Another instance where fostering is widely seen is in the modern day African community; children are often sent to live with members of the extended family, sometimes being sent overseas. Similarly, families in the British Afro-Caribbean community will sometimes send children to live with relatives in Jamaica - the usual reason given is that the schools are seen to have better discipline. In Tolkien's LotR it could be said that Gilraen sends Aragorn to Rivendell as there he will be educated to his advantage.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by davem
The story has to work on its own terms to be effective. If it is only understandable in terms of the author's life then we would need to know the author's life in great detail in order to understand the story, & it would be little more than 'symbolic' autobiography.
|
That's a very good point. Again I'll bring up the example of Plath, and how so many read her work with her life in mind - as though they seek to solve the enigma of suicide through examination of the text for biographical information. I wanted to throw in a quote by Alvarez here, as it would have been relevant to the use of biography in literary criticism but I can't find it! Anyway, it referred to the Author's control - how the personal
can be used but it is also
manipulated. So, I think Tolkien would have brought in those life experiences which he had, and it is interesting to consider them, even useful in some areas of interpretation, but we must also bear in mind that they are controlled and manipulated, subjugated to (subsumed in?) the Art.