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Old 01-10-2005, 04:54 PM   #28
Formendacil
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuruharan
Now for a vague observation/question of sorts.

I’m not entirely certain how Tolkien’s work fulfilled the role of providing a mythology for England. I’ve never really been able to see a strong connection between the tales and some feeling of primordial “Englishness.” Yes, I know the hobbits are sort of English, but the stories are so much more than them. Any theories on this?

It may be that my sense of history is too strong that I can’t suspend it. The fundamental problem with developing a mythology for “England” is that the “English” all came from someplace else and knew they had come from someplace else. Of course, Tolkien referred to his desire as “absurd.” (Letter 130)
It was Tolkien's ORIGINAL intention to create a mythology for the English. By the time he had written and published the Lord of the Rings I don't think that the good professor was actually working with the English (or any modern culture) in mind. By then he was simply working within the confines of his own world. It was the dearth of English mythology that gave them the drive to START his legendarium, and if it has turned out to be the mythology of the Geeks rather than the English, it is not perhaps that bad a thing.
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