‘Canonicity’: the Book or the Reader?

[davem]

Helen , I'm not writing the Trotter story. I did play around with the idea for a while - it would be told by Trotter in the first person, to a visitor to the Prancing Pony. If anyone wants to write it I don't have a problem. I've only ever written one piece of fanfic - 'Orophin dreams of the Waters of Awakening' -which is on my computer, but I can't post it anywhere, as every time i try & copy it across from word I get a 'bad gateway 502' message! (I have a mac using OsX if anyone can advise).

Maedhros I agree with you about the Cottage of Lost Play. And I take on board what Saucepanman has said. But I think the idea of a 'revised Sil' is mistaken if its meant to be taken as anything more than an interesting way for you guys to pass the time. My reason: You 're trying to produce a work of art by committee - what's that joke about a camel being a horse designed by a committee? You're not trying to create your own secondary world, you're trying to second guess Tolkien. Its simply impossible to know what the Legendarium would have ended up like, or what decisions Tolkien would have made in coming to a final version.

As to the Tale of Turambar vs the Narn - this only becomes an issue if you start thinking in terms of a canon which must choose one over the other, not for reasons of personal taste (as in my case I reject the 'Dome of Varda' because I find it too outlandish - even in a world of 'Elves & Dragons') but out of a desire to make a 'final' version & 'embalm' it.

I simply cannot see why you would feel a need to produce such a thing. As soon as you choose between two versions of a story, & accept one & reject the other based on personal taste - 'we like this one better than that one, so we'll keep this one'. But taste can't be used as a criterion - or all those with a Christian, or at least monotheistic, religious bent would produce an 'Eruist' version, & claim that they were putting together the version Tolkien would have really wanted, & all those with a more materialistic worldview would excise the Eruist references.

(Quote from Dunsany's 'The King of Elfland's Daughter 'springs to mind- 'For it is ever the way of witches with any two things, to choose the more mysterious of the two' - in other words, we are all biased & our choices, whether individual or a result of a committee's discussion, will inevitably reflect our own idiosyncracies).

Bethberry sorry no time- I'll respond later.