Re: CHAT: fantasy (was: Re: history of conlanging)

Barry Garcia wrote:
>
> grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com writes:
> >    He also said that they were taller in general than most humans. When
> >you know that most people see Elves as small and delicate versions of
> >humans with pointed ears, you can see the difference! In fact, as far as
> >I know, Tolkien himself said that the word "Elves" was only a way (and
> >maybe not the best way) to translate in English the word "Quendi" that
> >they used to refer to themselves, and that they had nothing in common
> >with the "Elves" of the popular view.
>
> I really hate the popular view of elves as these cute little things with
> pointy ears and wold hair! Ugh.....maybe it stems from my distaste of
> those uglier than sin cement garden elves that i see around, and are oh so
> tacky. This is why I like the Filipino version of elves. Those elves can
> be as tall as humans or much smaller, but they are _just_ like people,
> except much more beautiful (and also often have golden hair and fair
> skin).
The "fairies" as diminutive creatures is a sixteenth century notion,
popularized
by Drayton in PolyOlbion and Shakespeare's Queen Mab.  The Norse elves
were gods, and the denizens of medieval Faerie were as tall as humans
and more beautiful (cf. Spenser's Faerie Queene).  Tolkien is clearly
calling upon these earlier traditions, and not the later ones that
reduced them in size.

Sally
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SALLY CAVES
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Niffodyr tweluenrem lis teuim an.
"The gods have retractible claws."
                                from _The Gospel of Bastet_
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