Why? Simply because not respecting them could jeopardise life itself. Niggle’s interaction with the inspector shows us what these laws are: very basic rules to be respected under any circumstances, things that come first in order of priority. ” As he puts it, “that is the law” ( TL 82). The inspector even tells Niggle that he should have used the only materials available: canvas, wood and waterproof paint from his picture! Niggle seems terrified by the idea of using his picture to repair a roof but the inspector is very clear about the fact that “houses come first. The inspector reproaches Niggle during the storm, while the Emergency Services are trying to deal with crises in the rest of the neighbourhood, for not having helped his neighbour to “make temporary repairs and prevent the damage from getting more costly to mend than necessary” ( TL 81). Later, when, as expected, an inspector has arrived, we learn more about these laws. As we all know, an inspector is tasked with enforcing the law and we can already deduce that in Niggle’s “world” not taking care of your garden is forbidden it is against the law. We learn at the beginning of the story that Niggle “might get a visit from an inspector” ( TL 77) and that the latter might notice that his garden is “rather neglected” ( TL 77). The “laws” and the world split down the middleįirst of all, Leaf, by Niggle shows the concerns the author had about what he calls the “laws”. Despite his weakness and failures, thanks to his hopes and deep desires, he will try to find a path in a life for him made more complicated by his determination not to neglect two things driven by contradictory forces. Leaf by Niggle shows a character just as Tolkien was: tormented by this incompatibility and, no matter what, even clumsily, trying to put up with it. This observation particularly affected him because he was deeply involved in the latter but, at the same time, for reasons that we will try to clarify, also quite convinced that priority must be given to the first necessity. We will see that, throughout this little story, Tolkien presents something that worried him during his entire life: the incompatibility between the necessities of life (or the satisfaction of daily needs – in a sense almost biological needs) and artistic creation. In fact, Leaf, by Niggle gives us the opportunity to study what Tolkien “meant” whereas usually we have to be content with what his stories may mean through or even despite himself. For once with Tolkien, the tale is not self-sufficient we do not have to content ourselves with appreciating a “mere story” ( L 144), but we can try to go beyond the words to understand a “meaning”. Indeed, it won’t hurt for once, Tolkien used an allegorical method to write Leaf by Niggle, which is, considering his usual creative process, very uncommon. Nonetheless, if Tolkien told us this we might respond as follows: “Sorry, Professor, but Leaf, by Niggle is not a mere story and we can speak about it as much as we want since in writing it you wanted to do more than entertain us your story is an allegory worthy of special attention”. In fact, it is because he wrote his stories to stimulate literary pleasure that most of them have to be appreciated for what they are: fascinating tales. If Tolkien were among us today he would probably tell us: “you should not talk so much about my stories but you should rather enjoy them for their own sake”. Nobody really knows the “meaning” of Leaf, by Niggle there can only ever be interpretations of the text. The title of my paper, The “meaning” of Leaf, by Niggle, may seem a bit pretentious. Publié dans Franck Weinreich et Margaret Hiley (eds) Tolkien’s shorter works, Zurich, Walking Tree Publishers, collection Cormarë, 2008.
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