Historians want more details about the social and political structure of Gondor. Thats what Tolkien said in a letter. Id say we find much. Or, at least, we speculate much out of small bits of information scattered throughout the book. And that means LotR is very good as a guide through a fairy land. The interesting thing is that philologists cant find much about language in Westeros... Heres the fuller quotation given in the Introduction of the Unfinished Tales: ... while many like you demand maps, others wish for geological indications rather than places; many want Elvish grammars, phonologies, and specimens; some want metrics and prosodies.... Musicians want tunes, and musical notation; archaeologists want ceramics and metallurgy; botanists want a more accurate description of the mallorn, of elanor, niphredil, alfirin, mallos, and symbelmynë; historians want more details about the social and political structure of Gondor; general enquirers want information about the Wainriders, the Harad, Dwarvish origins, the Dead Men, the Beornings, and the missing two wizards (out of five). I think such readers interest in details is a hobby in its own right and speaks very well about Tolkiens imagination. He said somewhere that he tried to achieve a Beowulfian impression of depth by including fragments of an older mythology in LotR. He certainly succeeded and thats why the question about Aragorns tax policy sounds more like a well-deserved praise than like criticism. If we ask about a kings policy, then we very probably believe such a king exists or existed :) On the other hand, as Tolkien said about the Beowulf poem: the work is firstly a piece of literature and only after that it is a historical source. Id add that if Mr. Martin delights in tax policy information, he should start reading the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror. Real fun for sure... and still a better love story than Twilight ;)
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 22:13:57 +0000
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