Literary value and fan interaction - please help with my research!

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 162699

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "thinmanjones1983" <klotjohan at ...> wrote:

> In the case of Tolkien one may take the example of The Hobbit as more aimed towards 
> children and therefore (?) scaled down in mythological complexity. The question is if
> simplicity and evenc onventionality (which doesn't have to be a bad thing) goes hand in
> hand with "children's literature". There are many facets of literary value and criticism
> which I've yet to explore, but I think this question is intricately connected to the subject
> of "high" vs. "low" literature. One theory argues that complexity - among other things -
> renders a higher "value" to the text.

Geoff:
I think you need to consider "The Hobbit" as being different from
other "children's" literature. It was never originally intended for
publication and was also probably aimed at a target age group
lower than any Jo Rowling may have considered.

It was a story written to be read to Tolkien's family and was not
connected to the larger themes which had been taking shape in
the "Silmarillion" which had then been in gestation for about twenty
years by this time. There are nods in the direction of JRRT's 
mythology, as the author himself acknowledges in the foreword. 
It was only when work started on "The Lord of the Rings" that he 
began to tie the story in as part of the Third Age of Middle-earth.

I believe that JKR had mapped out the general direction in which
Harry would travel when she began her books. They are, as one
contributor has pointed out, not in the same class as Tolkien, 
- who is anyway? - whose descriptive English paints such a clear 
picture of his story's surroundings but her books do delineate more 
of the structure of the Wizarding world when compared with C S Lewis' 
almost breathless rush through his world as depicted in the Narnia 
books which appeared at almost annual intervals although it should 
be remembered that these were written when he was still involved 
in lecturing.