[Celuien]

I don't necessarily think that personal experience is an enchantment-breaking intrusion, unless it suddenly introduces something incompatible with the story (as a very silly example, sending a snowmobile to Caradhras). Given that we all have our own backgrounds and experience, there probably is no such thing as a completely objective reader. There will be a conscious or unconscious emotional element to how an individual responds based on past experiences. Part of the enchantment for me is that I find a resonance with the story from my personal viewpoint. But, because I come from a different background than Tolkien, the probability is that I will have responded to the story, at least in some points, in a different way than he might have expected. And there are some elements (e.g. Galadriel and Mary) that honestly would never have occurred to me. Does it lessen my enchantment with the tale? No. Does it affect the way I understand the book? Yes, but I tend to reserve that more for an analytic approach.

Now, I'm not saying that analysis and enchantment are mutually exclusive events. It's just that I see enchantment more as the quality of being absorbed with or delighted by the story. With enchantment, I think there's less emphasis on the author's intent than on the reader response and vice versa with analytic approaches. Nor do I see one type of reading as less valid than another; it just depends on what you're looking for at the time.

Hope that makes some sense and isn't too repetitive.