17 What books about Middle-earth are considered "canonical"? (Tolkien)
Description
This article is from the Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, by Steuard Jensen sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu with numerous contributions by others.
17 What books about Middle-earth are considered "canonical"? (Tolkien)
[I have written an essay on this topic, including general observations
and my own approach. It is on the web at:
http://tolkien.slimy.com/essays/TolkParish.html.]
A "canonical" text is one which is believed to provide authoritative
information about Middle-earth. By and large, all agree that _The Lord
of the Rings_ is a canonical text, and most assign equal or near equal
weight to _The Hobbit_ (the other books about Middle-earth published in
Tolkien's lifetime are treated similarly). However, due to heavy and
unmarked posthumous editing, _The Silmarillion_ is considered by many
_not_ to be canonical (see question III.A.3 for details).
People put various amounts of trust in the many drafts and essays in
_Unfinished Tales_ and the "History of Middle-earth" series. In cases
where Tolkien's intent seems particularly stable and clear, some trust
these sources almost as much as _The Hobbit_ and LotR themselves. In
practice, this means that most of the more trustworthy material is
found in _Unfinished Tales_ and in volumes X-XII of the HoMe series.
Opinions on how much to trust _The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien_ are
mixed, but its contents are generally respected as long as they are not
contradicted by other (more canonical) texts. The pictures in _J.R.R.
Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator_ by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull
may also be considered somewhat canonical.
It is important to note that many aspects of Middle-earth changed
substantially over the course of Tolkien's life. Because of this,
facts taken from the early versions of the mythology can be misleading
or just plain wrong when used to draw conclusions about LotR or later
versions of the mythology. This means that while the early versions
can provide valuable hints about Tolkien's thoughts on an issue, they
are rarely considered to provide definitive evidence for any position.
The Custom Tolkien Book List (mentioned in question III.A.1)
includes my own judgment and comments on the "canonicity" of each
section of each book in the list. While those are just one person's
opinions, they are fairly normal. The list can be found on the web at
http://tolkien.slimy.com/books.html
Continue to:
My Books
