It feels different near the Shire....

[Bêthberry]

'Morning All,

lmp, yes, thanks for recognizing and acknowledging the Picnic this way. *curtsies* That was indeed the hope, but fear not, there could well be future excursions planned.... Adventures are never quite finished, are they? *grins*

Nar, many thanks for elucidating your point. Perhaps on another thread we can discuss the nature of evil (trying to keep on topic here!).

Helen, it strikes me that this response of knowing the essence of Middle Earth without knowing the specific, literal references, is a particularly strong effect of Tolkien's style of storytelling.

I think it relates to his concept of "applicability". More and more I wonder if 'parable' isn't a good way to think of this applicability. Here is what I mean by parable; the explanation comes from Robert Murray's essay, "J.R.R. Tolkien and the Art of the Parable."

...a medium which could first attract and then fascinate and tease the mind, even for a long time, till the hearers might form their own response, ....a skilful use of the arts of speech so as not to impose or compel, but to invite a response in which the hearer is personally active.... the power of stories to act as parables depends not on whether they are fictitious or factually true, but on whether they possess that potential universality which makes others find them applicable, through an imaginative perception of analogy, to other situations.

This way of thinking about his storytelling art avoids the "domination of the author" (Foreward to LOTR) which Tolkien disliked so much in allegory. It grounds the story in delight, a prime purpose of art, while granting that "freedom of the reader" (again, Foreward, LOTR) which he so much respected.

You see, if you keep me at this long enough, I will expound a complete thesis on Bombadil as the luminescence of Tolkien's art. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Bethberry