Author, Reader, or Text? (aka Canonicity Slapdown 2005)

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

If, as Tolkien believed, we are made in the image of a Creator, then it is in our nature to (sub)create - not for any particular purpose, or with any goal in mind, but simply because that's the way we are, its what we do.

Well now, I think it just might be that davem has come up with the most post-modern statement of all.

There is a great deal of truth in this, that we create because it is in our nature to create, and not because we have any particular 'meaning' to espouse to others.

Yet, yet. Writers don't have to aspire to the commercial aspects of publication to have the desire for a readership. Why would Tolkien have spent so many hours with the Inklings reading their works aloud to each other if he wrote only to satisfy the urge for creating? Eru, after all, created the valar and maiar and elves and men, for he wanted someone to do something with his music. He wasn't satisfied just with the music. He wanted to see what others would do with it.