I can still recall the excitement I felt when I encountered The Lord of the Rings for the first time
The problem is that too many readers (and writers) seem to think the way to recapture that thrill is via something that's just like LotR -- hence the endless retreads. Some of which may be better than LotR (just as new cars can be better than old ones because the technology has advanced) but all of which miss the point that the thrill of reading LotR came precisely because there wasn't (when you and I read the book) anything else around that was like it.
The thrill can be reproduced, of course, through books that have as a common factor with LotR not a fantasyworld or wizards or a good-vs-evil Last Battle or any of those things, but the fact that they're themselves rather than derivatives of other books.
Not sure if I'm making myself clear here. If we each had a pint of Troegs in our mitts and a table between us to thump, it'd all be much more coherent, honest.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-08-16 06:08 pm (UTC)I can still recall the excitement I felt when I encountered The Lord of the Rings for the first time
The problem is that too many readers (and writers) seem to think the way to recapture that thrill is via something that's just like LotR -- hence the endless retreads. Some of which may be better than LotR (just as new cars can be better than old ones because the technology has advanced) but all of which miss the point that the thrill of reading LotR came precisely because there wasn't (when you and I read the book) anything else around that was like it.
The thrill can be reproduced, of course, through books that have as a common factor with LotR not a fantasyworld or wizards or a good-vs-evil Last Battle or any of those things, but the fact that they're themselves rather than derivatives of other books.
Not sure if I'm making myself clear here. If we each had a pint of Troegs in our mitts and a table between us to thump, it'd all be much more coherent, honest.