Just a few short remarks . . . well, maybe longish ones. *insert winking smilie here*
SpM, I appreciate your loyerly attempt to impose some sort of clerical order on the discussion here. However, the fact that a topic might never have a
definitive conclusion, as you put it, has never stopped any Downs discussion in the past and there is little reason to believe it shall in the future; nor does it provide any kind of evidence as to the value or pleasure of said discussion.
The question of encouragement is a fascinating one, for it has many facets. Encouragement can exist in specifically expressed statements, whether they be public or private. (The distinction between those two does not negate the value of either one.) Encouragement can exist in a will, as with Tolkien's trust in the judgement of CT, a person who, one can say, was expressly educated to be the reader Tolkien wanted. In this case, CT has chosen to publish postumously his father's writing.
Encouragement can exist also as a quality of the writing. This seems to be a quality which Tolkien himself valued. Not only did he write to create the kind of story he wanted to read; he also wrote in order to explore the desireability of story. He wanted to make a story we couldn't put down. There's a lovely expression of this in one of his non fiction texts and I shall return with the reference when time permits. Or not.
It is this kind of encouragement which is the least "provable" but is certainly demonstrable in the efforts of many readers to "rattrapé" that quality of desireability. (Oh, my, there goes my French again. It must be the Canadian in me fighting against the Conquest.) It is also this quality which I think intrigues the historical questions raised by
Child and possibly
Raynor, if I understand him correctly. Oh, and I also want to commend
Child yet again for pointing out that issues and topics are infinitely more complex than that "if you ain't for us, yore agin us" mentality.
The question of canonicity was not, to my mind, ever part of the initial question, nor the imprimatur of the Estate. Nor the quality of any inspiration. Red herrings, the lot of 'em.
Raynor takes the position of many performing artists, for whom it is a prime honour to be imitated and to inspire others in art beyond that of mere imitation, because such action speaks to the success of the art. Did Tolkien ask permission to write Turin? No, because the text gave him that "authority" when it inspired his own muse/work. Yet there are others who feel it is a matter of courtesy to inform an artist when his (or her) work has been 'appropriated'. Death limits this possibility, but both ideas exist within artistic communities.
It is well, also, to recognize that this concept of "Author" does not in fact equal the person. The person exists before the text is written, but only the writing of the text makes this entity "Author" possible. What we call "Author" (as opposed to the legal paraphernalia, which relate to the person) is an identity produced by the writing. It's not that a person didn't write a text but that the concept of Author and Authorial Intention can severely hamper the pleasure of a story.
Case in point. Sometimes that identity severely strains our understanding of a text. Consider Milton's Satan. Milton didn't mean, didn't intend, for Satan to be so attractive. But Satan is. Are we to deny that experience of the reading? No, it becomes a topic for discussion. Or for art, as William Blake showed. And I don't think Blake asked Milton for permission, either. But then did Milton ask for permission?
People have been leery of reducing books to authorial intent long before M. Barthes wrote his little work. For those who might be interested in the ideas--which are merely adumbrated by that title "Death of the Author" and more complex than the title--here are some links. Pop ones also available, but time limits--really I must wean myself of this Tolkien habit and go read someone else now.
Wiki on Barthes
(Remember, Wiki isn't "authoritative" *insert winking smilie here* )
Barthe's essay (Check out other online texts, too, in case of errors. Tolkien was forever sending his publisher lists of errata.)