As I've learned from reading way too many source studies of Tolkien, the problem with focusing too much on identifying sources is that it trivializes, rather than enhances, the standing of the result. Art consists not of a patchwork of source materials, but in what the artist does with them.
Yes, and sometimes looking at the sources doesn't always work in the artist's favor. I became much less enchanted when I found out how some of the more imaginative bits Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale were based on history (especially the various gangs).
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Date: 2008-06-10 08:15 pm (UTC)Yes, and sometimes looking at the sources doesn't always work in the artist's favor. I became much less enchanted when I found out how some of the more imaginative bits Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale were based on history (especially the various gangs).