Oh thank heavens,
SaucepanMan. For a bit there I was indeed thinking that
Child's analogy--
Quote:
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By contrast those who create melodies of their own which have no bearing to the original Music are merely pumping out discordant and jarring notes that are highly reminiscent of Melkor.
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was going a bit far. I mean, I can''t carry a note myself, but I think the point has always been to keep an ear tuned towards the original Music. Think of what Glenn Gould did with Bach's Goldberg Variations, after all.
My meagre contributions here have been dedicated towards examining what happens when we read (and, by extension, write), more towards a psychology of reading I suppose than an exploration of what is the right way to respond to Tolkien, although what I have hoped to do is show how important On Fairy Stories is to giving us a glimpse into how Tolkien regarded narrative.
That said, I wonder where, in any of the "allegories or applicabilites" any of us have put forth here, we could actually place Tolkien.
How did he regard his responsibility towards the texts he read as he came to create first the languages and then the characters who could go forth and speak the words?
We all know what he thought of Shakespeare's elves. He felt no compunction in "correcting" what he regarded as a species of error. Burnam Wood and the Ents, of course, we can also acknowledge.
We know what his essay on
Beowulf did for the manner in which that poem had been used and interpreted.
On the other hand, how did Tolkien determine what he should take and use from Norse mythology for his mythology? or from Celtic legend?
I guess what I am wondering about is what Tolkien thought he was free to do as a reader and then as a writer. And, of course, what applicability that has to what we do.