Rachel,
My apologies. No reason for me to descend to derogatory accusations; I'm all to passionate about Tolkien and my insults only colored myself in a poor light.
Everyone else,
Neat to see this post had so much life.
I recently stumbled upon China from a series of articles where he was glorified by writers I highly respect. The idea he was dramatically changing fantasy and breaking new ground in a "tired" genre was interesting. The blemishes China points out in Tolkien's work stain his own, however. I am halfway through the Scar and I've failed to escape into another world. The profoundly creative species of New Crobuzono are old news to rpg gamers. Perhaps not seen as often in literature, video and table top games have provided Barlowe equivalent beasts a hundred times over. And vampires....snore. I like what I'm reading so far and pages keep turning, but this is not the messiah our 'tired' genre 'needs'. He's no Gaiman.
His attacks on Tolkien, I felt, were frankly unnecessary. This fueled my disrespectful post.
It's easy for us to judge someone from a safe third person, but a man who fought in WW1 is bound by certain cultural stereotypes of his era. While I agree 'forgiving' him for having small feminine roles and 1 dimensional villains doesn't make it better, these flaws don't degrade the experience the same as Lovecraft's racism or Hemingway's misogyny.
When I stated Tolkien was a king, I meant it. Not god nor ruler of an entire world, just leader of a single content of literature.
Ultimately, China has taken a platform of slinging dirt on a magnificent creative mind. Regardless of your personal opinion of his work, Tolkien deserves the acknowledgment as one of many founders of the genre. Does LotR deserve the accolade greatest novel of the 20th century.....who decides these things? More importantly, why would China care? Wonder if he ridicules the inventor of sci-fi, Ms. Shelley, for her weak prose?
After reading all the posts and thinking about this further, the question comes to me....why the hell do I care what he thinks? I guess it's because he's so vocal on the subject. I truly respect his passion and talent with words and I'm fine with writers delivering messages through their work....but when you find it necessary to venomously denounce a beloved creator and use your podium to continue your political sermon.
....guess I'm alone in finding our 'savior' to be haughty and pretentious.
(Great first podcast, btw. Congratulations and thank you!)