For a drearier, scarier, better ‘downs.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Originally Posted by JennyHallu

And yet, when's the last time you took serious, committed part in a Books discussion, Fea?

The fact remains that I don't feel the Books discussions are terribly accessible to the average forumite. And part of that is we can't start a topic on an old thread without the weight of all that's been said before hanging over us.

And ability to follow the discussions isn't the issue. It's time, and resources (I don't own HoME, or the SILM, or even the Canon, for that matter, or any of the Minor Works, or the letters, and so it's hard for me to question a Tolkien quote offered as Definitive Proof, because I don't have the context.), and the fact that Books discussions often seem like academic discussions between the two or three serious and focussed individuals who have those resources and the time. Those who seriously and often participate in Books discussions know eachotehr very well, know the forum very well, refer to discussions they had six years ago...Frankly, it feels like interrupting.

So go ahead and interrupt. I don't mind -- I'm sick of talking to the same people again and again anyway, I'd love to know what a fresh pair of eyes will have to say about these ideas. Ideas, by the way, never die and good conversations never end or conclude. If someone finds a definitive answer to a question that proves one of two things:

1) the question was too simple, or

2) the person answering it is deluded.

And for what it's worth, I've never read the HoME and it's been -- gosh -- more than 15 years since I read the Sil. I do have a copy of the Letters but I hardly ever refer to it...I usually wait for somebody else to post a relevant section from a letter and then I just reply to what's there!