"J. R. Molloy" wrote:
>
> You say T. A. Shippey wrote about J. R. R. Tolkien's work: "Its great
> statement was that defeat is no refutation" and you call this "darkly
> inspiring"?
Not quite. Tolkien said that about the Northern tradition --
the scraps left over of the Norse Eddas and Sagas, Beowulf,
and so on, which were objects of his professional study. Shippey
then said that Tolkien's own fiction reflected those same values.
And yes, I do find it very moving.
> I've heard that a disproportionate number of highly intelligent
> people commit suicide.
Well, I don't know if I'd dare call myself "highly intelligent"
in **this** company, and I probably shouldn't admit this in a public
forum, but one fine evening almost 20 years ago I washed down a little
over six grams of phenobarbital with a can of Coke. It **almost**
worked. I don't **think** that had anything to do with my fondness
for Tolkien (or Stapledon, or Arthur C. Clarke), though.
Jim F.
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