21st Century Tolkien

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I think the Silmarillion is wonderful, but also very frustrating as it offers so many tantalising glimpses of what might have been. And it is also so different in style that it is absolutely clear to me that it was not all Tolkien's own work. It does not have his 'voice' like other works do.

In a way, though, that's a part of its charm- at least for me. The Silmarillion ISN'T supposed to be Tolkien's voice, or a novel... it's historically impersonal. In the Lord of the Rings and elsewhere, we hear Tolkien's voice. In the Silmarillion we hear... history's voice. All we hear is a translator, or, at best, an Elf ala Lost Tales: ie. Pengolod. One could say that Tolkien was SUCCESSFUL in suppressing his own voice, since it is the LACK of a person's idiosyncratic voice that truly makes the stories of the Silmarillion seem real. Told in a normal fashion, such as a novel, the Lay of Leithien, for example, seems merely like a

Mind you, I'm not so much trying to convert everyone to Silmarillionism as I am trying to show that there is an alternative view to these things. The Lord of the Rings has everything... well, of that everything, 'twas the Silmarillion-esque part that truly acquires my interest.