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China Mieville on Tolkien and Epic/High Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 1213582" data-attributes="member: 5834"><p>Everything you stated concerning an author sending an unintended message is understood and true, but the onus is on the reader for any message that they receive when the author does not intend one.</p><p></p><p>Tolkien could just has easily have used completely different characters, ideas, plot elements, etc, etc. What would you be saying now had Sam turned evil and coveted the ring and Gollum been redeemed? What if Boromir had been seduced by the ring and fought Aragorn? What message would there have been then?</p><p></p><p>The only objective way to decide whether or not a work has a message is to determine the author's intent. Tolkien personally professed that he had no underlying message included within <em>Lord of the Rings</em>. </p><p></p><p>That does not preclude a work from having a meaning or message, a term I use loosely since I feel a message must be intended, to an individual reader. I personally find the <em>Lord of the Rings</em> very meaningful. I love the characters, the story, the traditional idealistic morality, the strange creatures, Sam and Frodo's friendship, and so many other elements included in the story. Yet I also understand that Tolkien could just as easily have changed any of those elements at any point in time because he was writing a tale and testing different ideas to see which ones he liked best.</p><p></p><p>I have already stated examples of authors such as Orwell who intended to send a message and made it quite clear. An author can create a meaningful work without intending to do so. An author can also send a clear message with the full intent to do so. There is a subtle difference between the two.</p><p></p><p>If there was not, then every author would be sending a message with every work. That is not the case, at least not from many author's standpoint and not from mine either.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celtavian, post: 1213582, member: 5834"] Everything you stated concerning an author sending an unintended message is understood and true, but the onus is on the reader for any message that they receive when the author does not intend one. Tolkien could just has easily have used completely different characters, ideas, plot elements, etc, etc. What would you be saying now had Sam turned evil and coveted the ring and Gollum been redeemed? What if Boromir had been seduced by the ring and fought Aragorn? What message would there have been then? The only objective way to decide whether or not a work has a message is to determine the author's intent. Tolkien personally professed that he had no underlying message included within [i]Lord of the Rings[/i]. That does not preclude a work from having a meaning or message, a term I use loosely since I feel a message must be intended, to an individual reader. I personally find the [i]Lord of the Rings[/i] very meaningful. I love the characters, the story, the traditional idealistic morality, the strange creatures, Sam and Frodo's friendship, and so many other elements included in the story. Yet I also understand that Tolkien could just as easily have changed any of those elements at any point in time because he was writing a tale and testing different ideas to see which ones he liked best. I have already stated examples of authors such as Orwell who intended to send a message and made it quite clear. An author can create a meaningful work without intending to do so. An author can also send a clear message with the full intent to do so. There is a subtle difference between the two. If there was not, then every author would be sending a message with every work. That is not the case, at least not from many author's standpoint and not from mine either. [/QUOTE]
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