Can this still be considered genre fiction?

>>9620783
It can because it is.

>>9620783
Hey, I have that edition. It's really nice.

>>9620783
Tolkien fell victim to the same fate that befell Lovecraft, where all higher meaning behind their works have become buried under a fixation on their aesthetics.

>>9620904
Yep.

It can be, but as >>9620904 says, that has more to do with our lack of imagination than Tolkien.

The genre created us, we didn't create the genre.

>>9620783
No.

>>9620904
Can I hear some arguments for Lovecraft? I love Tolkien but Lovecraft seems to be spoopy monster of the week.

>>9620904
What aesthetic? They have none.

>>9620904
This. For all the authors and media that copied Tolkien's style of building a setting and characters, not a one has actually learned a damn. I always figured the central theme of LotR was that bravery, courage, and hope comes from the least likely of places (Hobbits in this case), but what do most people get from it? "Elves are super cool"

>>9621756
Too fucking true. There are amazing themes of brotherhood, courage, spirituality, preservation of nature, etc but everyone gets caught up in 'dude that battle was cool lol.'

The movies are partly to blame but mainly people are just idiots.

>>9620783
No because Tolkien actually put some thought behind it

>>9620783
gormenghast is the only fantasy book that actually falls into the literature catedory so sorry lotr does not cut it at all.

>>9621756
It also had some christian themes.

>>9621665
Here's your (You)

File: 1496982432478.png (361KB, 847x637px) Image search: [Google]

361KB, 847x637px

>>9620783
Teaching everyone to read was a mistake.