yovargas wrote:Passdagas the Brown wrote:How else should superficial and/or condescending criticism be treated?
Though I disagree that GRRM is assessing Tolkien superficially...
Those two statements don't go together well.....I disagree as well which is why I bothered to bring it up.
Frelga wrote:And the criticism of the criticism of the criticism wasn't that much better.
Do you mean me saying I'm annoyed by the tone of some the responses in this thread?
![Confused :scratch:](./images/smilies/icon_scratch.gif)
Understood. But though I disagree that GRRM is assessing Tolkien superficially, I do think that the articles SV posted in the OP assessed Tolkien not only very superficially, but also condescendingly. As such, I do not believe they merit serious consideration or respect.
SV may be presenting his argument a little stridently here, but I don't think he deserves the accusation of "righteous grandstanding," as Alatar put it. He's justifiably annoyed, IMO, at the kind of sneering attitude many Tolkien critics adopt.
That said, I think we should avoid hypocrisy by trying not to sneer too much at other fantasy authors, such as GRRM. While I think Tolkien is the far superior author, I understand GRRM's appeal.