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[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by BeefontheBone@Apr 23 2005, 09:15 PM
I think Raffles was saying that Tolkien taught it and that was why his own efforts are so dry and awfully dull.

Yes, that's what I meant. I think he actually meant to imitate Anglo-Saxon poetry, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. The Lord of the Rings is actually full of Old English. Just look at the Rohirrim: they're basically Tolkien's idea of the Anglo-Saxons. He even nicked some of their names from Old English literature.

About Harry Potter: that hype in connection with it is certainly not justified, but the books aren't THAT bad either. I'd say they're decent children's books, no more no less. Nothing wrong with reading them, but there's better things around. But all the fuss that's made about them is just ridiculous.
Bloomsbury has actually compiled a catalogue of rules for booksellers in connection with the new book: among other things they're supposed to cover the boxes, put them into a locked room which nobody can get into and not only are they not allowed to sell the book before time, they're not even allowed to read it themselves (which is sort of idiotic considering they're supposed to be selling them). And on "Potter Day" they mustn't start selling the books before 0:00 GMT. Booksellers in other time zones are not allowed to sell them any sooner.