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Originally Posted by Bethberry
This is your preference and of course you are entitled to it. It does not really well describe what Steiner is getting at here, as he is not one of these wild post modernists, but if you wish to characterise literary scholars--and remember that Tolkien was one--this way, that is your right here.
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It is no personal preference that I would rather look for the author's meaning in a text, it is central to the purpose of reading that we look for this. Yes, we will add in and build meanings of our own, as I've said before a text can resonate in many different ways, but why read at all if we disregard what the author intended to say?
Tolkien was not a literary scholar, he was a scholar of language, and as such approached the meaning of texts from a linguistic background, seeking to find the original meanings of the words and forming his analysis of the meaning on this. In On Fairy Stories he states his case against those critics who seek to deconstruct in order to find evidence to suit their own theories.