tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post4875991511688190136..comments2024-03-29T09:09:24.834+00:00Comments on Poul Anderson Appreciation: BeginningsKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-88882478193004633892012-09-15T07:59:55.464+01:002012-09-15T07:59:55.464+01:00Hi, Paul!
I disagree with your last sentences: &... Hi, Paul!<br /><br /> I disagree with your last sentences: "Tolkien ennobled the elves whereas Anderson kept them immoral, as in the Eddas and sagas. In that sense, his novel is more authentic." The problem is, many readers conclusions about how they thought Tolkien regarded the elves is based only from reading THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. <br /><br /> It would be more accurate to say the elves as we see them in the books cited above are what they became after being purged by sorrow and suffering. Anyone who reads THE SILMARILLION will see how some of the elves in past ages were cruel, ruthless, greedy, prone to wrath, etc.<br /><br /> Tolkien's problem was he could not persuade his publishers to print the "Silmarillion" material before or alongside LOTR. The publishers found it too baffling and strange. If some form of what was later THE SILMARILLION had been published in 1954, then we would have seen the elves changing as time passed, rather than the "finished product" we saw in LOTR.<br /><br /> I know many readers have trouble with THE SILMARILLION, but if we are to get a proper understanding of Tolkien's work, then what he says in that book has to be taken into account in evaluating the elves. BTW, I LIKE that book.<br /><br /> SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.com