Fiction in Middle Earth

[Mister Underhill]

Sheesh: I cross-posted too. Edits are to try to catch up to posts made subsequent to my composing this...

davem, I wonder, what leads you to so categorically conclude that all the tales and poems of ME are necessarily based on historical events? I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the tales told by Hobbits, in particular, who kept themselves so insulated from the "real" events of the outside world and who had only a dim picture of their own past history, would be rife with pure fantasy and invention.

Besides, a decent work of fiction that is based on historical events soon loses any real resemblance to the true facts of the events. Shakespeare's "Histories" are prime examples (as are Child's examples of The Iliad and The Odyssey). This would be even more true if the prime method of the tale's transmission were through oral rather than written means.

My instinct has always been that it wouldn't be Elves who created the great subcreative works -- you have too many deathless old codgers hanging around who can tell you "what really happened" on such and such an occasion. And Elves are always so serious, if not downright dour, and don't seem inclined to whimsical creations. That "tra-la-la-lally" gang seem to have been anomalies. I always thought that if imaginative fiction had a heyday, it was probably during the height of Númenorean civilization.

On the other hand, I'll contradict myself and cite The Istari in UT:

olo-s: vision, 'phantasy': Common Elvish name for 'construction of the mind' not actually (pre)existing in Ëa apart from the construction, but by the Eldar capable of being by Art (Karmë) made visible and sensible. Olos is usually applied to fair construction having solely an artistic object (i.e. not having the object of deception, or of acquiring power).

If the Elves had the vocabulary for fantasy, I'm sure it manifested in their art, including their tales and poems.

Regarding Middle-earth as our own "prehistory", I must confess that I never really caught that intention when I first read the books lo these many years ago, and instinctively rejected it when I realized it years later. It breaks the reality of the story for me, since ME is so patently not the prehistory of our world.

[ April 11, 2003: Message edited by: Mister Underhill ]