Oh, I don't know; I think I can see what he means. The change would give additional point to the major theme of mortals taking on the burden of looking after themselves - of deciding their own course among the wonders, terrors, and banalities of the ever-unfolding future, instead of any longer relying on gods, demigods, and immortals to do so.
(If that's a theme you appreciate in LotR, then you may be interested to know it is also the theme closest to the heart of Babylon 5, and around which its story entirely revolves...)
Thanks for this response! And for what it's worth, I miss utopia, too - or utopianism, anyway. Blame the postmodernist insistence on engaging in dialogue with a work, if you like, or the wide contrarian streak in my nature; when I see something presented as if without cracks, I insist on looking for them all the harder, and always end up finding them, too.
Sometimes I wish I didn't; life would seem simpler that way, for sure. But Leonard Cohen was right: there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
> Oh, I don't know; I think I can see what he means. The change would give additional point to the major theme of mortals taking on the burden of looking after themselves - of deciding their own course among the wonders, terrors, and banalities of the ever-unfolding future, instead of any longer relying on gods, demigods, and immortals to do so.
Also, is that a theme of LotR? It's been a while since I read them but I thought the theme was pretty clearly just "stick it Sauron", no? Am I a philistine?
(If that's a theme you appreciate in LotR, then you may be interested to know it is also the theme closest to the heart of Babylon 5, and around which its story entirely revolves...)
Thanks for this response! And for what it's worth, I miss utopia, too - or utopianism, anyway. Blame the postmodernist insistence on engaging in dialogue with a work, if you like, or the wide contrarian streak in my nature; when I see something presented as if without cracks, I insist on looking for them all the harder, and always end up finding them, too.
Sometimes I wish I didn't; life would seem simpler that way, for sure. But Leonard Cohen was right: there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.