[Lush]

Originally Posted by the phantom

All in all, it appears you are telling us that we should disregard realism and cast aside all rationality when it comes to fantasy, and just allow for whatever to happen, and believe that absolutely everything is allowable and understandable somehow. But why do you want us to do this?

I think you're misunderstanding my intentions, phantom. I am asking us to momentarily cast aside our prejudice.

Will it make the story better? Will it make the story more accessible to more people? I don't think so, because the average person doesn't throw the real world and everything in it out the window before he reads a book. The whole idea seems rather pointless and silly.

The "average person" rarely engages in literary criticism. This has been my experience, and, therefore, my prejudice. But I recognize it as such.

Bleh. I'm getting the feeling that we aren't on the same page, and that everything we are saying is flying straight over our heads. But despite that, I still have the urge to continue posting out of pure stubbornness- or perhaps because I'm getting attention from an attractive blonde with a sexy accent. That's generally reason enough to post.

Oh dear. I appreciate the compliment, but I really, really do not wish to engage in a discussion that hinges on my looks. Unless, of course, you're teasing and are prepared to say so.

Stringent interpretation is, in my opinion, logical and a good use of time.

Why? Then you may never experience literature on a higher level. Imagine what wouold happen, for example, if I accepted the viewpoint expressed in my freshman seminar, that John Milton only wrote Paradie Lost to try to justify divorce, and never attempted to approach the piece from any other angles. I'd be really miserable right now, seeing as I'm talking a Milton class with Reynolds Price! Price's relationship with Milton has opened up an entire new dimension for engaging the text. I think the same can be said of Tolkien, especially since so many different people are taken with his work.