Re: Humphrey Carpenter reviews "Tolkien and the Great War"

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 18:57:26 -0600, 
Carl F Hostetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Öjevind Lång wrote:
>> 
>> I can't speak on the matter of John Garth's book, but I think 
>> Carpenter is quite right when he says that we need a biography of 
>> Tolkien that is not "polite" - not a muckraking book, but one that 
>> simply admits that even the sun has spots;
> 
> I'm not aware that anyone claims Tolkien was without flaws -- not even 
> Carpenter's authorized biography portrays such a man -- and Tolkien 
> himself would have been the last to do so. The question is whether those 
> flaws are anyone else's business, or in any way inform his work -- which, 
> after all, is the reason we care about Tolkien at all.
> 
> And beyond this question, I quite disagree that anyone "needs" such a 
> biography: some may want it, but the Tolkien family is not obliged to 
> satisfy desires simply because they exist, nor is anyone entitled to 
> have their whims fulfilled.

I quite agree.  This ridiculous addiction to ruffling about in a celebrity's
proverbial undergarments drawer is pathetic.

-- 
Aaron Clausen

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