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Old 03-06-2017, 10:47 AM   #10
Galadriel55
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Feeling of Foreignness

This is something I only came to appreciate in the last little while, particularly after giving this thread another think. Rationally, I can see how there could be an equivalent of Russia somewhere in the north of Rhun. It would make logical sense, since other real-world regions have their parallels in Middle-earth. But I would never have thought of the possibility myself, and my gut reaction is still that there is no such thing. I thought about it, and realized that the discrepancy is due to the assumption that LOTR is a story of another world, and that therefore there cannot be any of yours in it. Other countries are okay, other regions, cultures, etc. But your own just doesn't fit. You don't expect to see your life amid a tale of magical beings and mythical races. It's not foreign enough. So while it's easy for me to say "It's like Africa!" or "They are like Scythians!", when it comes to Russia my gut reaction is "Where did you get that? There's no way there's ancient Russia in Middle-earth. That's us, we can't have been one of these mythical races, we were definitely something different. We definitely don't fit the bill". You just mentally fill up the spaces with imaginary foreign races, but can't accept your own.

I should probably mention that while I became obsessed with LOTR when already living in Canada, my first introduction has been in Russia, which might have affected my initial perception (first impressions matter, right?). And I read my translation of LOTR a lot more than I did the original. The translators did a good job with the names, in my opinion, but they do not always match the tone and style of the original. For instance, Bree is a mix of English- and Western Slavic-sounding names, and the Shire is similar but with more things shoved in the mesh. So as a result, hobbits get associations with Britain and with something close to home (like the British associations are for Brits ) but not quite home. Maybe that also shifted my perception that if "home" is anywhere, it's with the hobbits and not in the vast uncharted space. Those spaces automatically get filled in with any neighbouring or faraway culture and people in history, except your own.


I know I've gotten into debates about Varangians and Slaves in Middle-earth before, and now I have to reconsider everything keeping in mind that the main reason I didn't want to see it is I was looking from within a people on its potential parallel. I am consoling myself with the thought that statistically I can't be the only ethnocentric Tolkien fan, which begs the question: do you think your own country, culture, language, or upbringing may have affected how you see parallels between the legendarium and the real world? Are you more likely or less likely to draw parallels with other cultures or with your own? [especially regarding the Variags, because I am not gonna hijack the thread. If this gains enough interest I'll start a new thread for it].
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