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From: Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Possible self-mockery in LotR?
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2024 04:38:31 +0100
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On 21/10/2024 21:05, The Horny Goat wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2024 22:49:37 -0700, Bobbie Sellers
> <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
> 
>>>> Is it possible that JRRT was indulging in a bit of self-mockery here,
>>>> given his main area of study, as well as one of his reasons for writing
>>>> LotR in the first place, was "the history of tongues"?
>>>>
>>> An alternate explanation is that JRRT was being paid by the word....
>>
>> 	That would be a losing deal for a publisher hiring a
>> Philogist. There is always a longer and more confusing way
>> to say so.
>> 	I think the self-deprecatory jib at the learned is
>> is just that for the sake of humor.
> 
> I dunno - Tolkien's best buddy C S Lewis seems to have done all right
> at the cash register for his publishers.

The argument, probably unfair, is that Lewis
himself benefitted disproportionately from
payment by the word.  He did call one of his
science fiction characters Ransom, which
may refer to money changing hands unwillingly.
Or not.  And it may be Pilgrim's Progress-ish.
Still there's a scene where I was confused as to
whether another character was calling Ransom
by name, or offering money to escape from a
dangerous situation.  Not to the author;
I suppose you could try it.  Frodo Baggins
has an undershirt approximately made of cash.