[davem]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

What does it mean to "accept" a fact about Middle-earth? Accept that this particular text contains this particular statement? There is certainly no problem with this. Accept that some fact is true about Middle-earth? That's nonsense - there is no Middle-earth. There are only texts.

Yes, but the texts refer to something beyond themselves, so to what extent do they refer to the same thing- or do they all refer to different, but similar 'Middle earths'. This was my point way back, when I questioned the approach of taking parts of The Fall of Gondolin & combining them with parts of Tuor to create a new 'complete' account. This brings in the question of the author's intent at the time of writing. If there are only texts then Middle earth is merely an expression of of the artist's desire(s) at the time he wrote, & any internal consistency of the world they refer to is secondary - yet isn't this the very thing Tolkien struggled so long & hard to achieve?

'Accept that some fact is true about Middle-earth? That's nonsense - there is no Middle-earth. There are only texts'

This I would argue with - of course, I can't give a precise definition of Middle earth, & I don't think Tolkien could have either, but Middle earth is 'real' to many of us, because Middle earth exists for us beyond the texts - the very fact that people can write fanfics about ME, or speculate on the character's motives shows that in some sense Middle earth has a kind of objective existence for readers. The texts are the way we're introduced to Middle earth, our way into that world, & Tolkien clearly understood that, or he wouldn't have speculated on other's adding to that world.

The texts, illustrations, movies (for some), even the philosophical & religious speculation all 'constellate' around, or grow out of the 'thing' (whatever it really is) that we understand as Middle earth. The texts themselves are just that - they're written as accounts by observers, or redactions by later writers from earlier texts, each one referring back to a time/place/event which we, the readers of those texts, can never experience directly. In other words, Tolkien is recounting to us 'old tales of long ago'. So, the texts are not Middle earth, they are about Middle earth - they refer to something which exists beyond themselves.