a question asked by a friend in a non-Tolkien oriented on line community. She
is living on internet cafe time so she is frugal about surfing. I thought you
folks wouldn't mind if I asked her question for her. I debated whether it
belonged on the movie board or here, but I think she is only using the movie as
a means of making a point about LOTR
She asked this:
I was just musing on the idea of Tolkien creating myth for us poor
impoverished Brits. It seems a bit odd to me that there's no mention of
the Mabinogion in the link LB posted which includes the Eddas, Beowulf, etc ...
(ack, am I repeating myself - I've checked the spelling for that word
recently.)
But really, I am thinking of how deeply the roots of the Legend of Arthur go -
it's true myth for me ... I bristle at the suggestion that it's utterly
fictionalised. And I wonder how 'good' a myth LotR is. It's coming
to the moviescreen well - but in a 10 hour chunk - and even that sacrifices a
lot of detail. Is it just a bit 'too' epic in scale..? King Arthur
we can assume an awful lot about the background of the story, whereas Tolkien
specifically gives us the information about almost everything - languages,
peoples, maps, prehistory ... etc. And do the parts separate as well as
the Tales of the Knights of the Round Table - which is important for
non-bum-numbing storytelling..?
Is it a good myth..?
So the question is, I guess, can a story that depends so much on the mind of
one man rather than coming from a cultural fabric really make a good
myth? I think the assumptions in the question are as interesting as the
question itself. Any
takers?
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'I was afraid they were all sailing away, Sam-dad. Then soon there would be none here; and then everywhere would be just places, and'
'And what, Elanorellė?'
'And the light would have faded.'
'I know,' said Sam. 'The light is fading, Elanorellė. But it won't go out yet. It won't ever go quite out, I think now, since I have had you to talk to. For it seems to me now that people can remember it who have never seen it. And yet,' he sighed, 'even that is not the same as really seeing it, like I did.' (the epilogue from HoME IX, emphasis mine)
email plainhat at yahoo dot com (do the translation!)
