Tolkien's Beowulf - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Aiwendil · 08-06-2014, 09:14 AM

It does seem rather unfair to accuse Tolkien of having a corrupting influence on popular perceptions of the Mediaeval period, given that Middle-earth does not in any way purport to be Mediaeval. I also don't think that popular perceptions of the middle ages are anywhere near so completely derived from Tolkien as Livingstone claims.

As for Tolkien's scholarship, I think it is a fair point that Tolkien sometimes seems to feel so at home with the language and culture of Anglo-Saxon England that he sometimes takes things for granted that perhaps should not be taken for granted. But the fact is that the reason he felt at home with the subject was that he was, after all, very well studied in it.

It may also be true that some later scholars have accepted some of his opinions uncritically. That's not particularly surprising. But there have also been plenty of cases where later scholarship has disagreed with Tolkien's conclusions.

The complaint that Tolkien doesn't trust the scribes and emends the text as he goes is a strange one. All textual criticism does this. Scribes got things wrong, demonstrably so. One can question particular emendations of the text, but to ascribe the whole practice of such emendation to Tolkien is simply incorrect.

08-06-2014, 09:14 AM	#2
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	It does seem rather unfair to accuse Tolkien of having a corrupting influence on popular perceptions of the Mediaeval period, given that Middle-earth does not in any way purport to be Mediaeval. I also don't think that popular perceptions of the middle ages are anywhere near so completely derived from Tolkien as Livingstone claims. As for Tolkien's scholarship, I think it is a fair point that Tolkien sometimes seems to feel so at home with the language and culture of Anglo-Saxon England that he sometimes takes things for granted that perhaps should not be taken for granted. But the fact is that the reason he felt at home with the subject was that he was, after all, very well studied in it. It may also be true that some later scholars have accepted some of his opinions uncritically. That's not particularly surprising. But there have also been plenty of cases where later scholarship has disagreed with Tolkien's conclusions. The complaint that Tolkien doesn't trust the scribes and emends the text as he goes is a strange one. All textual criticism does this. Scribes got things wrong, demonstrably so. One can question particular emendations of the text, but to ascribe the whole practice of such emendation to Tolkien is simply incorrect.