a vehicle for both the retelling of myth and his pet linguistics project (that also created many of the fantasy tropes used today), it's safe to say he was a highly creative, intelligent man.

>> No.10221586
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10221586

>>10221561
>weapons-grade level

>> No.10221591

>>10221561
Cuando los dos?

>> No.10221596

>>10221561
he was a decent writer with autistic world-building

>> No.10221927

He's a great writer of middle grade fiction, but I find it astounding that 'Tolkien studies' actually exists.

>> No.10222221

>>10221927
Why would that be astounding? At the time of his death he was one of the most accomplished literary scholars on the planet. His fiction was based on and inseparable from his serious academic study of European languages and histories and myths

>> No.10222251

>>10221927
>middle grade fiction
There's no such thing as "middle grade fiction", my freshman dropout friend.

>>10221596
>world-building
The "world-building" in LOTR plainly sucks. There's lots of unexplained and plain old contradictory stuff there. You're confusing myth and "world-building".

>>10221561
> Was Tolkien a great writer, or just a weapons-grade level autist?
He's the only 20th century author that's standing the test of time, I think it's fair to say he's a great writer.

>> No.10222267
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10222267

>weapons-grade level autist?

>> No.10222276

>>10222251
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/middle-grade

>> No.10222290

>>10222251
>the only 20th century author that's standing the test of time
do you even read anything that's not genre-shit?

>> No.10222294

>>10222251
>He's the only 20th century author that's standing the test of time
lol
>>10221561
Overrated garbage

>> No.10222299

>>10222294
>Overrated garbage
Slit your wrists you fucking mongrel

>> No.10222316

>>10221561
He pretty much created High Fantasy.
All the RPGs, video games, books, movies with a medieval fantasy setting are footnotes to his work.

>> No.10222329

Why is everything in LOTR getting weaker and weaker with every new Age?

>> No.10222358

>>10221561
Both

>> No.10222881
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10222881

>>10221561
These things go hand-in-hand.

>> No.10222885

>>10221561
The only real weapons-grade level autist writer was Lovecraft
>lived in his aunt's basement
>obsessed with cats
>all the dialogue in his stories is either non-existent or sounds nothing like how people speak to each other because he literally does not know how people speak

>> No.10223606

>>10221561
>weapons-grade level autist

>married the love of his life and was buried beside her
>remembered by his children as a great loving father
>had plenty of famous friends he was constantly hanging out with
>was a wildly successful lecturer beloved by all his students
There isn't a single person on this board who is less of an autist than Tolkien.

>> No.10223811

>>10221561
He has his moments, but not enough to be considered great.

>> No.10223843

>>10222329
Entropy and Greek Mythos

>> No.10224040

>>10222251
>He's the only 20th century author that's standing the test of time
Is this the dumbest thing that has been posted on /lit/ this month?

>> No.10224049
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10224049

>>10224040
No, this is

PEUGGHHGGHHGJHFDKKKKFLDJKGKFNGMEKRMJJJJGJGKFJDKGJDKJSGKJGJJJJKKK john green my daddy i make poopoo in pants and he clean gooooooooooooguuguoeuueugoueouguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoguoeugoueougojg

>> No.10224052

he could suck not only his own dick, but two others all in his mouth at the same time.

>> No.10224075

>>10224049
Everyone sure loves these stupid ms paint drawings

The catalog on /his/ has like 20 of em as the OP

>> No.10224096

>>10221561
He was obsessed with his mythos,
likely because all of his friends except one died in World War I.
He likely felt like it was his job to carry the torch for them.
A lot of LOTR is semi-autobiographic, especially the scenes in the dead marshes.
Considering he fought in the Somme,
It's not a surprise that they were so vivid.
He strikes me as a man that was hit with
a lot of personal tragedy, but chose to persevere and be happy anyway.
And that drives some intellectual types insane.

>> No.10224105
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10224105

>>10224096
ww1 just fucked people up man

>> No.10224110

>>10224049
kek'd hard

>> No.10224701

>>10221561
How would you define 'greatness' for a writer? Influence? Sales? Critical reception? By these definitions you would have to call Tolkien's work great.

>> No.10226478

He's great in the same way Alexandre Dumas is great and unlike the way Proust is.

>> No.10226681

He was a great writer, but a much better story teller.

>> No.10226692

>>10223843
>Greek Mythos
explain further

>> No.10226708
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10226708

what the fuck was his problem?

>> No.10226709 [DELETED] 

All roads lead to Karelia.

>> No.10226745

>>10222221
do you want to know what you missed?
here, >>>10222222

>> No.10227051

>>10221596
>putting effort into anything is autism

>> No.10227062

>>10227051
yes

>> No.10227540

Why can't he be both?

>> No.10228143

>>10226708
He wanted to be a barbaric warrior who slew dragons and carried away taught maidens on his back. Clearly he was not and reconciled this discrepancy with a gunshot blast to his face.

>> No.10228307

>>10228143
can you blame him?

>> No.10228318

>>10228143
His momfu was dying so there was nothing left in this world for him.

>> No.10228894

>>10221561
he was a christian and deserves a crucifix

>> No.10228937

I don't care for his writings personally, but no one can deny that they've been influential. For better or worse, Tolkien has a lot of cultural reach.

I appreciate him for what he did for the academic study of Anglo-Saxon literature. Pre-Tolkien surviving Anglo-Saxon works were studied for their historical, rather than literary, merit.

>> No.10229764

>Was Tolkien a great writer, or just a weapons-grade level autist?
If you mean his prose is so good he had to be autistic, then yes. No normal person can write this good.