An Impression of Depth

The Argonath from The Lord of the Rings; image from here

You know what you like.  Do you know why?  Sometimes there's an obvious reason, easily traced to familial or cultural influence.  Other times, it can be difficult to determine the genesis of a given interest.  As I've been trying to plow through Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales (review forthcoming), I stumbled across something in the foreword that gave me an 'ah hah!' moment on why I'm so captivated by The Lord of the Rings universe;*  it comes down to "an impression of depth."

Professor T.A. Shippey argues that "one quality which [The Lord of the Rings] has in abundance is the Beowulfian 'impression of depth'."  J.R.R. Tolkien himself explains:

Part of the attraction of [The Lord of the Rings] is, I think due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist.  To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed.

That's it!  That's one reason I enjoy such tales.  It's not just a hero's quest.  Many times in the stories- like when the fellowship passes the Argonath (see above picture)- we're reminded that Frodo's journey is but a small piece of a much larger story- a history glimpsed but unexplained.  A casual mention of a long-dead king, the passing of ruined monuments, evidence of battles fought long ago . . . all of it speaks to the vastness of the overall story.  Perhaps this is why I'm fascinated by ruins- ancient, medieval, or fictional (I muse on that subject here).  And this vastness (with associated mystery) also explains why I like Star Wars and King Arthur studies.

This echoes our experience in the real world . . . "for now we see in a mirror dimly" (1 Corinthians 13:12).  There's much in this world we don't understand, and no amount of historical understanding, scientific discovery or technological breakthrough will reveal it to us.  For now, we know in part.  And this begs another question.

In fiction, both Shippey and Tolkien argue that trying to tell all the stories in a given universe destroys them:

To tell these [inset stories] in their own right and expect them to retain the charm they got from their larger setting would be a terrible error . . .- Shippey 

A story must be told or there'll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving. -Tolkien

Is this true in the real world?  Will all ever be revealed to us in the next life?  Or will it remain a murky shadow, as we bask in the light of our Lord?  We shall see.


*I've previously blogged (here) to explore some reasons why I like fantasy in general.