The effects of atmosphere on fiction.
By Mikil Taylor
My absolute favorite part of reading is the feeling I get when an author creates a great atmosphere. Lord of the Rings is one of the better books with respect to atmosphere that I’ve read in a long time, perhaps only bested by the Jazz scenes in On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The story is great, but the atmosphere is what makes everything much more vivid and real. Any author can recount a story, but few have the gift for description, imagery, and feeling that JRR Tolkien does.
When I first started reading, I wanted only gripping stories and clear-cut characters. But as my literary tastes have developed, I have become more interested in how the writer creates the world around, and evokes the same feelings in you that he is trying to show in his story. I liken it to music, where I once listened to music for the catchy hooks and infectious beats, but now I listen more for the marriage of the varying instruments and musical styles. Of course, a gripping story or catchy song will often grab my attention, but my main focus is on the packaging around the story or song, and how it affects the story or lyrics.
Tolkien has created an immersive world not only through the extensive history, entertaining adventures, good vs. evil battles, and imperfect heroes of Middle-Earth, but through the way he describes the world, from the dreamy vale of Rivendell to the dreaded and unknown paths of Moria. His word choice and the way the characters interact and react to their surroundings bring the world to life in ways few fictional worlds can match.
Atmosphere is an interesting word … as it relates to the way in which you use the term, the OED states, “Surrounding mental or moral element, environment. Also, prevailing psychological climate; pervading tone or mood; characteristic mental or moral environment; fascinating or beguiling associations or effects.”