Thanks, Esgallhugwen!
Fordim -
We double posted. Your examples of art and their technological counterparts are intriguing. I think you are onto something. The terminology may be getting in our way. Some of what we now call machines may actually fall into Tolkien's category of Art (admittedly the smaller share), while other fabrications are examples of "The Machine" that he detested.
I would add that a legitimate work of art may be captured by someone seeking power and coopted to less honorable purposes. This was the case with the Palantiri crafted by the Elves. Given to the Elf-friends as they departed Numenor, the Kings of Gondor and Arnor relied upon these wonderful objects, until they were stolen and abused by Sauruman and Sauron. The nature of these objects did not change but the use to which they were put certainly did.
As you rightfully suggest, each of the fabrications that merit the designation of "art" respect their natural setting without asserting dominance or control over it. But this mistrust of The Machine clearly stems back to Tolkien's beliefs as a Christian. Your own quote concerning the complications from the Fall also allude to that. It was not only the impact on the environment that concerned JRRT, but the impact that the machine had on the soul of those who wielded them.
Tolkien's views on "The Machine" were conditioned by his perspective that history was nothing more than a long defeat, punctuated by temporary victories. In the author's eyes, perhaps, an Elven city in the trees or the Shire's Old Mill were small and temporary victories of Art. Sadly however, both of these examples of goodness were swept away from our own world, since the Elves departed for the West and the Hobbits now hide from Big Folk. Similarly, at the end of the story, only one working Palantir remains in Middle-earth; the others have been taken to the West, lost, or rendered useless.
Tolkien believed that created beings, fallen as they were, are prone to abuse even the good things in life, and that includes Art. Within Arda, most evil begins with good intentions. This is certainly the case with many scientific advancements. In JRRT's view, the act of turning away from true Art to "The Machine" was just one more instance of people refusing to submit to the limitations that Nature or the will of the Creator imposed on them. In this sense, the damage to the soul of the person wielding the Machine was just as pertinent as damage to the outward environment.
Tolkien used the term "Machine" in an extended sense to signify the attempt to 'actualize' our desires by coercing the world and other's wills into satisfying them. The Ring, of course, was the ultimate coercion machine. "Coercion" was intrinsic to The Machine, yet totally absent from Art.
There is a related discussion of
magia and
goeteia (magic performed by the invocation of spirits) in Letter 155 that pertains to this. Here, it is
magia that is equated with Art or Machine; it is neutral in itself, but capable of going in either direction according to the use to which it is put:
Quote:
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Neither is ( i.e., magia or goeteia) good or bad per se, but only by motive or purpose or use. The Enemy's operations are by no means all goetic deceits, but 'magic' that produces real effects in the physical world. But his magia he uses to bulldoze both people and things, and his goeteia to terrify and subjegate. Their magia the Elves and Gandalf use (sparingly): a magia producing real results (like fire in a wet faggot) for specific beneficient purposes. Their goetic effects are entirely artistic and not intended to deceive....The Enemy, or those who have become like him, go in for "machinery"--with destructive and evil effects--because "magicians" who have become chiefly concerned to use magia for their own power, would do so (do do so).
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This at least implies that the purpose to which
magia is put determines whether the fabrication is Art or Machine, as well as the degree to which it respects the natural setting, and stands in accord with Eru's plan. These three are irrevocably linked.