Interesting view on Lord of the Rings

[ShadowHM]

Revisionist history of a mythology.   Wankery by any other name is still wankery, though I think it would be reasonable to the author to class this sally as "fan speculative fiction" or "fictional alternative history."

Occhi
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I are confused. :blink:

What exactly is wankery? If it means 'satirical writing', I am with you. If you have some other meaning, could you be clearer? I am harbouring doubts that you read the whole essay. For starters, it is entitled:

"We Hobbits are a Merry Folk...


...an incautious and heretical re-appraisal of J.R.R. Tolkien"


Brin is states rather clearly at the outset of that essay that he both admires the LOTR, and also loves the satires of it.

I may be a bit off-kilter in liking, best of all, the unofficial companion volume to LOTR, perhaps the funniest work penned in English -- the Harvard Lampoon's 1968 parody, entitled Bored of the Rings. Even if you revere Tolkien, or take LOTR much too seriously, who can restrain guffaws at the antics of Frito, son of Dildo and his sidekick Spam... along with Gimlet, son of Groin, Eorache, daughter of Eordrum, and Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt, son of Araplane? Many of the sixties references may seem dated, but any author should be flattered to receive such inspired satire.

In fact, toward the end of this essay, I'll offer my own small bit of ironic take-off. A different, and possibly much better, way of viewing Sauron, the evil Dark Lord.

The section that Minionman quoted at the outset of the thread falls into the "my own small bit of ironic take-off".

Immediately following it, he has the following:

Am I pulling your leg? You bet! I don't take speculations about fictional villains quite that seriously.

My real point is much more general. It's this --

Don't just receive your adventures. Toy with them. Re-mold them in your mind! Keep asking "What if...?" It's how you get practice not just being a passive consumer, or critic, but a creative storyteller in your own right.

P.S. David Brin has created some remarkable characters in his own writing. I want to go drinking with Fiben Bolger. His persona reminds me a lot of you, Occhi. :P