Davem wrote:
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What Niggle does is not unimportant, his role is in no way negligeable. Niggle is a vital part of the process of comunicating something REAL.
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I agree. And I certainly do think that Tolkien is important as the author, and would be important as a mere historian if in fact Middle-earth literally did exist and he had literally discovered it. My point was that if you see Middle-earth as a real place that exists independent of Tolkien, then you cannot see it as being ultimately subservient to and completely predicated upon Tolkien's will. To put it another way: would you say that the
real Middle-earth defines canon or that Tolkien's intent defines canon?
HerenIstarion wrote:
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Er... how do you define real?
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You might not want to ask me that question. I'm afraid that if I begin to answer it I'll have trouble stopping. If you really wonder what I think about it (or are interested in an extremely long-winded but fascinating debate) you might want to take a look at the later pages of
this thread at the Tolkien Forum.
But honestly I don't think it's necessary to get into metaphysics or empiricism. What I mean when I ask whether it's a "real" place is simply whether it is a place in the same way as Madagascar or Canada or Mars. And if not, then what
is it?