good news: my site suddenly got a decent amount of viewers thanks to Tin.
bad news: I got a lot of negative comments about my rant of "me being fed up with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis".
Well, at least now I can surmise that A LOT of people tend to misinterpret my writings (which means I should try to be more concrete and specific).
Then again, some people tend to overread. I mean I really respect and admire Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (well, maybe not the latter...). What I meant by that "controversial" comment is that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis should not be the "be all and end all" of fantasy literature (and as Tin pointed out, "fantasy" shouldn't be merely associated with the gener we're now familiar with... fantasy predates written tradition. All our myths, legends, religion, fairy tales, fables, and explanations for the unknown are rooted in fantasy). I never wished that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis was never published (God forbid!) or that their books suddenly be burned. That wasn't my point. I mean I know some people who refuse to read anything "fantasy" unless it's Tolkien. And let's not go to the fact that some people refuse to read J.K. Rowling because they think Harry Potter is satanic but support C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
When I also stated "fantasy", I was working with the criteria given in The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy (edited by David Pringle) wherein he discounted Magic Realism, absurdist fiction, post modern fabulation, psychological allegories, latterday Menippean satires, etc... for this purpose to narrow down the concepts. I mean if we take fantasy in its entirety, the genre is wide and encompassing. That, my dear friend Tin, is outside my expertise and probably dwells in yours. =)
For more "reflections" on Tolkien, people in the Philippines (i.e. the masses) have been associating "fantasy" with "Lord of the Rings" ever since the movie premiered. Before that, "fantasy" was associated with Harry Potter. Of course for the learned, Tolkien will always be the maestro of epic fantasy (they're also the ones with collections of Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales and the cooler hardbound versions of the Lord of the Rings) even before I was born. Just shows how powerful the media can be.
As for the Booksale experience, it's totally random for me. =)
bad news: I got a lot of negative comments about my rant of "me being fed up with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis".
Well, at least now I can surmise that A LOT of people tend to misinterpret my writings (which means I should try to be more concrete and specific).
Then again, some people tend to overread. I mean I really respect and admire Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (well, maybe not the latter...). What I meant by that "controversial" comment is that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis should not be the "be all and end all" of fantasy literature (and as Tin pointed out, "fantasy" shouldn't be merely associated with the gener we're now familiar with... fantasy predates written tradition. All our myths, legends, religion, fairy tales, fables, and explanations for the unknown are rooted in fantasy). I never wished that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis was never published (God forbid!) or that their books suddenly be burned. That wasn't my point. I mean I know some people who refuse to read anything "fantasy" unless it's Tolkien. And let's not go to the fact that some people refuse to read J.K. Rowling because they think Harry Potter is satanic but support C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
When I also stated "fantasy", I was working with the criteria given in The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy (edited by David Pringle) wherein he discounted Magic Realism, absurdist fiction, post modern fabulation, psychological allegories, latterday Menippean satires, etc... for this purpose to narrow down the concepts. I mean if we take fantasy in its entirety, the genre is wide and encompassing. That, my dear friend Tin, is outside my expertise and probably dwells in yours. =)
For more "reflections" on Tolkien, people in the Philippines (i.e. the masses) have been associating "fantasy" with "Lord of the Rings" ever since the movie premiered. Before that, "fantasy" was associated with Harry Potter. Of course for the learned, Tolkien will always be the maestro of epic fantasy (they're also the ones with collections of Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales and the cooler hardbound versions of the Lord of the Rings) even before I was born. Just shows how powerful the media can be.
As for the Booksale experience, it's totally random for me. =)
posted by Charles at 12:43 AM
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