Kuruharan: The point is forever arguable whether Tolkien succeeded. He himself did not think so, if I recall my readings correctly. England is such a "mutt" nation with its original indigenous population, then the Celts, then Anglo-Saxons, then Vikings, and finally Normans to stir the pot; of course, the last admixture was almost 1,000 years ago. One would expect some settling. ACtually, Tolkien was reacting against the Arthurian legendarium as the so-called myth of England. In his mind, I believe, it could not function well enough as it contained too much obviously christian content, bastardized as it was from Celtic mythology.
Naaramare: That's generally what I figure to be true in most cases. In Kay, however, Jennifer turns into an exception, [SPOILER ALERT!] seeing as she turns out to be the reincarnation of Guinevere and as such, begins to function more archetypally and less mediatorally. No? In fact, the red-headed priestess (I forget her name) becomes more real and mediatorial by the end of the series than Jennifer, and, for that matter, more so than Paul (with whom I tried and tried to relate to the whole way through and failed - he has my name after all).
[ August 12, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]
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