It was difficult not to be, when one person's world history might well be another's most private grief.
I loved this line. And it reminds me that, while I've done a lot of thinking and writing about the "mechanics" of Pengolodh's work--who had access to what and how it got from here to there--and matters of bias and credibility, I have barely even considered the psychoemotional side: that many people (especially among the Elves) would have witnessed the travesties that, for us mere mortals, would have long faded into the somewhat detached realm of "history." Objectivity is much harder to achieve when working with an immortal people! (Or even long-lived, in the case of Aragorn and the Numenoreans ...)
It may not even be as complete and reliable an account as Pengolodh himself would have made it ...
This made me think of how closely the issues with Pengolodh's writings parallel the issues with Tolkien's writings in general--just the sheer magnitude of the task he attempted and the fact that the Silmarillion we have probably isn't at all like the Silmarillion we would have gotten if Tolkien'd had just five more years to work on it. But he probably wouldn't have finished it even then, so we'd still be saying the same thing about a different set of drafts. :)
ETA ... I'm not sure how often you check in at the Tumblplace, so I wanted to let you know that I recced your story here! :)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2016-03-06 04:07 pm (UTC)It was difficult not to be, when one person's world history might well be another's most private grief.
I loved this line. And it reminds me that, while I've done a lot of thinking and writing about the "mechanics" of Pengolodh's work--who had access to what and how it got from here to there--and matters of bias and credibility, I have barely even considered the psychoemotional side: that many people (especially among the Elves) would have witnessed the travesties that, for us mere mortals, would have long faded into the somewhat detached realm of "history." Objectivity is much harder to achieve when working with an immortal people! (Or even long-lived, in the case of Aragorn and the Numenoreans ...)
It may not even be as complete and reliable an account as Pengolodh himself would have made it ...
This made me think of how closely the issues with Pengolodh's writings parallel the issues with Tolkien's writings in general--just the sheer magnitude of the task he attempted and the fact that the Silmarillion we have probably isn't at all like the Silmarillion we would have gotten if Tolkien'd had just five more years to work on it. But he probably wouldn't have finished it even then, so we'd still be saying the same thing about a different set of drafts. :)
ETA ... I'm not sure how often you check in at the Tumblplace, so I wanted to let you know that I recced your story here! :)