Re: Possible self-mockery in LotR?

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.
 And when I ask in a trivia contest when Lewis died, nobody ever gets
it right though when I give the answer November 22, 1963 the reply is
usually "Isn't that the day JFK...." to which I just say "yup"