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Originally Posted by Sauron the White
Its sad that these type of things always come down to definitions and how people attempt to twist them to their own purposes. This latest business about how JRRT was NOT creating a mythology but a fake mythology is simply more intellectual craftsmanship designed to "win" this particular argument. What ever happened to all I have read over the years that one of the goals of JRRT was to create a mythology for England?
All of this becomes an exercise in semantics and legalism and borders on the arcane. Intellectual gymnastics employed to justify a particular personal position on an issue which is not clear at all. More heat than light is shed.
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Twist things to my own purposes? Excuse me but I am English and speak and read English and Tolkien did not say he wanted to create a mythology FOR England - please tell me how 'dedicate to' means 'create for'? The two are wholly different things. Not least because Tolkien of all people would know that England certainly did not need someone to come along and impose a fictional story upon it.
He bases his stories on a lot of English cultural touchstones, he hopes he loads his work with 'Englishness', and finally, he has what he admits is a slightly pompous aim - to create a work of Art for us.
As to what happened to all you have read about him creating a mythology For England you can put that down to Ye Olde Misquoting. Beginning with Humphrey Carpenter, alas.
It might well be an exercise in semantics or whatever but what Tolkien said was as clear as it could be. And he did
not say he wanted to create a mythology for England. Sorry but this cannot be stressed highly enough as not only does the misquoting reflect incorrectly on Tolkien's intentions, but it gives the impression that England does not have a mythology of its own, when it has one of the richest folk histories in the world. And even if we didn't have one, then Tolkien of all people, as an expert in the subject, would not be so presumptive as to hope he could impose one on any nation.
Now bring me my chariot of fire...