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I find only one point to quarrel with:

To be sure, The Lord of the Rings is not a great work of literature to be compared to Cervantes or Dostoyevsky.

"To be sure" -- ? And why is that? The novel is beautifully written, its pacing is near-perfect, its characterizations and character evolutions shine, and its themes will resonate down through the ages. So what's missing?

Why is it that everyone feels the need to put these denigratory qualifications on any praise of a popular book -- even when the popular book has all the virtues of any novel ever written?

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

I agree with your point, after all I think maybe most of the "greats" that have actually endured started out popular. Shakespeare is an example, I believe.

But there's lots of other things to take issue with here, along with some outright mistakes, such as the author's assumption that Wagner invented the ring of power.

As to "what's missing," I think it is the "emporer's new clothes" that the literati so love. They like to think that they are the only ones to understand real literature. So they would deny such a label to anything that has wide appeal.

to be sure .... it is liberal arrogance that assigns the creation of an idea to a person like Wagner rather than a Tolkien - when in fact the truth is it came from the Norse and Finnish etc legends that inspired them. Wagner was a statist and spiritualist. Very devilish influence on his times. His music does not have the same sway or influence today. (This is true of all music - Beatles caused people to faint - then - but now its just good music etc) 1848 was a bad year spiritually based on all the events that happened - including Wagners Music and some spiritualists that became popular. Anyway - its not suprising a liberal would denegrate Tolkien - A Christian whose works are meant to influence the reader in a godly way and show the greatness of freedom and the horror of unchecked power and the flawed nature of man - liberals hate freedom, desire control over others and want a world empire controlling everything. Tolkien:Wagner = Conservative:Liberal in America today