Author, Reader, or Text? (aka Canonicity Slapdown 2005) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Fordim Hedgethistle · 07-13-2005, 07:40 AM

mwa HA hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa *Fordim rubs hands*

"My plan has worked. Fools! Caught once more in my web...little do they realise that in secret I have crafted a master thread...."

*Fordim opens the One Thread*

"One Thread to rule them all! One Thread to find them!
One Thread to bring them all, and in endless debate bind them!"

Um, oh, wait -- sorry, did you all see that? Oh well, it's just a...yes...a...costume, yes, that's it...a costume that I am putting together for a Middle-Earth party...that's right...I'm just pretending...all a game you know....

At any rate:

To those, primarilly Misty Undy, who have expressed a desire for an option which encapsulates some kind of interation between reader and writer, I personally would point to the third option, insofar as it seems to me that analysis of the text would entail precisely that, as the reader 'works' with or engages imaginatively the only thing about the author that we have direct access to: his writing.

For those, primarilly davem and Mark 12_30, who wish for an option that encapsulates a sense of enchantment of and through the text which springs from some other realm (faerie?), I personally would point toward the fourth option, insofar as it offers them precisely the kind of non-rational (but not irrational!) sense of wonder before the text that they so notoriously relish and desire.

*smoke and fire in the background; nine figures cloaked in black emerge, each of them bearing a Thread of Power*

Uhhh, excuse me all for a moment, there are some....people here I need to speak with about....things......

View Poll Results: The meaning of The Lord of the Rings is to be found in
The intention of the author	6	11.11%
The experience of the reader	29	53.70%
Analysis of the text	12	22.22%
I haven't the faintest idea, I just think the book is cool	7	12.96%
Voters: 54. You may not vote on this poll

07-13-2005, 07:40 AM	#21
Fordim Hedgethistle Gibbering Gibbet Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Beyond cloud nine Posts: 1,844	mwa HA hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa Fordim rubs hands "My plan has worked. Fools! Caught once more in my web...little do they realise that in secret I have crafted a master thread...." Fordim opens the One Thread "One Thread to rule them all! One Thread to find them! One Thread to bring them all, and in endless debate bind them!" Um, oh, wait -- sorry, did you all see that? Oh well, it's just a...yes...a...costume, yes, that's it...a costume that I am putting together for a Middle-Earth party...that's right...I'm just pretending...all a game you know.... At any rate: To those, primarilly Misty Undy, who have expressed a desire for an option which encapsulates some kind of interation between reader and writer, I personally would point to the third option, insofar as it seems to me that analysis of the text would entail precisely that, as the reader 'works' with or engages imaginatively the only thing about the author that we have direct access to: his writing. For those, primarilly davem and Mark 12_30, who wish for an option that encapsulates a sense of enchantment of and through the text which springs from some other realm (faerie?), I personally would point toward the fourth option, insofar as it offers them precisely the kind of non-rational (but not irrational!) sense of wonder before the text that they so notoriously relish and desire. smoke and fire in the background; nine figures cloaked in black emerge, each of them bearing a Thread of Power Uhhh, excuse me all for a moment, there are some....people here I need to speak with about....things...... __________________ Scribbling scrabbling.