Well said! Completely agree about his influence on the imagination of the 20th and 21st centuries. I have always loved Terry Pratchett's way of phrasing it in likening Tolkien's influence to Mt. Fuji: “J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”
Well said! Completely agree about his influence on the imagination of the 20th and 21st centuries. I have always loved Terry Pratchett's way of phrasing it in likening Tolkien's influence to Mt. Fuji: “J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.”
Thank you! A perfect analogy. I don’t know if it can be said any better. I will have to read more of Pratchett!
The Battle of Evermore.