The White Council

Where to find Tolkien criticism on the Web (was Re: In defense of academia . . .)

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

[huge freaking snip -- we agree on many points, but not all, and so...]

: : But the best sites -- those which are most appealing -- are : : the ones which leave behind the veneer of literary criticism : : and just explore the worlds of fiction.

: That's a very subjective claim. To you and I, it may be true; : to others it may not.

"most appealing" means "appealing to the largest audience". That's a subjective measurement only in that we have no objective way of measuring the size of audience. It is not subjective in that it relies upon my personal opinion of any given site.

: : I don't understand what this has to do with the search for : : literary criticism on the Web.

: It doesn't have anything to do with literary criticism on the : web. It has everything to do with what you wrote, which didn't : focus very much on web-based literary criticism at all.

The whole point of what I have written is to explain WHY I think you're going to be very disappointed in a search for academic-style analysis of Tolkien on the Web. As far as the literature goes, it's boring. It's not the story so much as the world that most fascinates people. Academia doesn't study fantasy worlds.

: : You might be surprised at what I've stood up and said in : : front of hundreds of professors.

: For some reason, I doubt I'd be surprised at all :)

What, are my fangs showing again? LOL!

: Look, all I wanted to know is if anybody knew of any online : criticisms and analysis dealing with Tolkien's works, and some : biographical info on the author himself. I'm not not looking : for anything that will tax the brains of lit professors around : the globe.

Well, for biographical material, I suggest you visit the Houghton Mifflin site. In several years of looking for good Tolkien sites on the Web, I've never come across any which weren't associated with classes, and I don't know if that's acceptable to you.

I have links to some of these types of sites at Talk About J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth: A Guide To Tolkien Discussion on the Web. These are most of the best sites that I've found (in my personal, highly subjective, quite judgemental opinion). I haven't been able to keep up with the site as much as I'd like to lately.

Some of the sites I used to feel didn't yet have the "right stuff" for being listed there now do. Maybe one day I'll add them to the directory. :)

Houghton Mifflin link is given below.

BTW -- If any of you visit the Houghton Mifflin site (and I recommend it), PLEASE ASK THE WEBMASTER to link to Xenite.Org. I can see how he doesn't want to get bogged down with maintaining links, but I do think Xenite.Org is a good resource for Tolkien fans. I've worked hard to make it so, and I feel no shame in promoting it to other Web sites.