What breaks the enchantment?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

I would say, rather, that there are different ways to approach the work, each of which is valid. Or perhaps I should say all of which are valid, for it seems to me that there is no choice to be made; all approaches are valid simultaneously. I would say, in fact, that one indication that a work of art is great is that it can be approached simultaneously from a great many different ways.

Popping in quickly to say that I think Aiwendil has suggested a point which really needs to be considered in more depth. Does a work of art demand or create its own, individual, unique way of reading, or is that rather the realm of lesser works of art, that can be appreciated in a limited way? Does greatness--and we all seem to believe that Tolkien is great--reside in the polysemy of ways of reading?

Many of us come to it first for the adventure and the action, but something draws us backto LotR. Or perhaps it is our delight in hobbits that keeps us glued. Or we are entranced by the ways of the elves. Then, something grows on us, something that perhaps develops at the expense of that initial experience, but which could not be possible without that first experience. This seems to be a history for many of us, that we began reading LotR one way, but were drawn back, and came to read it other ways.

And yet all of these ways of reading are held simultaneously as ways of reaching out to us. Isn't this a sign of greatness? Why should LotR be limited just to one kind of approach or reading? Yes, yes, I think Aiwendil is right about that.