. Would you call Tolkien a loneur? That comes next.

Dear Dr. Bill: No, I wouldn't even think of putting Tolkien in this catgory. Trilogies are now a time-honored literary tradition, especially in the fantasy/science fiction genres.
However, I might call Tolkien a loneur, as you so insightfully pointed out, since I consider him to be a one-of-a-kind.

In alluding to Michener, who's works grew in length due to his propensity for detail, and Balzac, I guess I was pointing out that someone can be long-winded without necessarily becoming so verbose or prolix as to seriously wound their work. This would seem to be somewhat of a departure from the "tedious passage" semantic of longeur/longueur, pointing, instead, to the creator rather than the work. Then, also, someone like Michener could stray into many longeurs in the course of a work, without, ultimately, serioulsy damaging the work as a whole (though I never had the patience to wade through that much detail...I started The Drifters four times, and finally gave up...the only Michener I got through in entirety was Tales of the South Pacific when I was appearing in the musical South Pacific [see, as an actor I always did my "homework" (smile)], but that was a collection of short stories).