I. As far as I can tell, this is a huge topic and can have many branches bearing equally worthy fruit, so don't fear taking this thread "off topic" on my account. There were multiple expressions of desire for having such a thread, so since nobody else started it, I did. I like starting topics, can you tell?
II. As Shippey says on one of the LotR DVD's, "[Tolkien] wasn't kicking a dead horse, he had a Darby winner!" A couple of points under that:
1. This thread reveals better than most that Tolkien did far more than create or re-invent the science-fiction/fantasy genre. He has written a completely different kind of fictional work. It's not a novel, and I dare say it's not really a romantic epic either, though Tolkien named it so. It's story cast as feigned history more persuasively than anyone had ever done, or may ever do.
2. Here are common readers discussing (to the best of our ability) what, until Tolkien's time, had been strictly the domain of philological and linguistic scholars. I find that to be an amazing development in itself.
III. I found the quotation on the Chaucer study to be absolutely fascinating, both in terms of what it revealed about the process of translation, and for how it may inform Tolkien's work on LotR.
I just noticed that I'm about to cross-post with
Bęthberry, so I'll end this here and see what else is new....
EDIT: As for Tolkien doing self parody, I dare say it would be more likely to be found in
Farmer Giles of Ham.
The comment about the dragon coming in like an express train certainly seems anachronistic! It's a wonder it didn't stand out to me this latest reading! It puts me in mind of an attempt I made in a certain rpg at these Downs to account for the fact that I was using an anachronism in my own description; to wit:
Quote:
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"You're not excusing yourself from me,' Falco yelled at Eodwine's receding back as he hopped off his chair and gave chase, his pipe puffing smoke so that, if there had been any in that time and place, those who looked on would have said the hobbit looked like a little steam engine. But there weren't any such things in that time and place, so nobody thought it; but it looked like it anyway.
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Had I noticed that Tolkien had given me precedent, I wouldn't have attempted this flawed gem, as it were!