FWIW, Christopher Tolkien once pointed out to me that LotR is properly a romance, not a novel. (The term "novel" being correct only in the broad and imprecise sense that it has acquired of "a long work of prose fiction".)

Interesting!

I didn’t mean to be argumentative or ‘by the book’ as it were - just going on what was provided within ‘Note on the Text’ within the pages themselves.

It’s neat that he said that; because ‘romance novels’ exist, and I believe a ‘novel’ essentially is a long-form narrative. Hence why ones shorter in length are novellas. Unless there’s more to it than that.

Eye_of_the_Black_Tower wrote:

Interesting!

I didn’t mean to be argumentative or ‘by the book’ as it were - just going on what was provided within ‘Note on the Text’ within the pages themselves.

It’s neat that he said that; because ‘romance novels’ exist, and I believe a ‘novel’ essentially is a long-form narrative. Hence why ones shorter in length are novellas. Unless there’s more to it than that.

Those of Tolkien's generation used 'romance' in ways modern readers might not understand. See Letter from C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves • 25 March 1933* (#1770) in which Lewis remarks that he

was talking about this to Tolkien who, you know, grew up on Morris and Macdonald and shares my taste in literature to a fault. We remarked how odd it was that the word romance should be used to cover things so different as Morris on the one hand and Dumas or Rafael Sabatini on the other — things not only different but so different that it is hard to imagine the same person liking both. We agreed that for what we meant by romance there must be at least the hint of another world — one must ‘hear the horns of elfland’.

In Carpenter's Letter #109 (J.R.R. Tolkien to Stanley Unwin, 31 July 1947) Tolkien says that

Evidently I have managed to make the horror really horrible, and that is a great comfort; for every romance that takes things seriously must have a warp of fear and horror...

In an unpublished letter to Pauline Baynes, Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Pauline Baynes • 4 June 1949 (#134), Tolkien remarks that

a long romance in sequel to "The Hobbit", is finished after some years of work, and is being typed.

And the most direct, see Carpenter's Letter #329 (J.R.R. Tolkien to Peter Szabó Szentmihályi, October 1971) where Tolkien is absolutely explicit.

I have very little interest in serial literary history, and no interest at all in the history or present situation of the English ‘novel’. My work is not a ‘novel’, but an ‘heroic romance’ a much older and quite different variety of literature.

I could go on as there are dozens of examples in Tolkien's letters (and his fellow writers letters) that demonstrate that they used the term in its more archaic tradition but see https://www.tolkienguide.com/guide/letters/?q=%22romance%22 for further examples.

Mr. Underhill wrote:

No, it most certainly is not a mythology. A myth is a traditional story, often explaining natural phenomena or cultural origins, and often considered sacred by a particular culture.

A romance, in contrast, is a literary genre characterized by narratives of heroic adventure, courtly love, and often fantastic or supernatural elements, often with a focus on individual characters and their journeys.

The Silmarillion definitely falls under this 2nd description.

It's worth noting that a lot of this depends on whether we're talking about The Silmarillion (in the sense of the entire work published in 1977) or just the Quenta Silmarillion. The Ainulindalë does after all have elements that could readily fit the description of mythological.

That said, the early chapters of the Quenta Silmarillion also lend themselves to being called mythological.

I'd say it's a bit of a stretch to classify the Quenta as a romance, as I think this suggests a degree of narrative cohesion which the published work lacks (in my view, it goes without saying!) - in literary terms I think of it as (far) closer to Unfinished Tales than to LOTR or The Hobbit.

I've always considered The Silmarillion to be "faux mythology". "Real" mythology is older and formed organically as stories were passed down through generations (often, but not always orally). The Silmarillion tries to replicate that. It definitely isn't mythology (as I would define it) as it is modern - and no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true - but it is emulating one (quite effectively).

Other than that, I think of it as a "collection of stuff in an archaic and challenging mode that 99% of purchasers give up on"+.

+ as evidenced by the number of essentially unread copies of the Silmarillion in the world. Often leafed through the first few pages!

The late Stu wrote:

no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true

You bah humbug! Next you'll be telling us there is no Father Christmas.

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true

You bah humbug! Next you'll be telling us there is no Father Christmas.

My wife will kill me if I utter such a profanity before Finn figures it out for himself!!

The late Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true

You bah humbug! Next you'll be telling us there is no Father Christmas.

My wife will kill me if I utter such a profanity before Finn figures it out for himself!!

Quite right. And tell her I'm always free to hold you down if she fancies inflicting more damage.

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true

You bah humbug! Next you'll be telling us there is no Father Christmas.

My wife will kill me if I utter such a profanity before Finn figures it out for himself!!

Quite right. And tell her I'm always free to hold you down if she fancies inflicting more damage.

Tbh, she is probably up for that even if I don't reveal the great Father Christmas scam!

The late Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

onthetrail wrote:

The late Stu wrote:

no one [sane] ever believed any of it to be true

You bah humbug! Next you'll be telling us there is no Father Christmas.

My wife will kill me if I utter such a profanity before Finn figures it out for himself!!

Quite right. And tell her I'm always free to hold you down if she fancies inflicting more damage.

Tbh, she is probably up for that even if I don't reveal the great Father Christmas scam!

🤣 You must deserve it.