Was Tolkien a genius or an absolute madman?
Neither.
>>7337837
What do you mean by this?
>>7337874
I wouldn't say he was a genius, and, based on my interpretation of the meme, I wouldn't say he was a madman either.
>told him to write an epic narrative and create the entire blueprint for all future works written within that genre all while creating his own languages and setting them within a mythological world of his own design
>he did it the absolute madman!
>>7337910
It's not a meme. It is of popular consensus that Tolkien was good but not a genius. I mean, you don't have to know much to tell that there is more to literature than worldbuilding. Source: someone who doesn't know much.
>>7337917
First off, this patrician/pleb dichotomy is dumb. Second, I would classify Tolkien as a great storyteller and worldbuilder, but he didn't excel in much else.
>>7337910
It comes from this.
>>7337931
His language usage was also on a very high level.
>>7337947
You could be right, but, from what I remember of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (read half a decade ago), his diction wasn't spectacular, not like Gaddis, for example.
>>7337922
>popular consensus
Your consensus. What are you trying to say in that post? He built an entire ten-thousand-year history, complete with dialogue, though whether it may be historic recording or first-hand narrative can never be known. Tolkien never completed it within his own life.
>>7337931
What did he excel in? What did he not excel in? Do you have any actual input or just what you read from the "Critical Reception" on Wikipedia?
>>7337931
>First off, this patrician/pleb dichotomy is dumb.
Pleb detected.
It the patrician/pleb dichotomy is dumb, you could surely provide some arguments in favor of your claim?
>I would classify Tolkien as a great storyteller and worldbuilder
Would you mind to explain your classification system?
>but he didn't excel in much else
You really don't know anything about him, do you? Have you even skimmed his wiki-entry?
>>7337969
My ally, my kin.
>>7338018
Ok first off you fucking at beg for it why do you even for that. With your stoop?
Fucking laughable you autistic idiot.
I even went for that that which he Tolkien's FIRST. Just because you forgot about it, where in there was do have forty at least between. I can't needling DEAL with shitposters like you. Grow the front guy hate behind UP.
You are dismissed.
>>7337969
>you could surely provide some arguments in favor of your claim?
Classifying something as pleb or patrician is completely baseless. What is important to one schlub isn't important to another schlub, and there is no such thing as objective goodness in art. To clarify, there isn't one particular indicator or trait that qualifies something as good. You could definitely make arguments on the complexity or skillfulness of something, but whether or not that makes it patrish is subjective.
>Would you mind to explain your classification system?
He tells story. I like story. He is great to me.
>but he didn't excel in much else
I meant in literary things. And by I "excel," I meant "truly phenomenal." Why don't you tell me something he was phenomenal at that isn't mentioned on the Wikipedia page.
>>7337999
Our alliance is under a good star: watch out for your digits.
>mfw I have never read the original, just the german translationbut he had direct say in it, and therefore it's ok
>>7338018
Let's ignore the fact that LoTR came first, and is a major inspiration of almost EVERY fantasy series after it.
Do you know the shit JR Tolkien did to make Lord of the Rings? He made THE ELVISH FUCKING LANGUAGE
A NUANCED LANGUAGE
WITH FUCKING PARTIAL IMPERFECT TENSE
A GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT, COHERENT LANGUAGE
AND ON THE BASIS OF THAT LANGUAGE, AND SEVERAL OTHER FUCKING LANGUAGES, HE MADE THE HOBBIT
YES
HE WROTE THE LANGUAGE BEFORE THE FUCKING STORY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_constructed_by_J._R._R._Tolkien
BEFORE THE FUCKING PREQUEL STORY TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS, HE WROTE A LANGUAGE
HE WROTE A FUCKING GIGANTIC BACKSTORY, TOO
WITH GODS, AND DEMONS, AND ANGELS, AND SHIT THAT MAKES THE THEOGENY LOOK LIKE AMATEUR HOUR
AND ONLY THEN
ONLY AFTER CREATING SEVERAL FUCKING LANGUAGES
DID HE WRITE THE PREQUEL
YES
THE FUCKING PREQUEL
TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
AND HERE YOU ARE
YOU FILTHY, FUCKING PLEBIAN
TRYING TO TELL ME THAT TENZIN INFO DUMPING A CORNY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN BACKSTORY
IS THE SAME CALIBER OF WRITING
AS THE MAN
WHO MADE
SEVERAL
FUCKING
LANGUAGES
KILL YOURSELF
SERIOUSLY
KILL YOUR FUCKING SELF
SOMEONE PUTS EFFORT INTO SOMETHING AND CREATES A MASTERPIECE, AND YOU SEE IT THE SAME AS THE SHIT A 9-5ER SPEWED OUT IN A WRITER'S ROOM
>>7337835
He was a nerd. A nerd for mythology and language.
>>7338067
I love Tolkien. That being said, fucking kill yourself.
>>7338067
It doesn't matter if you are sincere or trolling--you should leave.
>>7337965
He is specific because he managed to authentically use language of epics and the Bible in his works.
>>7338046
You are mixing things up about the dichotomy, that's possible if you are new here or don't like to think. I guess I'll have to explain the p/P-dichotomy in layman's terms to you for a better understanding. The use of the dichotomy can be applied in three ways.
1) On art and writing
Let's use a pragmatic approach and see how the meme is used on 4chan on writing and art: purely commercial writing, writing solely for fame, money and wish fulfillment, uninformed writing, having low standards on the author, having low standards on the audience, clicheed writing - that's pleb. The contrary, that's patrician.
>If you "like" or "don't like" something is no indicator of it's "Patrizierhaftigkeit".
>In fact, I myself like some pleb writers and loathe some patrician writers and vice versa.
2) On artists and writers
Let's use the pragamtic approach again: To be mentioned as a patrician writer on 4chan you have to either:
- excel on your academic/literary field
- life a live of misery, neetdom and loneliness
>Therefore Tolkien is a patrician, he was a university professor for english language and literature, he inspired generations of fantasy writers
3) Critics
In this thread we are acting as critics on Tolkien. Good and bad criticism coincides with patrician and pleb criticism. Good criticism cites sources, explains it's arguments and leaves pure opinion at the door. Good criticism is the opposite of "completely baseless" classification. That's something you'd learn in text analysis 101.
> Why don't you tell me something he was phenomenal at that isn't mentioned on the Wikipedia page.
I'm not sure if you are a master ruseman or just plain, since everything great one does would surely be mentioned on wiki.
To sum it up:
>LoTR is patrician
>Tolkien is patrician
>you are a pleb
>>7338067Am I talking about you or Tolkien?