Tolkien dissed by Nobel Committee?

@Slublog is just a bit offended that the Nobel prize committee back in the Sixties apparently did not particularly enjoy JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, and definitely rejected it for a prize.  In particular:

The reporter discovered that jury member Anders Österling wrote that the novel ‘has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality’.

…I’m sorry: Anders who?

Moe Lane

10 thoughts on “Tolkien dissed by Nobel Committee?”

  1. Too bad he wasn’t on the committee that gave Obama his participation prize. That would have been interesting.

  2. Oh, please, Moe. JRRT never dwelt on the things that the men of the west did to make Sauron hate them, which totally justified the actions and political positions of Mordor. Not to mention the outright Apartheid-like treatment of the Orcs & Goblins. Please, look at the treatment Smeagol by the hobbits and tell me who the so-called “Good Guys” where, again? JRRT’s whole simplistic “Good vs Evil” (with capitol “G” and “E”) shows a certain lack of nuance, don’t you think?

    (Now I need to switch my mind from “Euro-Socialist self hating groupthink”, back to “reasonable”, ’cause my mouth tastes like vomit.)

  3. Dan, that’d be a lot funnier if I didn’t remember the pseudointellectual articles about the ‘racist’ nature of the war against the Uruk-Hai, and about how the movies were intended to support Bushitler’s illegal war in Iraq.

  4. Pingback: Moe Lane » Blast from the past: “Suicide at the Council of Elrond.”

  5. @Dave, You know, I had actually forgotten about those articles. Actually, it was probably more of a blocking of unpleasant memories.

    @Moe, You should do a roundtable for the Hobbit… I image that PETA and the Sierra Club probably have a lot to say about the mistreatment of Smaug. You know, the Men of the Lake should never have been allowed to develop and build in that area…

  6. Thanks for linking that Moe. Great read. I am one of the number who could follow without the aid of references…
    :/

  7. Frodo Baggins has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court:

    From The Guardian (ahem):

    Frodo Baggins Charged With War Crimes

    Frodo Baggins of Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth, has been called before the International Criminal Court to answer charges of war crimes brought by Sauron the Dark Lord and Saruman the White in a joint filing.

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