XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies   
      
   In message    
     Stan Brown  wrote:   
   > On Wed, 9 Jan 2013 06:50:11 +0000 (UTC), Lewis wrote:   
   >> Tolkien says a lot of things that don't fit with the published books. UT   
   >> is not canon. The letters are not canon.   
   >>   
      
   > There we disagree.  If the Letters are not canon, then what is?   
      
   The published works, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. You can argue   
   about The Silmarillion which was published after Tolkien died and with   
   some degree of meddling from Christopher Tolkien.   
      
   > You can argue that the Letters are self contradictory, and that's   
   > true. But LotR is self contradictory too; inconsistencies have been   
   > pointed out here for years.  So being self contradictory is not   
   > enough to exclude a work from the canon.   
      
   It depends on whether you mean canon to be "anything Tolkien ever wrote   
   and is authenticated" or "Works that fall within the Middle-earth   
   mythology", for the latter, I only consider the work Tolkien himself   
   published.   
      
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