The Illustrations of J.R.R. Tolkien: Authoritative Visualizations of Secondary Worlds

I recently disovered the social network, Pinterest. It's really interesting. It allows you to pin images you find around the internet onto virtual "pinboards." And these pinboards are available to your friends and those who follow you on pinterest. Also, you can link to your pins.

I recently created a pinboard focused on the illustrations of J.R.R. Tolkien. Here's the link to it: The Illustrations of J.R.R. Tolkien

I find these illustrations extremely intriguing. This has a lot to do with my feelings about "secondary world fantasy." In "secondary world fantasy" a writer creates an alternative world within which to tell stories. This world is completely seperate from our world and, to a large extent, has no influence on our world save any allegorical lessons it might teach us. The interesting possibility, I think, that creating a "secondary world" holds out for any of us is the possibility of "playing god," or being a creator. Sure, all art offers this possibility. But with secondary world fantasy you, like a kind of god, are creating a world.

But what does this have to do with illustrations? Well, when you imagine something it's always great to visualize it. There's something visceral and immediate about a drawing of a mountain over a description of a mountain. But, often, secondary world fantasists have to give over the "visualization" of their worlds to other artists who are technically skilled. And so, any visual representation of that world is less the author's vision--the vision of the "god" of that secondary world--and more an interpretation of that author's vision.

For some reason, an interpretation of the author's vision ring's less true in my mind. Sure, there are great stories of collaborations between artists and fantasy writers. I can imaging fantasy writers stating to their artist, "Wow! That painting! It's great! It's just like I imagined it!" And yet, I can't believe that any interpreation of the thing can be coequivalent of the thing. Also, there is the risk that a certain visualization of a fantasy comes to contaminate the original author's vision. I am thinking of J.K. Rowling and how she said eventually, as she wrote, she imagined the faces of the actors who were depicting her characters in film.

What does this have to do with J.R.R. Tolkien's illustrations? Well, it's pretty obvious. With these illustrations you have the originary source of "Middle Earth" letting us know, in a more precise way, what "Middle Earth" looks like. I find this so intriguing! It makes me wonder if all "secondary world fantasists" should spend time learning how to draw, paint, design, etc.