[bellgrove]

I wonder if some (or all?) of this scorn is due to LotR's pop status - many probably consider it the pinnacle of fantasy without having read through much else in the genre of that era; for many more it probably is everything they know of fantasy. His works are indeed special but there are some really great authors like Eddison, Peake, and Leiber (and Moorcock, I suppose) who don't seem to get much recognition.