[HCIsland]

Tolkien very cleverly tied these books to our reality in entries in the prologue to LotR and in appendix F - On Translation. The idea is that these stories are translated from old texts that he had found that were written long ago by the likes of Bilbo, Frodo and Sam. The Red Book of Westmarch and Bilbo's Translations From The Elvish which, I think, is meant to be the Silmarilion. You don't need to make Tolkien a time traveller to make this work, just and expert on languages which, of course, he is.

Having said that, I agree with those people that the similarities between his work and previous mythology and legions was entirely intentional, but for those that seriously think that this actually happened, I think they need to seriously develop their critical thinking skills.

It's fun to pretend, but when imagination turns to delusion then there exists a problem. These are works of fiction that where entirely invented by one man. Reading entries in books like Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle Earth series, one can even see how his ideas developed and changed over time. The Redbook of Westmarch and Translations From The Elvish never existed and to seriously suggest otherwise is to undermine the genius behind their creation.

For those that love to pretend and imagine (and don't we all, or else why would we be so drawn to this work in the first place) then pretend away but please, keep one foot planted in reality.

Editted to add: What geological (not theological) evidence is there that there was a flood that covered the entire world less than 6000 years ago? Please share.

As for Tolkien's time frame, it seems to correspond fairly closely to the orthedox Judeo-Christian age of the world, which I doubt is a coincidence.

H.C.

[ June 08, 2003: Message edited by: HCIsland ]