‘Canonicity’: the Book or the Reader? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 04-23-2004, 05:57 AM

H-I

Not enough time at the moment for a long response. I can see what you're saying, & agree with a lot of it. But I still can't see why all this effort is being put into producing something which will have no 'special' value (& my own understanding is that the intention of those involved is (whether they admit it or not) to produce if not the 'definitive' Sil', then at least a superior one to S77.

If the purpose is not to try & construct a 'canonical' or 'definitive', or 'best of a bad job' Sil, then what is the point? What I see is libraries full of 'versions' of the Sil - & I can only see that making more & more people feel like the lady Fordim has just described to us.

We have the source texts. We have a scholarly & entertaining version of a 'Silmarillion' for those who don't want to wade through them. If a group fo fans want to get together & slave over hot computers to churn out another version, or versions, fine, but I can't see that it has any value to anyone but themselves. Personally, I find the whole idea of it quite pointless, as its based on so many different versions, written over such a long period of time, each version written with a different intent, peopled by different characters (albeit with the same names), that it will only serve to completely mislead any one unfamiliar with the source texts, & have no value to anyone who is familiar with them.

04-23-2004, 05:57 AM	#11
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	H-I Not enough time at the moment for a long response. I can see what you're saying, & agree with a lot of it. But I still can't see why all this effort is being put into producing something which will have no 'special' value (& my own understanding is that the intention of those involved is (whether they admit it or not) to produce if not the 'definitive' Sil', then at least a superior one to S77. If the purpose is not to try & construct a 'canonical' or 'definitive', or 'best of a bad job' Sil, then what is the point? What I see is libraries full of 'versions' of the Sil - & I can only see that making more & more people feel like the lady Fordim has just described to us. We have the source texts. We have a scholarly & entertaining version of a 'Silmarillion' for those who don't want to wade through them. If a group fo fans want to get together & slave over hot computers to churn out another version, or versions, fine, but I can't see that it has any value to anyone but themselves. Personally, I find the whole idea of it quite pointless, as its based on so many different versions, written over such a long period of time, each version written with a different intent, peopled by different characters (albeit with the same names), that it will only serve to completely mislead any one unfamiliar with the source texts, & have no value to anyone who is familiar with them. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."