Pete Clarke Wrote:
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> The style of the LOTR does drift - Tolkien
> describes the process in the introduction. It was
> initially supposed to be a straight forward sequel
> to The Hobbit but it "darkened" as he progressed -
> the change becomes apparent with his attempt to
> tie the story with his already-conceived
> "mythology" at Elrond's Council but really becomes
> noticable after they Fellowship enters Moria -
> it's at this point that Tolkien abandoned the
> story for over a year.
Yes, it says in the LOTR preface ...
>
> The "epic" style is deliberate. Tolkien was one of
> the world's leading experts on Old English and
> Norse and the LOTR is deliberately based on this
> style of story telling - highly stylised and
> repetative.
The problem is, it puts a lot of readers off!
If you read the "Silmarillion" it's
> even more apparent.
Read the first two pages 20-odd years ago, promptly gave up, and haven't looked at it since.
The LOTR became a deliberate
> attempt to recreate a British mythological cycle
> to match those of other Northen European cultures
> - particulalry the Icelanders and the Finns.
> That's why so many of the figures are obviously
> archetypal - Gandalf/Merlin, Aragorn/Arthur/Robin
> Hood, the dragon slaying in THe Hobbit, the
> elves/alfar and orcs/svart alfar from Norse
> mythology, etc.
In "Hamlet's Mill", de Santillana and von Dechend remarked, very scornfully, that Tolkien's efforts at recreating myth were as convincing as a two-dollar bill. Tolkien, of course, might have said something equally as withering about HM ...
