Michaela Hausmann - Parallel Paths and Distorting Mirrors

This paper was delivered at the Tolkien Society Seminar 2015 in Leeds.

The aesthetics of narratives are often achieved by means of strategic duality which may generally be realized in two distinct ways: a narrative pattern of likeness, on the one hand, making use of similar, or even identical features that are repeated with only minor variations; whereas, on the other hand, a set of similar features may be employed but ultimately reversed, thus creating an increasingly distorted version of the former.

Both principles form an inherent structural element of epic narratives in general (cf. Martin: 37), and particularly of nearly all of Tolkien’s stories about Arda: There are Elves and Orcs, Manwë and Melkor, eagles and dragons, the Silmarils and the Rings of Power as objects of temptation and power. Such pairs may appear within the context of a single narrative but they also form an intertextual pattern between Tolkien’s major writings which substantiates Verlyn Flieger’s statement: "No careful reader of Tolkien's fiction can fail to be aware of the polarities that give it form and fiction." (Flieger 2002: 2) Not only do these narrative devices illustrate the perpetual struggle between good and evil, they furthermore link events and characters across the ages of Arda, offer alternative plot lines, and provide a balance between catastrophe and eucatastrophe (Tolkien [1939] 1983: 153).

This talk explores how these effects might be achieved on various narrative levels such as action, characters, and motifs by analysing six examples from The Book of Lost Tales, The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in terms of their structural make-up and narrative function in their respective intra- and intertextual context.

Видео Michaela Hausmann - Parallel Paths and Distorting Mirrors канала The Tolkien Society