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davem · 05-12-2004, 10:54 AM

Fordim

Quote:

'Now, I think I would like to find out what claim or authority does the reading community have on the interpretative act of the reader in this encounter? Or/and: what claim or authority does the interpretative act of the reader have on the reading community?'

This is the reason I was asking for a consensus on what the 'facts' are in regard to Tolkien's Legendarium, & what constitutes 'interpretation' - either Tolkien's own, or a reader's. The reading community cannot, imo, have any claim or authority on the interpretive act of the reader, unless it has come to a consensus as regards what 'facts' are to be interpreted. I suspect that it is the 'common ground' issue again. I consider many things to be 'facts' or 'givens', which other posters consider to be 'interpretations' or subjective experiences.

I think we would be approaching too close to 'orthodoxy' vs 'heresy' if we moved too far down this road of the 'authority' of the community over the individual, or vice versa.

I think, even after all this long discussion we still haven't achieved a consensus, or created what could be called a 'reading community', so I can't see what this 'authority' would be. Have we 'authorised' a view? If the text only means what the reader decides it means, or experiences it as meaning, then there can never be a 'community interpretation' to make a claim on the individual reader - there would only, could only, be a lot of individual readers - never a community.

05-12-2004, 10:54 AM	#323
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Fordim Quote: 'Now, I think I would like to find out what claim or authority does the reading community have on the interpretative act of the reader in this encounter? Or/and: what claim or authority does the interpretative act of the reader have on the reading community?' This is the reason I was asking for a consensus on what the 'facts' are in regard to Tolkien's Legendarium, & what constitutes 'interpretation' - either Tolkien's own, or a reader's. The reading community cannot, imo, have any claim or authority on the interpretive act of the reader, unless it has come to a consensus as regards what 'facts' are to be interpreted. I suspect that it is the 'common ground' issue again. I consider many things to be 'facts' or 'givens', which other posters consider to be 'interpretations' or subjective experiences. I think we would be approaching too close to 'orthodoxy' vs 'heresy' if we moved too far down this road of the 'authority' of the community over the individual, or vice versa. I think, even after all this long discussion we still haven't achieved a consensus, or created what could be called a 'reading community', so I can't see what this 'authority' would be. Have we 'authorised' a view? If the text only means what the reader decides it means, or experiences it as meaning, then there can never be a 'community interpretation' to make a claim on the individual reader - there would only, could only, be a lot of individual readers - never a community. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."