Whatever happened to nostalgia?

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, ewe2 <ewetoo at ...> wrote:

Geoff:
> > The Lord of the Rings
> > is one of those things:
> > if you like it you do:
> > if you don't, then you boo!

ewe2: 
> This is true. I feel the argument is curiously slanted with a fear of
> having one's worldview taken over, as if to like Narnia is proof that
> you cannot like LOTR, for never the twain shall meet, like some
> absolute dualism that cannot be questioned (Linux vs Windows for
> instance). It's part of a more general cultural force that often seems
> to be saying you must either be owned by state, church or corporation,
> anything else is a tragic flaw in character. On such lists as these,
> this kind of mentality turns up often, and that intrigues me.

Geoff:
I couldn't agree more.

I have been an LOTR fan since I first read the book in 1955/6 and have no trouble 
reconciling Tolkien's work with Harry Potter.

They fit the same 'worldview'. LOTR is set in an unspecified but very ancient period of our 
own world while Harry fits comfortably into a virtually contemporaneous setting. I took 
early retirement from teaching just at the same time that Harry was sorting out the 
Basilisk. And for my future world view, I've got Star Trek. :-)

Narnia doesn't quite fit in but, as I commented in my last post, I am happy to exercise the 
"willing suspension of disbelief" in visiting Narnia and Charn and the Lone Islands...