Did JRRT encourage new ME stories?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Raynor

I truly wonder, for how long does this notion of literary rights exist? Were all the writers, from the dawn of time of literature, born with it? And if not, were they silly for writting without expecting others to treat their work as untouchable?
Anyone can go ahead and do that for my posts; they have my blessing, and it won't affect my sleep at night. I would actually be quite pleased if my thoughts are worthy of repetition in other forums, or of publishing, or of being quoted in an University environment. Conditional joy is a source of suffering .
I hope that your flow of unjustified personal remarks will stop with your last post. I am not acquainted with the ideas of Barthes; but you pose a false dilemma, between participating with new stories to a particular universe, and valuing the contribution of the initial author; the two can perfectly coexist, without implying any fault of character on behalf of the new writer.

It's no fault of character nor is it personal but a fault of the theories of Barthes and his ilk, which are thankfully now being challenged and will soon enough be abandoned by the global education system (as theories inevitably are - they cannot resist change as nothing can - which is why it's a good idea not to be too wedded to them). If you choose to believe the Author is an outmoded concept and he/she has no rights over their own work then you must also desist from making reference to said Author. I am not saying you are a hypocrite personally, but alas, not many who opt to follow those reader response/author is dead theories can find the courage to completely ignore the existence of an author - it is the inevitable result of following such an incorrect theory which causes hypocrisy. You might compare it to these people who bang on about being Green but somehow manage to justify regular global flights or owning an SUV. Annoying, isn't it?

From reading your past posts, you do seem to come down on the side of the Author - you like the Letters, you like to try to find out what Tolkein meant and get quite annoyed when people make 'subjective statements' - however this does not and cannot co-exist with the idea that Tolkien's work is also free to use as you want.

As for writers in ages long, long past, they were not making a living from their work as they are now - and like any worker a writer deserves to have their income protected - and that includes after death as that is their legacy to their family. You would not like it if the state took your house from you and installed a lot of civil servants in it when you hoped to pass it to your children? Tolkien's family deserve to benefit from his legacy - and not just his family, but all those charities - I reiterate again just what thoroughly nice people they all are.

Remember, Tolkien specified a person to have control over his literary assets - not me, not you, but Christopher and whoever CT might then deem fit. For all the muddling around over if it was mythology and if that means you may plagiarise in the next few decades at some point, The Law Says No. And Tolkien specifies that.

It's time to draw sides - are you on the side of the Marxist Barthes (far be it from me to deride a fellow leftist, but this is one who was an idiot) and want a free for all and no rights for the Author or are you on the side of the Estate, who are actually very generous to fans, already welcoming fan-fic and parody, which they are even happy to allow publication of?