Does LotR have cross-cultural appeal?

[Novnarwen]

Davem said

On the wider point, Tolkien was attempting to supply a mythology for England, to replace the one we had lost. I've said this before, but I've always been slightly surprised that non-English readers even get the story, as its always seemed so very English to me. A pleasant surprise, of course, but odd, to me, nonetheless....

Very English? Define, please…?

To be honest, I’m surprised by your comment. If Tolkien indeed created a mythology for England, I see no reason why it should be a great surprise to see non-English ‘get the story’. I mean, look at Greek Mythology, Roman mythology, Egyptian mythology, Norse mythology etc. etc. (you name it!). I don’t speak Greek (and I probably never will), but that doesn’t keep me from ‘getting the story’. I don’t see how it should. Unless the translation is poor, or there’s no translation at all, I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t get and make out the main points of the story.

I think the problem lies in the ‘very English’. How can anything be so ‘Very English, very Greek, very Roman, etc’ that people ‘outside’ have no chance in understanding it? Do you sincerely believe that it is, or should be, impossible for an ‘outsider’ to understand, in this case, a text that is written for a specific purpose and nation etc.? (What about people who are multi-cultural and living in England, or in any other English speaking country?)

To a certain extent, I believe that different groups of people (national, continental…) will have different ways of understanding a text, in this case Tolkien’s works. This however, doesn’t mean that people from cultures that differ greatly from the English/European/Scandinavian won’t understand the story altogether. A point I would like to bring up, even though I know it’s a bit off topic, is what lies in the expressions ‘understand’, and ‘get the story’ (as you used.)

In my opinion, to understand a story means that you’re fully able to make out the point(s) of the story and thus be able to for example reflect around it. To ‘get a story’… well… I see that as an other ‘thing’. I don’t know if you’re suggesting Tolkien’s works to be allegories, but by using this expression, I can’t avoid think that you are. Is there only one way of ‘getting the story’, and is this only possible if you, in this case, belong to a culture of which the author has been inspired, or live in the country in which the story was intended for?

This is where, again, the interpretation of each individual come in. Though a person from for example an Asian country interprets the story a little bit differently than a native British, it doesn’t mean that he/she hasn't gotten the story altogether. (In fact, he/she might interpret it the same way a Brit would do! Is a Brits’ interpretation, understanding, of a Story by an English author more ‘correct’ than an Asian’s?)

It’s perhaps natural that culture, religion etc. play a part in the process that takes place in your mind when reading a book. In other words, these factors can influence your reading. Due to this, a book can seem less appealing to some groups of people, but I honestly believe that this is not the case. As someone mentioned before, language barriers can be one of the reasons why Tolkien hasn’t reached the whole world’s population. I also think that Developing Countries, which are situated mostly in Asia and Africa, don’t have the same accessibility to books, at least not books from abroad, as Industrial Countries. I believe many, who have not discovered the magic of LoTR and find themselves belonging to cultures and countries far, far away from the origin of the book, will find it very appealing, if they had just had the chance to read it…


Edit: Cross posted with Lawendë