Did JRRT encourage new ME stories?

[davem]

Translation is a difficult issue - Tolkien wrote a guide for translators of LotR, & there have been numerous essays on the finer points of the translator's art in regards to Tolkien's work.

The simple fact is that no novel can be translated in such a way as to preserve all its subtleties ('Bottom, though art translated!') & much will be lost, particularly with a novel like LotR. I'm sure there are aspects of LotR & TH which will only be noticed by English readers - & English readers of a certain age & background at that - just as there are aspects of War & Peace or Don Quixote which I as an English reader only able to read those works in translation will never pick up on unless they are pointed out to me by a Russian or Spanish reader. Now, an awareness of those aspects will not be necessary to understand the novels, or appreciate the bigger picture. It is not necessary to be aware of the difference between lunch & dinner for an English reader in order to understand LotR. It is a very minor point of interest & I admit that most English readers will not care one way or the other, let alone readers from other countries, & especially those who read the work in translation.

However, there's a difference between saying 'x' is insignifcant, & is hardly worth making a fuss about, & saying 'x' doesn't exist. The lunch/dinner thing is a little bit of social commentary which an English reader would pick up on & a non English reader probably would not. It seems to me that, unusually, some posters have taken such umbrage with my posts that they are ignoring what I consider to be a very interesting little insight into class differences in The Shire.

And the wider point? A writer of M-e stories who doesn't get that there is a vast difference for an English reader between lunch & dinner is probably not going to get (or pay attention to) other linguistic & social differences. You see Tolkien based the Hobbits & The Shire on the rural folk he knew in Sarehole at the time of the Diamond Jubilee, & used their speech patterns along with their social structure. Once you start saying 'x' is such a minor point that its not worth bothering about you start down a potentially very slippery slope into generic fantasy, & end up writing 'Dragonlance' books:

Halflings in Dungeons & Dragons have been further divided into various subraces:

* Hairfoot halflings were the standard, "common" subrace of halflings in the game's earlier editions. Clearly derived from Tolkien's Harfoots, they most clearly resembled Middle-earth's hobbits, being a good-natured race of homebodies with fur-covered feet. With the advent of the game's Third Edition, they were replaced by lightfoot halflings.
* Tallfellow halflings were based on Tolkien's Fallohides. They are taller than hairfoot or lightfoot halflings, with lighter hair and skin tone, and prefer to build their homes in woodlands. They have survived the change to Third Edition more or less intact.
* Stout halflings were based on Tolkien's Stoors. Shorter but broader than hairfoot halflings, stouts make good craftsmen. In Third Edition they were renamed as deep halflings but have otherwise remained unchanged.
* Furchin, or polar halflings, are the rarest of the subraces. They live in arctic regions and can grow facial hair. Some media, including the Age of Wonders game series, refer to them as frostlings. In the game series Age of Wonders halflings are a good alignment whilst frostlings are a neutral alignment.
* Lightfoot halflings are the standard halfling subrace of Third Edition. They are more removed from Tolkien's halflings, being athletic and ambitious opportunists, although they retain their love of comfort and family. They differ visually from the stereotypical depiction of halfings; rather than having the thicker proportions normally associated with halfings or hobbits, they are slender and graceful in appearance, resembling a human gymnast in miniature.

At some point you have gone too far & are writing something else, & once you start claiming 'this' isn't worth bothering over, or 'that' doesn't signify, you're going to end up with something that is effectively a parody of Tolkien rather than a follow up.