Reading an interesting article in The New Yorker about Martin (written before "Dragons" came out).
What do you think of this bit?
Tolkien was what Martin calls an “architect.” Tolkien created entire languages, mythologies, and histories for Middle-earth long before he wrote the novels set there. Martin told me that many of his fans assume that he is as meticulous a world-builder as Tolkien was. “They write to say, ‘I’m fascinated by the languages. I would like to do a study of High Valyrian’ ”—an ancient tongue. “ ‘Could you send me a glossary and a dictionary and the syntax?’ I have to write back and say, ‘I’ve invented seven words of High Valyrian.'”
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That article is funny. Pull your fucking typewriter out of your ass... And fascinating! That final quote from the detractor guy about how he wishes he hadn't read the books... wow.
I totally get what Martin's saying about Tolkien being an architect. Tolkien had created this whole world, with its own history and its own creation story. A lot of it is in The Silmarillion, which I couldn't even read because it was so geeky and boring. But he was a professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford. He was obsessed with that kind of stuff. Martin, even though his stuff is pretty complex, just isn't on the same level. Tolkien was writing that stuff for his own enjoyment. It wasn't even published until after he died, when his son assembled it all. This is another case where I think there's just no comparison.
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