LoA
I can see what you mean with the 'Shylock' point - but if we did construct such a Shylock, would he be recognisable as the figure we know - even to Shakespeare? I think the attempt would be futile, as what we would end up with would really tell us nothing in regard to the play. We may find out a bit more about Shakespeare's thought processes & how he created his characters, but we wouldn't gain any more insight into the play itself - which is the thing we would be after. A 'canonical' Sil might reveal something about Tolkien, but it would seem a very roundabout way of doing so.
Saucepanman
I take the point that CT constructed the '77 Sil in the same way as our colleagues are doing with their attempt at a revised Sil - but the question occurs, If CT was to throw himself under a bus, would they follow his example in that? More seriously, CT has expressed deep regret at his attempt to produce a coherent Sil. In his case, I can sympathise, because there was no way the publishers would have leapt straight into the publicaction of HoME, & he felt an obligation to make his father's Sil writings available to the public. With the publication of HoME this is no longer necessary. I still can't see the value of it, especially not if it is simply to be one among many - this would put off potential readers - which one would they choose?
Aiwendil
Your examples of Beethoven's Ninth & LotR don't work for me - if we only had those works in the forms you describe (which i can't think we would have, as there would be no interest in having them, so no publisher would make them available) & all we got was a slew of different versions, no one would no which one to take seriously. I'm reminded of Eric Morecambe's line, that he was 'playing all the
right notes, but not
necessarilly in the right order'.
I still think that FoG & Tuor are so different in form & intention that to try taking something from one, & something from the other, suplimented by bits from other references to the story, will not produce anything of real value. If FoG is the young Tolkien's mythologisation of his experience of the Somme, which I feel it is, to a great extent, & Tuor is the Older Tolkien's attempt to write a legend based in ME, detached by time & his own lifetime of other experiences, the two stories will not fit together in the way you assume. Yes, we have characters with the same name recurring throughout the Legendarium, but are they the
same characters. I can't see that Gollum (1) (from the 1st ed Hobbit) is the same character as Gollum (2) (from the revised Hobbit), or that Galadriel (1) (from LotR) is the same character as Galadriel (2) (from the later writings - History of Galadriel & Celeborn, etc). To take bits from both versions of these characters & try to create a 'canonical' Gollum (1+2 = ?) or a 'canonical' Galadriel seems doomed to failure - Gollum (2) would never have given up the ring to Bilbo as Gollum (1) would have willingly done, Galadriel (2) would have no need to be forgiven & allowed to return into the West as Galadriel (1) did - which part of her story do you throw out - The beautiful scene of her rejection of the Ring, & repentance for her 'sins' in LotR (G1) or her role as leader of the forces of the West against Sauron, a role which Tolkien says is equivalent to the role of Manwe in the battle against Morgoth (G2)? Sauron is simply
not Thu, let alone Tevildo.
Maedhros
We can't know whether the 'Fall of Gondolin' referred to in QN is to be the same FoG as the one in BoLT, or whether Tolkien had in mind a new version - which I suspect is the case , as QN is such a radically different work from BoLT- if he'd rewritten the other stories in line with what is a different intention for the work, why would he leave such a major story untouched? If he had wanted to retain the stories of BoLT as they were, why not just finish it - or simply remove the 'Cottage of Lost Play' elements?
Bethberry
I don't see this 'clone' analogy working - the creative mind was not a clone whenn it created the stories (produced the ideas). We are simply exposed to the living idea, 'across time' as it were. It was 'alive' (ie, a product of a living conscious entity). It enters our currently 'living' consciousness, so it is the interaction of a living thing with another living thing. This is very much like the ideas Tolkien was exploring in the Lost Road & the Notion Club Papers. Living minds from Numenor - their present - our past interact mentally with living minds in the 20th Century - our present - their future. Time, as Tolkien is saying in these stories, is not a fixed thing, moving constantly forward. The 'past', the 'present' & the 'future can interact with each other - not physically, but living mind to living mind. Ideas, experiences, can be transmitted is what Tolkien is saying here (is that idea 'canonical' or not?) It does not involve 'resurrection' at all, as none of the parties involved is 'dead', just living in different places in space-time. We are currently communicating across thousands of miles of space-time & neither of us had to be brought back from the dead to do it (well, obviously I can only make that statement in full confidence as regards myself
)
I don't think this does require 'the purposed domination of the author' either - we 'co-create' - neither mind is dominant (as in this discussion - though we mayeach try & achieve such dominance
). Neither is there any requirement for an 'original' thought - a point which Tolkien makes in Fairy Stories - it would not be possible to discover one even if it existed. The issue is not 'language' - unless we mean a 'symbolic' form of such, & spoken/written language surely originated in the need/desire to communicate, & in the connection between living minds which creates that need, driven by that desire. I'm sure both Jung & Chomsky are hovering around this discussion somewhere, but I haven't quite worked out what they're saying - its probably that 'language' thing you mentioned.
(This is starting to remind me of my discussion on 'Evil Things' with HerenIstarion - I don't think there's enough of this kind of thing on these boards !)