Tolkien's shifting style

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

But, here we are in a thread about narrative mode and Bethberry has yet to rear her formidable head... And where's davem to tell me how it's all productive of faerie enchantment? And Saucy is needed to correct my mis-citations of the Letters. Am I not the only Downer on sabbatical??

Bethberry's head these days is attempting to rest as much as possible in the soothing lap of water at beach, pool, lake in an effort to subdue the humidity and give lethargy the acceptable face of athletic endeavour. Her thoughts under such conditions are anything but formidable, although a certain beverage with lime and Mexican water may help matters here. After all, I was beaten down some time ago for comments about Tolkien's style and the community has never forgiven me. Oh the censorship that reigns under the mask of fandom.

I suppose it is not only the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn which shows this epic style. Faramir and Eowyn stand on the walls of Gondor, where their troth is observable for all to see, although we are not told that people see it. Yet the kiss is clearly tied in with the passing of darkness and communal celebration. Here, clearly the public role of the aristocrats takes on larger proportion than their individual status. Tolkien said something to this effect in one of his letters justifying the speedy progress of the romance, but I don't have the letters to hand now.

It's a tantalizing theory, but like all, it may work best as a generality which does not assume all the details. I'm still not convinced, for example, that it works well for Legolas' and Gimli's speeches in "The Last Debate", where they are given dialogue that is quite different in style from that they used earlier. They talk like the narrator. Yet they are reciting events to the hobbits, so perhaps they fall into this epic style of narration.

Interestingly, though, this very difference between realism of the 19C novel and the epic style of poetry is something talked about as the difference between polysemy of voice and monolithic voice. (Fordim, I assume you are familiar with Bahktin.) Does the epic style, in conveying a communal perspective rather than individual voice, strike a note of The One Voice? Does it deny linguistic diversity? It certainly would fit in with Tolkien's thoughts about democracy to give preference of place to communal voice rather than individual voices.

Okay, I'm off to sip more of the lime stuff and cheat the heat. Expect any more replies when you see them.

PS. Boro, your thoughts on Jane Eyre are most intriguing. There are those who believe that Jane concludes her autobiography in a hightened state of some anguish, assuming a voice of hyperbole as she imagines a glorious martyrdom for her rejected lover.