tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post7686938737243719195..comments2024-02-20T10:12:20.623+00:00Comments on The Blog That Time Forgot: The Game of Thrones Pundits Continue to Confound MeTaranaichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02176999342965850175noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-38182628578187807212011-04-28T21:35:20.192+01:002011-04-28T21:35:20.192+01:00Fantasy? What is this? (Barry Burton voice) It'...Fantasy? What is this? (Barry Burton voice) It's for children. All grown ups are supposed to watch is Reality shows, soap operas (or soap operas posing as "edgy" series, see: Nip Tuck) and cop shows.<br /><br />anyway...<br /><br />The first paragraphs where you discuss "realism" is one of my favourite pieces written by you, Taranaich.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-2689825961605215432011-04-22T21:37:17.542+01:002011-04-22T21:37:17.542+01:00Any fantasy story based on pittsburgh has to be a ...Any fantasy story based on pittsburgh has to be a good one, right yinz?<br />Tolkien tells a different tale -- and his has far too many dragons for my taste. Need to lose a ring? summon a dragon! Dragon'll eat anything.<br />But I quibble.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-58668052210918618142011-04-21T18:19:52.026+01:002011-04-21T18:19:52.026+01:00It seems that in Spain Harlan Ellison hasn't t...It seems that in Spain Harlan Ellison hasn't the right to be translated and published in a decent wayfranciscohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16141925304481130360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-27658345971543543212011-04-16T21:09:11.058+01:002011-04-16T21:09:11.058+01:00Charles, that final quote from Ellison is beyond b...Charles, that final quote from Ellison is beyond brilliant.Deucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00240457596421236288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-78466359863924707392011-04-16T12:17:39.419+01:002011-04-16T12:17:39.419+01:00Well once again we're back to the 'gritty,...Well once again we're back to the 'gritty, nasty, dirty, grim equals adult and realistic" school of thought. However what I find amusing, if sad, is that what the comments about how game of Thrones is so different from other fantasy novels actually show is that the people who make those statements aren't well read. They are basing their statements on their idea of fantasy and not the reality. Back when I was young and stupid I made similar statements about the romance genre, based on my general, uninformed knowledge of that genre, my idea that the lowest quality Harlequin Romance was standard for the field. Later, when I became friends with a writer of Historical Romances and spent a lot of time talking to her, I got myself properly schooled. I'll paraphrase a quote from Harlan Ellison, which I like. People don't have a right to an opinion. They have a right to an informed opinion.Charles R. Rutledgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14265387377510655973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-86437588042318618092011-04-16T03:58:41.932+01:002011-04-16T03:58:41.932+01:00Hence "attempt" at an explanation. :)Hence "attempt" at an explanation. :)Taranaichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02176999342965850175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-30504871384880996232011-04-16T03:35:45.344+01:002011-04-16T03:35:45.344+01:00It's, erm, well, it's an attempt at an exp...<i>It's, erm, well, it's an attempt at an explanation.</i><br /><br>An explanation perhaps, but not of Tolkien's supposed "religious skepticism." Likewise, Tolkien's acknowledgment of the prefiguration of Christ in pagan mythology, rather than being "far outside ... orthodoxy" is, in fact, a longstanding opinion within the Church, going back at least to the age of the Fathers, if not before. When I read stuff like this, it makes me wonder if these people have ever actually encountered a real live believing Christian, because it simply makes no sense to me.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-63712084700778044442011-04-16T03:13:37.962+01:002011-04-16T03:13:37.962+01:00I'm absolutely flabberghasted by "religio...I'm absolutely flabberghasted by "religious skeptic J.R.R. Tolkien." It seems so patently preposterous that I can't help but think I'm missing something, some other definition of "religious skeptic" I'm unaware of. Someone in the comments attempts to explain where Ms Rosenberg may be coming from:<br /><br /><i>It's an interesting note though, because while Tolkien was a devout member of the RCC (there's an amusing anecdote of him defiantly saying his liturgical responses in Latin protesting the change to the vernacular), his theological views were pretty far outside the orthodoxy of what a conservative would believe. For example, his belief that pagan myths like the death and rebirth of Osiris or Dionysius or Mithras were prefigurative of the "true myth" of Jesus Christ, that there was something in humankind able to make an attempt at grasping that story before it came about.<br /><br />Of course a non-religious skeptic would say that the Christian myth was merely that culture's co-opting/retelling of older, similar myths which they would've picked up through cross-cultural interaction, while an uncritical religious person would likely just discount those pagan stories as "the devil's work," but a religious skeptic would have to offer a rational explanation of this that still allows for their faith. I think that's what Tolkien as a mythologist tried to do.</i><br /><br />It's, erm, well, it's an attempt at an explanation.Taranaichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02176999342965850175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-22578846208887076782011-04-16T03:02:44.608+01:002011-04-16T03:02:44.608+01:00Frodo Baggins is, for religious skeptic J.R.R. Tol...<i>Frodo Baggins is, for religious skeptic J.R.R. Tolkien</i><br /><br>What the ...?James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7177193073415704349.post-30168367610688111042011-04-16T03:01:40.272+01:002011-04-16T03:01:40.272+01:00Hi Al, I was just working on a similar post lament...Hi Al, I was just working on a similar post lamenting the overall poor coverage sprung up around ASOIAF. Every journalist seems to feel the need to tell us what fantasy "really is," or "what it has been," and then explain how ASOIAF is so different.<br /><br />The problem is (and if I come across as a bit snobbish, so be it), they're obviously woefully under-read in the fantasy genre. Calling Tolkien a "religious skeptic" tells me all I need to know about that last reviewer.<br /><br />To be fair, no one can be expert on every ything. I just wish they'd stick to traditional reviewing and cease the ill-informed sermonizing.Brian Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05563309422791320114noreply@blogger.com