The Downfall of the Lore of the Rings - Page 7
© Michael Martinez
Great literature entertains. Although it can, it doesn't have to explore the depths of human tragedy. It doesn't have to attach allegorical baggage to a classic event or person. In fact, I can't think of any great literature which does this. Great literature is applicable to human experience but literature is pretentious if it seeks to comment on the human condition. Writers should just come out and say what they want to say rather than hide behand hand-puppets and shadows.
Story-telling is best left to the story-tellers. These are the people who can gently poke fun at their colloquial cousins without being offensive, or who can borrow from living controversy without making it the point of the story. The difference between story-tellers and lecturers is that lecturers have some point to make. Story-tellers just want to entertain the audience, and maybe make enough money to buy their dinner at the end of the day. At the very least someone should buy them a drink because telling tales is thirsty work.
Tolkien scholarship revels in the retelling of the story. Everything is explained away (or conveniently ignored) in pursuit of the Grand Tolkien Theory, which, I suppose, might someday win someone a Nobel or Pulitzer prize. Although I hope not. At its core, The Lord of the Rings is just an adventure tale about a handful of hobbits who try to find a way to save the world. It's not a Christian apology or prosyletizing tract. It's not even an homage to the long lost Anglo-Saxon literature Tolkien so wanted to bring back. It's just a story.
Under the hands of his critics and scholars, Tolkien's work takes on whole new shades and dimensions he undoubtedly was never aware of. People want so badly to be a part of the magic they will say or do anything to leave their mark on it. Critics are the graffiti artists of literature, though they are generally less skilled than the kids who have produced vibrant murals on the walls of abandoned buildings and subways. Tolkien critics devote a great deal of time to "proving" their points, but they would probably not last long in a trivia contest.
Worse yet, if you set a critic down amongst a group of die-hard readers, the critic might roll his eyes and scratch his head or try to change the subject as the readers go on about how Maglor is probably living on the shores of the Sea of Rhun. If a reader asks why Fram slew Scatha the Worm, the critic is likely to bring up Beowulf (who has absolutely nothing to do with Fram and Scatha, but "Beowulf" and Beowulf are the universal keys to Tolkien in some people's eyes).
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