Dismantling my own hobby-horse...
The more I think about this matter, and everything that has been said in this thread, the clearer I see the limitations of the e.th. as far as LotR is concerned. Unlike D's own books, LotR is not what me might call a 'character-driven' novel - i.e. it's not
about Frodo's (or anybody else's) needs/problems/exigencies the way the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are about TC's. This becomes rather evident when we consider another passage from D's essay:
Quote:
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A somewhat oversimplified way to make the same point is by comparing fantasy to realistic, mainstream fiction. In realistic fiction, the characters are expressions of their world, whereas in fantasy the world is an expression of the characters[emphasis mine, Pw]. Even if you argue that realistic fiction is about the characters, and that the world they live in is just one tool to express them, it remains true that the details which make up their world come from a recognized body of reality – tables, chairs, jobs, stresses which we all acknowledge as being external and real, forceful on their own terms. In fantasy, however, the ultimate justification for all the external details arises from the characters themselves. The characters confer reality on their surroundings.
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I think we can all see that this doesn't do justice to Tolkien's subcreation, as Middle-Earth and its history existed (if not in all details) long before Frodo and his companions appeared on the scene. Unlike D, who has insisted time and again that he only invents what he needs for the story (and very probably wouldn't have bothered to invent a back-story for Queen Berúthiel and her cats), Tolkien invented Middle-Earth for its own sake and as a setting for the Elven languages, not as an expression of his characters. In this respect, LotR is more like realistic fiction than fantasy as D defines it - the setting (including its history) confers reality on the characters, not the other way round.
Unfortunately, this deals a heavy blow to the e.th. as applied to LotR. Things may be different with e.g. Children of Húrin (as
skip has demonstrated), which is rather more character-driven, though the point about the relation between characters and setting is, of course, valid for the entire Legendarium.
(
Morth: The question whether the Land is inside or outside of Covenant's head may be something like Donaldson fandom's version of the Balrog wings debate. IMO, the only valid answer is the one TC himself found at the end of the First Chronicles: it doesn't matter - because, to adapt Aragorn's words to Éomer, good and evil are the same in a dream as in waking.)