[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by davem

Pedantically yours (as ever)

Understood, but I'm not at all sure that your pedantry is leading us anywhere productive in this case.

I hold by my original point. In the face of accusations that Tolkien was a racist or that LotR is a racist work (whether intentionally or incidentally so), it is legtimate to analyse the book in the way Aiwendil suggested in order to counter such accusations (or at the very least to satisfy ourselves on the issue). And we can do so without necessarily forming any settled view as to what it was Tolkien was trying to achieve by writing the story. I fail to see how such a position can be at all controversial. But there we go. Pedantry will out.

Originally Posted by Laitoste

How do you determine a "right" or "good" reading? That's what's debatable...

Well, I would say that depends upon how you react to it personally. The closest that we can get to an objective assessment in this regard is by considering the extent to which people react positivley or negatively to a particular interpretation. On that basis, I would say that the interpretation of LotR as a racist work is "incorrect" - certainly as far as I am concerned, but also, I would venture to suggest, for the majority of readers.