Authorial Detachment or "The Vanishing Harper" - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 10-04-2005, 12:18 PM

Not enough time to add properly to this thread at the moment, but couldn't we include Smith in this - he was a human who wandered in Faery, but he was also a singer, & sang as he worked. In the end he also had to give up Faery & pass into the human world forever. If, as some have suggested, Smith is the most 'autobiographical' of Tolkien's works, maybe this adds to your argument - maybe not.

Of course, the difference between Smith & the 'exiles' you name is that Smith returned to his own people in the end, rather than being eternally seperated from them, yet he has in common with them the fact that he is eternally sundered from Faery. But his is a willing, though sad, exile, enabling another to follow in his footsteps. The last words of the published Sil, in Of the Rings of Power, refer to the end 'of story & of song', which seems to sum up the whole of Tolkien's writings - right from the beginning in BoLt we have a mood of loss pervading the writings. It seems this mood is embodied in numerous characters, & specifically in the ones you mention.

10-04-2005, 12:18 PM	#2
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	Not enough time to add properly to this thread at the moment, but couldn't we include Smith in this - he was a human who wandered in Faery, but he was also a singer, & sang as he worked. In the end he also had to give up Faery & pass into the human world forever. If, as some have suggested, Smith is the most 'autobiographical' of Tolkien's works, maybe this adds to your argument - maybe not. Of course, the difference between Smith & the 'exiles' you name is that Smith returned to his own people in the end, rather than being eternally seperated from them, yet he has in common with them the fact that he is eternally sundered from Faery. But his is a willing, though sad, exile, enabling another to follow in his footsteps. The last words of the published Sil, in Of the Rings of Power, refer to the end 'of story & of song', which seems to sum up the whole of Tolkien's writings - right from the beginning in BoLt we have a mood of loss pervading the writings. It seems this mood is embodied in numerous characters, & specifically in the ones you mention. __________________ “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."