It's been a few years since the last Chapter-by-Chapter (
The Hobbit, in anticipation of the first movie) and I'm wondering if the time has come for another one. Anyone here active on the 'Downs Facebook group is aware that I floated the idea there of a CbC of
The book of Lost Tales. A couple things came out of that.
One, as you might expect, interest was relatively low. If
The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit are the primary works on Middle-earth, then the HoME texts are beyond secondary works into the tertiary realm and even on a forum of fans as literary as the 'Downs, it is difficult to say if the amount of interest meets the critical mass deemed necessary, particularly as the CbCs have typically been seen in the past as a group effort.
Two, though interest was low, it was not absent, so having not been actively discouraged by the members of staff who saw me post there, I am bringing the question here: would the forum be interested in a CbC of
The Book of Lost Tales? I am not a mod or admin, and if that disqualifies me from leading such a discussion then I shall bow out gracefully, but if that does not then I volunteer my services to initiate those discussions.
Apart from the question of leadership, I would like to make a few matter-of-principle points regarding idea and the probability of low participation.
Firstly, the 'Downs as a whole is a sleepy community as most of the generation that formed the last major boom of activity have all passed from high school, through college, and on to "adult" life* and this has happened coincident with a shift in Internet norms away from semi-anonymous, text-dominant venues like forums to picture-and-meme heavy "social media." I don't say this as a bad thing, nor do I want to present a doom-and-gloom prospect for the future, but I present it because I think that a diminished expectation of involvement in the light of these changed circumstances should not prevent such a CbC from going forward. If only two or three people participate--or, as the case may be towards the later chapters, one--it still *might* be worth doing, because:
Secondly, even if a website is sleepy, as long as there is something to draw a trickle of new and old members back, it not a closed-up shop.
The Book of Lost Tales is certainly part of the long tail of Tolkien fandom, but forums are a part of the long tail of Internet activity. We may as well embrace it!
Thirdly, it has always been the intention of the CbC threads that they were not closed just because the next chapter had been posted. The original LotR threads are still worth a read and still worth adding to. Perhaps it will take five years to grow five posts on a
Lost Tales chapter, but they would be there when the poster finally came--and, relatedly, BECAUSE the
Lost Tales are more obscure, I think there is probably a lot more ground that has not been covered in the general discussion threads of the forum, and perhaps people have avoided posting about them even when they have wanted to because of the obscurity (one might say "non-canonicity"
) of the HoME books.
And that is my argument. Perhaps I should have addressed this as a query to the admins in a PM, and certainly they are welcome to delete this if that is the case, but I admit to no longer being certain which admins would respond to a PM, and which were most involved/interested in the CbC forum. I have volunteered my services, because no one should suggest building something they are not willing to sweat for, but my pride is not offended if a CbC (of any book--I think the time has come for
Lost Tales, but a case can be made for [i]The Children of Húrin/i] or the minor works) is decided to go forward with someone else as vanguard.
*Of course, the 'Downs has always had members older than this generation, and perhaps because they have always balanced the Internet community with an adult world, have been among our best and most enduring contributors. I do not mean to suggest the entire website was made of 17-year-olds in 2004.