[Child of the 7th Age]

Oh, Fordim ....what have you done? I have been in and out of town for several weeks and am just now trying to get resettled and catch up on projects that are seriously overdue. I have studiously avoided all threads in books for that reason, but this one I couldn't resist.

Please bear with me. These ideas have been brewing in my head a while.

First, Aiwendil, I could not agree more: there is no such thing as canonical RPGs or fanfiction. To have true canonical fanfiction or interpretations, the writer would not only have to duplicate Tolkien's philological knowledge but his mastery of history, his staunch Christian faith, his particular views on social issues, and a thousand other things. Tolkien was an individual with unique beliefs, particular academic and personal experiences, and, perhaps most importantly, something less often discussed, someone who writes from a particular vantage point in history. We can and should not pretend that we can insert ourselves, either as reader or writer, and fully recreate that particular mix. Any interpretation we bring will be less rich and nuanced than that originally developed in the author's head.

Just think for a minute....what if I claimed to be writing "canonical" Shakespearean plays? You would have good reason for getting a guffaw out of that. Tolkien is really no different in that regard.

So what is left to us? A great deal, I think. Let me begin with something that may seem like a digression, but actually is not. Fordim, you are extraordinarily good at sparking debate and discussion about Tolkien and his writing. (The classes you teach must be very interesting!) Since your arrival here, our discussions of the text have become decidedly more animated: you have posed basic questions that no one has posited before. In so doing, you have inspired others --people like Bb, and Heren, and Aiwendil, and too many for me to list--to put forward posts that are rich and provoking. As a result, we have lively discussions that leave no stone unturned: posts raising questions that are truly unanswerable.

One of the things that struck me about our recent discussions is how many posters (including yourself) have a wonderful literary background and approach Tolkien's writings in that manner, either because of academic training or simple personal preference. Many of our recent discussions have been framed in literary terms. This is no bad thing -- the present discussion on canonicity even inspired a laggard like me to read a book on literary criticism that dealt with such questions as authorial intent versus the reader's freedom, something I would not normally have done.

Yet I think we have to be careful to acknowledge that there is more than one perspective we can use in trying to make sense of what Tolkien meant, or in attempting to bring our own experiences to the text. Like I've said before, Tolkien is an unending onion: you strip off one layer and another appears. You never quite make it to the core. So you can get one viewpoint from someone who is looking for psychological insight, another from someone who approaches things from a religious viewpoint, and still another from a literary critic or a philosopher. Which of these interpretations is correct or "canonical"? None of them individually. but collectively we may get a little closer to what Tolkien had in his head when he wrote the stories and what meaning we may derive from them by bringing to bear our own knowledge and experience.

Because of my own background and natural inclinations, I tend to approach Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth more like a work of history than literature. (When I say 'work of history', I am really talking about "historiography" rather than a chronicle of facts or even individual interpretation.) As I read through our recent posts, I keep mumbling to myself: What's going on here? Posters are raising questions and points that historians deal with all the time....

I think there is justification for approaching the writings historically, and I think it can help us to deal with issues of canon, or what I would term "historical truth". We know we're never really going to get there, but you just can't stop trying! Plus, from some things the author has said as well as the narrative "fiction" of translating historical documents, it is clear that some level of Tolkien's mind viewed his writing as an historical or mythological creation rather than purely an artistic one. It was the process of constructing a world--its people, its languages, its landscape--that was even more central to him than writing a novel per se.

In fact, I see the problem of understanding Tolkien as very similar to that of creating and interpreting history. I am at least as interested in the world that Tolkien created as in the fact that he happened to use the format of a novel (Lotr), a children's story (Hobbit) and a reinvented myth (Silm) to set it down on paper. It is, overall, a history. Within that context, I'd like to focus on two quotes from Davem.

...are we obliged to interpret the stories in the light of Tolkien's intentions and values (my view) because Middle earth is an artistic creation? Or can we treat it as "history", in which case we have total freedom of interpretation, & nothing, particularly in human nature could be considered "uncanonical".....

If LotR is viewed as an account of a historical period, then the only "facts" we have to take into account are the 'scientific' ones - the 'moral' ones become optional, down to the individual's judgement.

I have problems with this choice of words, as I think it sets up a dichotomy that doesn't exist. When someone recreates history, at least 'good' history, they do not have total freedom of interpretation, nor can they ignore the 'moral' issues in favor of 'scientific' ones. Whether one deals with a primary source document or with another historical interpretation, the perspective of the person who created that document is at least as important (often more so) than the so-called 'scientific' facts under discussion. This is as true of a manorial court roll as it is of a modern historical monograph. In that sense, it is absolutely vital that we understand Tolkien's moral and personal positions to the best of our ability. We are free to interpret, but that interpretation must at least acknowledge what the author was trying to do. You can recreate the physical trappings of Middle-earth and string out a long list of names and word etymologies but without the inner core -- the understanding of what the historian or chronicler considered important (in effect the structure of morals or values), you will have nothing more than hollow words on paper.


For while we can never have true "canonical" fanfiction or interpretations, we can have pieces of writing or insights on the text that are more or less in line with the world that Tolkien has created. There will be argument and dispute about what constitutes the world created by Tolkien -- the moral fabric as well as more prosaic things--and these will lead to differences of opinion, but we should at least be aware that general guidelines exists--ones that Tolkien has set down--even though we cannot fully comprehend or duplicate this creative effort. Yes, we have freedom to try, but that freedom is not unlimited. In this sense, I am thinking Bb and I may be at two ends of a continuum: not on two different sides but emphasizing different things. To my mind, depicting Sauron or Saruman as heroes or even slash relationships among the characters clearly step outside Tolkien's moral construct that he has postulated for his world. This is not a question of canon but simple respect for the vantage from which the author writes. (In regard to SpM's recent comments on homosexuality or the lack of it in the text, I would say that sometimes what an historian omits is even more important than what he includes.)

I can never fully understand any civilization from the past. As a historian, I accept that limitation. Nor do I expect to be able to get inside Tolkien's creation completely. My own understanding is limited. Yet in trying to apply my own experiences to the text, I feel compelled to take into account what I can untangle from the author's mind: what he meant when he wrote the text and created the world that he did. With all our current emphasis on individual freedom in many different shapes and forms, there is such a thing as respect to the author or historian. If you play in his ballpark, you respect his general rules.

Yet, with both history and Tolkien, it is precisely those grey areas that I find most intriguing: those parts and ideas that are just beyond my grasp. Yes, I believe the reader does have a role in the creation of meaning, but that exercise takes place within certain broad guidelines -- both moral and physical -- that the author has laid down. There are questions that are unanswerable, but it is precisely those questions that make the discussion worth having.

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P.S. It has taken me such a while to write this that I have cross posted with several people!