The Translator Conceit

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by drigel

Whats done is done, the author has sailed West.

The author...

You know, something in this post of yours, Drigel, stood out for me. It was the mention of the author. For all that this entire forum is devoted to JRRT, I get the feeling now that this thread- which deals with him specifically (in his capacity as author/translator)- seems to have lost sight of the man himself.

Perhaps something to be remembered is that Tolkien was writing for himself at least as much as he was for any other audience. Although it had been Sir Stanley Unwin, et al, who had requested/begged for a sequel to The Hobbit, this story was long since past the point where it was that, but had become a great deal more. Tolkien was writing for himself. He noted himself that this was his greatest life's work.

That said, I guess that my small addition to the discussion here is that maybe the Translator Conceit was more done for reasons of personal taste than for anything else. This might remove the "Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card", and still leaves the enchantment broken (for some- myself not included). Perhaps it should remembered WHO Tolkien was writing for- if it didn't break his enchantment, how would he KNOW it would break another's? In the whole book, he wrote according to his own tastes.