Taum's Aphorisms, parts VII to XII

Here, again, are some comments and observations by me on Taum's piece I've dubbed 'Aphorisms Towards a Poetics of Tolkienian Fantasy'. As before these are just my interpretations.



(7) Here we get a sequence from pure myth (the creation story) to myth presented as history (Silm) to history with an element of myth (LotR) to scholarly comment (UT); the main thing is the pattern of withdrawal/diminishment.

(8) I have no idea what Taum is talking about here, nor if these four categories relate back to the four exemplar given in the previous paragraph.

(9) In the Beginning was The Word (Logos), so before the beginning must have come the pre-logos.

(10) This part I get, about the myth to history to myth at the end of history; I don't get what the philosophy and political structures at the end have to do with it.

(11) If there were three themes in the Protologos, should there be three competing Logi?

(12) It sounded as if myth leeches out of history progressively from the time of creation on. Perhaps the 'philosophy' of Pt 10 and Pt 12 is equivalent to the 'scholastic/academic media' of Pt 7?

This brings us to the midway point. I understand this second quarter even less than the first. We'll see how it goes with Pts 13 onward. --John R.



current reading: THE UNSPEAKABLE OATH, #19.