One event that surrounds great literature is the presence of critics,
             and interpreters. When a writer hits a chord within men's hearts, one
             which has lain dormant for decades, everyone wants to talk about it.
             Scholars want to determine why a piece of literature is so popular, and to
             add their voice, and maybe their name, to the cacophony of praise. Critics
             look for their own recognition by leveling silly charges against the work.
             The reader, well the reader knows he has been affected by a work, and in
             some way takes away a view of himself, and the world that has been subtly
             shaped by words on a page. Tolkien's Middle Earth, and the Lord of the
             Rings (LOTR) trilogy is this kind of work. The object of criticism and
             praise, through the voices of hobbits, elves and rangers, he was able to
             tell us a bit about our selves. I find that as a leader, and as one who
             wishes to make an impact on my world, the lives two of the characters
             outline two paths, and my life will ultimately follow one of them.
             Some reject such high minded critiques, and reject the idea that
             great literature can spark a flame in our heart. For example, Edmund
             Wilson, one of America's pre-eminent literary critics during his time,
             dismissed The Lord of the Rings as "balderdash" in a review for The Nation
             titled "Ooh, Those Awful Orcs." (Wilson, 1956) Wilson also took a swing of
             his pen at Tolkien defenders, observing that "certain people--especially,
             perhaps, in Britain--have a lifelong appetite for juvenile trash." (Mooney,
             2001) In Britain, Tolkien's literary merits have been the subject of many
             public debates. In 1996 a poll of 26,000 readers by Waterstone's bookstore
             crowned The Lord of the Rings "book of the century" to which Germaine Greer
             expressed her displeasure at the poll results.
             Ever since I arrived at Cambridge as a student in 1964 and
             tribe of full-grown women wearing puffed...