Carnimírië -
Quote:
|
I wonder why the Prologue could not have just been part of the Appendices?
|
I'm glad you asked that question! It immediately crossed my mind as I was browsing over the recent entries on this thread.
Mr. Underhill -
Thanks so much for those references and for your ideas on why these materials were placed in a prologue. I had read the material in HoMe VI as the basis of my post but wasn't aware of the materials in XII. I do have the volume, but have yet to master the contents of HoMe; the chapter XIII index only shows references for the prologue in VI.
I think your words about authorial choice are key. This would explain the one example I raised. Tolkien omitted reference to the Fell Winter and dated the Shire's peaceful period all the way back to the Long Winter precisely because he wanted to use the prologue to establish the prosperity and complacency of the Shire for a long period---250 years-- prior to the War of the Ring. The Fell Winter that occurred in Bilbo's own lifetime was just too close for that purpose so it remained peacefully 'hidden' in the appendix.
The prologue is similar to the foreward in certain respects. We can clearly hear the author's voice in establishing some basic themes; he carefully picked what he wanted to tell us and relegated other material to the appendices.
Mr. Underdown - I think you are right in saying the prologue was a "risk". One of the most frequent "complaints" about the book, even among those who enjoy it, is that the beginning chapters are too "slow". I have heard this said any number of times. Presumably this complaint about the pacing of the early part of the book also refers to the prologue. In a sense it is the prologue that establishes the tone and pace of the early chapters, Frodo's rootedness in the Shire (which becomes more understandable in light of all this Hobbit information in the prologue) and his delays and excuses to keep from leaving.
My guess is that a modern publisher would have told him that a single foreward is quite enough, and ask him to toss most of the detail back into the appendices, perhaps sparing a point or two with the suggestion that it be tacked onto the foreward.