(urth) traveling north

[Jeff Wilson]

On 6/5/2010 11:59 AM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Jeff Wilson<jwilson at io.com>  wrote:
>
>> It's my understanding that was how it started with he drawing distant time
>> and CS Lewis drawing distant space, but as it took on a life of its own it
>> became increasingly allegorical and less literally our world. Though with
>> events like the Bending of the Roads, pretty much any discrepancies can be
>> explained away.
>
> No; Middle-earth (or, more properly, Arda) goes back to long before
> his famous "bargain" with Lewis. He began writing what would become
> _The Silmarillion_ during WWI.
>
> The product of the "bargain" was never completed.

My point remains that around this time (1936 or so) he placed the 
setting we know as Middle Earth in the literal past, slightly 
overlapping the historic era, with bloodlines continuing to this day 
allowing retrogression from our time to that. Things accumulated and by 
the 70s he was reported saying it was in an imaginary world rather than 
an historical one.

ISTR he similarly entertained some biological justification for elves' 
longevity in letters with a friend or colleague then ultimately decided 
it wasn't necessary.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >