The Translator Conceit

[davem]

There are cases where one can make a good case for two versions representing different traditions - perhaps the most obvious example from HoMe is 'The Drowning of Anadune'. But one cannot view all the vast complex of contradictory Silmarillion texts this way. Or rather, if one chooses to do so, that is a creative, "fan fictional" way of viewing things.

Surely one can view the texts in any way one chooses. The texts are simply the texts. Actually this approach would have solved a lot of Tolkien's problems if he had adopted it.