For the most part, fantastic or otherwise impossible methods of storytelling are ignored in the world of modern and classical literature. In order to accurately appreciate the quandary of the modern "Fantasy" author, one must be aware of the commonplace practice of division and delineation that occurs in the world of literature. Writing is often deemed truly literary only if the literal symbols used to describe more abstract concepts are easily relatable to the time in which they are written; that is to say that mythological concepts are only acceptable if they are expressed as allegorical allusions to real-world phenomena, specifically ones that are relevant to the time in which the work is written. Orwell's Animal Farm is forgiven for talking farm animals and seemingly mystical wisdom only because they are intentionally representative of totemic archetypes in man, and the folly of their governmental system, due to the fact that the reader is made unaware of these allusions by an engaging surface tale (Rodden, p. xviii). Authors such as JRR Tolkien, in contrast, have claimed their intentional evasion of such allegory, and even insisted that such allegory hurts the nature of this genre of writing.
[...] The history of Middle Earth was divided into various ages, and in an effort to make the history more authentic, they were classified into these ages as a way of keeping track of time; to make the characters completely aware of the ages and the times in which they lived would be similar to having them take note of exact geographical delineations and other abstract concepts. Instead, he created “bridges” from one time period to the next, and this novel formed the foundation of the bridge from the age into the “fourth.” Drawing from Celtic and Norse myth (Burns), Tolkien makes use of common medieval archetypes that authors use to this day, and help to formulate the foundation for the later books that would delve deeper still into Middle Earth history. [...]
[...] This is mirrored in a way but less directly by the later Lord of the Rings trilogy, which carry similar themes and basic images, but use a different idiomatic language and method of plot development. The final work to be analyzed herein is made up of three individual but absolutely linked novels, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. While some have compared this trilogy relationship to the acts of a play (citation needed) others have asserted that the works exist more as a modern Fantasy Trilogy, a genre which this work in particular helped to pioneer. [...]
[...] Extant in all his work, the fantastic element is still ancillary to characterization and the development of the extensive backdrop onto which the characters are drawn. In this way, the novel is much more descriptive than the collected works of The Silmarillion but still simple in the method of delivery as to not alienate the target audience. The themes in a story aimed at children as a Fairy Tale are often simple and moral in nature, and therefore creating deep shades of meaning without obscuring these simple meanings can become troublesome (Flieger, “There Would Always Be a Fairy 34). [...]
[...] Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-31555-7 Flieger, Verlyn (2002), Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World, Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, ISBN 0-87338-744-9 would always be a fairy tale': J.R.R.Tolkien and the Fairytale Controversy.' Chance, Jane. Tolkien the Medievalist. New York: Routledge 2003. (26-35) ISBN 0-415-28944-0 Eden, Bradford Lee. ‘music of the spheres'; relationships between Tolkien's The Silmarillion and medieval cosmological and religious theory.” Chance, Jane. Tolkien the Medievalist. New York: Routledge 2003. (183-190) ISBN 0-415-28944-0 Maher, Michael J. Land Without Stain': Medieval images of Mary and their use as characterization of Galadriel.” Chance, Jane. Tolkien the Medievalist. [...]
[...] 12)." The tone of the piece is similar to his other works in that it uses dialog as a form of exposition, mixed prose and poetry to alternate between the current events of the story and the back story, and finally the characters manage to be astounded and fascinated by what they see, in spite of the fact they already live in a world rife with fantastic ideas and imagery unlike our own. It differs in that the characters seem more swept along by the story than seem to be driving the actions of the story, and thus the tone begins to take on a more cheery and whimsical character throughout the work. [...]
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