I wont argue that there are some parts of Tolkien that verge on unreadable, simply by the fact that he changes 'voice' in the latter parts of the LOTR trilogy (I long ago gave up on the Silmarillion). And The Screwtape Letters is a book that is rare to come by, at least where I am from (barring that I order it off the internet)...I have a copy of Mere Christianity, which I have enjoyed immensely. However, I deem Tolkien above Lewis in regards to storytelling and fiction not just for its sheer volume, but incredible depth. To wit, going back to my comment about 'voice,' the style/manner/tone of speech for each character is of itself, and changes accordign to the situation. It was not until adulthood that I realized that each of the four hobbits have their own particular voice, and the segments are written as if they had been written by the particular hobbit and in his own particular voice. If you read up on sections involving King Theoden and Merry, Merry has a distinct voice and manner of his own. Now, I dont say that it is my FAVORITE voice. I think when Tolkien wrote in Pippin's voice, it was throught the most lyrical and the best voice Tolkien could have chosen. Frodo's perspective is vastly different than the others.
Having said all of that, this is not an observation I could make of the characters in Narnia. That is not to say there is not depth to those characters, because there is, but only on the level that a child supposedly could understand. Yet, even Tolkien wrote a children's book. It was called the Hobbit...and not nearly as 'elementary' as the writing of Lewis.
I read the Hobbit when I was ten, then went and read Lewis. As a child, I much preferred Tolkien.
having said all of THAT, I hear you on the unreadable prose parts. I will be the first to admit to you, taht to this day there are some parts of LOTR that I have not read with complete attention because of the stilted verbage and near mind-numbing formality of some of the writing. But reading LOTR, one can easily deduce that Tolkien loved writing the best when he was writing about the hobbits.
Best regards,
Alkhin
I have long been a fan of CS Lewis. You are correct about having to buy "The Screwtape Letters" from Amazon. "Mere Christianity is a masterpiece, as well. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Understand, I don't mean to bash Tolkien, his style just doesn't appeal to me. I tried hard to like Isaac Asimov ("I, Robot", et al) and had the same problem. I think you either love fantasy, science fiction and others or you plod through it thinking, "hey, I could be reading Viktor Frankl."