Authorial Control and World Building - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Zigûr · 06-05-2016, 08:01 AM

In Reading The Lord of the Rings Michael Drout makes comparable statements, suggesting caution when it comes to methods of reading which can "turn Tolkien into his own leading critic".

I like to think of the letters, essays and so on as part of a "corpus" with the main narratives, at least when they're adding to and/or offering commentary on those narratives. Thus I aim to read the letters and so on as part of a broader textual complex. Oddly enough, when I googled the phrase "textual complex" just then to see if it was a term I could meaningfully use, the sixth entry to come up was Drout's J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment.

On the other hand I think there is also plenty of merit to reading the texts individually and in a certain degree of isolation. Both approaches can be enlightening.

06-05-2016, 08:01 AM	#3
Zigûr Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 785	In Reading The Lord of the Rings Michael Drout makes comparable statements, suggesting caution when it comes to methods of reading which can "turn Tolkien into his own leading critic". I like to think of the letters, essays and so on as part of a "corpus" with the main narratives, at least when they're adding to and/or offering commentary on those narratives. Thus I aim to read the letters and so on as part of a broader textual complex. Oddly enough, when I googled the phrase "textual complex" just then to see if it was a term I could meaningfully use, the sixth entry to come up was Drout's J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. On the other hand I think there is also plenty of merit to reading the texts individually and in a certain degree of isolation. Both approaches can be enlightening. __________________ "Since the evening of that day we have journeyed from the shadow of Tol Brandir." "On foot?" cried Éomer.