[Dean's World] Kevin D.: To The Professor!

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Posted by Kevin D.:
To The Professor!
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1199366707.shtml


   On this day in 1892 on J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, Orange
   Free State (now Free State Province within South Africa).

   Today many fans of Tolkien will take a moment to lift a glass and
   toast, "To the Professor!" While I will not be lifting a literal glass
   I will count this post as lifting a glass in spirit.

   The novel I'm currently working on owes a lot to Professor Tolkien and
   his long-time friend C.S. Lewis. While I'm sure my final work would
   not meet with the Professor's approval (he cared little for allegory)
   the efforts he poured into Middle-earth is something that makes me
   flush out the peoples and stories of the characters in my world more
   than I might have otherwise.

   The Last Elf may look a lot like Lewis on the page but I'm hoping is
   bears more than a passing resemblance to Tolkien on spirit.

   So, to the Professor! The literary world is still reeling from your
   works and we'll all better for it. Or, at the very least, the Oxford
   English Dictionary would be lacking a definition for the word 'walrus'
   without you. And that would be a sin.