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Seeker of the Straight Path
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Re: Principles of editing the Silmarillion
Mr. Underhill posted :I will say on a more general
level that I favor your suggestion to loosen the stringency of
the project's current set of standards.
lindil : Could you refresh me on the context of my own quote?
Mr Underhill: At the risk of adding another layer to the "principles", I
suggest that you guys consider drafting some sort of short,
succinct mission statement. I've seen a few disconnected
posts that approach this sort of thing, but perhaps it might
be better to crystalize the project's goals, ambitions, and
priorities into a few sentences to use to guide the principles
and the work itself (forgive me if such a thing already exists
and I've overlooked it in this wealth of ideas and
information).
lindil: there are probably nothing more than short disconnected scraps of mission statements , all of which are probably my own opinions at this point. I think your idea is a good one. The solution here may be to continue work on the principles and then when complete and agreed upon distill it to something every 5th grader who has just read the Hobbit can understand. If i may humbly ask your efforts in this area, that would be most appreciated. It seems we are reaching general consensus on principles and hopefully from this can be drawn a mission statement.
MR.UNDERHILL: My understanding of the real roots of the project (expressed
way back in the Mists of Time, perhaps even before this forum
was split off from Book Forum discussions) was to have a
Silmarillion that expanded on the published Silmarillion to
include much more of JRRT's unfinished works, and perhaps
(though seemingly more as a secondary goal) corrected
errors or bad editorial choices made by CT.
Viewed in this light, the ultimate goal of the Silmarillion
Project would seem to be to produce the most readable
version possible -- something to be enjoyed as a collection of
stories and (as I dimly recall one hopeful wish) read to one's
children. I think the Project must accept the reality that its
efforts to synthesize new versions of the Tales from
incomplete manuscripts inevitably enter into the realm of
"fanfic" to a greater or lesser degree. I admire the expressed
goal to alter as little as possible from the base texts, but I
think a more important principle is to produce something that
looks and feels like The Silmarillion and not like a
cut-and-pasted HoME. In other words, there may be areas
where a little creative work needs to be done. I'm not
suggesting writing a new ending to the UT Tuor story or
anything, merely a relaxing of the standards in the interest of
producing an aesthetically pleasing whole.
Lindil: In general I agree, the cut and paste approach will be greatest here in the FoG where we attempt to salvage JRRT's only recount the battle. We all have so far agreed that baring old names, mechanical dragons and excess balrog's , the general story is still recognizably M-E and would be great to try and keep.
Nothing else should fell [especially in the draft versions which show every change of a letter and qoutation mark] these are not the reader version, this will come after the edit version has been voted on and emmended if need be. Then we will take away all the brackets, and editorial accoutremant, leaving a hopefully excellent FoG that even CRRT will want published. It is the most ambitious chapter of the whole thing [unless we try and reconstruct the Ruin of Doriath <img src=sick.gif ALT=":x"> ] as we are trying to weave near equal parts 60's/30's and 10'-20's material . I think , at least among the current crop of active editors , some of the QS 77/01 will be relaced by the later versions in Morgoth's Ring and the War of the Jewels and [the Darkening of Valinor complex ], but many chapters may well stay 90-95% the same . Beren and Luthien for instance will in it's prose aspect stay probably intact w/ additional verse material inserted where harmonious. Turin will have the UT material inserted but should still feel like the Turin story. The battles of beleriand will be largely the same. Much of the difference will come I imagine in the appendices, they will I hope be as large and even more interesting than the LotR app. w/ Quendi and Eldar, Etymologies, Lawsa nd customs among the Eldar, Osanwe-Kenta etc.
In all honesty it I had undertaken this myself, it would be a far more simplistic version, lots of additional material , but w/ far more inconsistencies and lots of excellent things missed. Such as the horns of Ulmo. But I will keep your admonition in mind , as will the others and try and temper my hand in terms of adding more than is really necessary. In terms of it being a Silmarillion. I think we have already moved away from that as CRRT is very clear on the Silm being a sort of Reader's Digest version of the Tales compared to what full and fional versions of B&L, the Narn, FoG, and Earendil, might have looked like had they been finished. The most we can really hope to achieve is too
create a format that makes much of the [what many of us consider JRRT's best writing] buried in Home and UT accessible to all in a 'Silmarillion [i.e.] recognizable format. how's that for the seed of a mission statement ?
Keep up the input MR U!!
<a href="http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=000000e Creation of a Revised Silmarillion</a>
Lindil's Tolkien/Christian discussion board<a href="http://pub72.ezboard.com/bosanwe" >Osanwe</a>,
http://pub41.ezboard.com/btarostineruhirTar Ost-in-Eruhir</A>.
'In the begining was the Word. And the Word was with God.And the Word is God'. </p>
Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000076>lindil</A> at: 7/17/01 8:21:17 am