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Fordim Hedgethistle · 08-22-2004, 11:27 AM

I had already worked out my answer but not had a chance to post it!

I think that Kilby (in his book Tolkien and the Silmarillion) tried to get the message out that there was more to ME than the two books published in Tolkien's life. He tried to promote the Sil to people as an important work in its own right; even the more 'important' work in terms of Tolkien's total vision.

He also spent some time at Tolkien's in the summer of '66 and I think that he did some gardening and tidying up in Tolkien's notoriously messy study! In particular, I think that he tried to help the professor get some of his Sil papers in order.

As to "contrasistency" -- it was a word coined by Tolkien himself which means being consistent "at the time of writing", by which he meant that it was more important to make sure that each work about ME was consistent within and to itself rather than trying to ensure that the whole corpus of works were in exact accord at all times.

08-22-2004, 11:27 AM	#381
Fordim Hedgethistle Gibbering Gibbet Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Beyond cloud nine Posts: 1,844	I had already worked out my answer but not had a chance to post it! I think that Kilby (in his book Tolkien and the Silmarillion) tried to get the message out that there was more to ME than the two books published in Tolkien's life. He tried to promote the Sil to people as an important work in its own right; even the more 'important' work in terms of Tolkien's total vision. He also spent some time at Tolkien's in the summer of '66 and I think that he did some gardening and tidying up in Tolkien's notoriously messy study! In particular, I think that he tried to help the professor get some of his Sil papers in order. As to "contrasistency" -- it was a word coined by Tolkien himself which means being consistent "at the time of writing", by which he meant that it was more important to make sure that each work about ME was consistent within and to itself rather than trying to ensure that the whole corpus of works were in exact accord at all times. __________________ Scribbling scrabbling.